Ever hear of green rock?

No, it’s not some subgenre of indie alternative (whatever that means anymore).

Green rock is part-recycling, part-headbanging, and all good for the environment. It’s a new approach to the music tour - use reusable, biodegradeable and environmentally-sound products and donate part of the proceeds to environmental credits to pay for the (lessened) impact the tour had on the environment, like planting trees in third-world countries.

But in the age of “An Inconvenient Truth,” “greening” a tour means everything from recycling used guitar strings and half-spent 9V batteries to inflating tires to specifications to save gas (and by gas, I mean biodiesel - what else?).

Some bands have even taken up arms, so to speak, for the cause: the Barenaked Ladies and the Red Hot Chili Peppers invite green teams to clean up the stage after a performance for eventual recycling into jewelry, Willie Nelson travels by alternative fuel, Coldplay matches impact with renewable energy credits, Dave Matthews Band rocks hemp products.

But the challenge isn’t easy. How do you teach less typical fans of the environment to moderate consumption? Not quiet indie or jam bands but fans of excess - hard rock or hip-hop concertgoers. Neither music, stereotypically speaking, is a sparkling example of eco-consciousness (unless you consider onstage pyrotechnics or entourages eco-conscious).
It’s all about leadership and synergy. Hip-hop and rock might not perceiveably have much in common, but backstage chatter can turn into positive environmental collaboration. Guster guitarist Adam Gardner said in the New York Times that a conversation with top producer will.i.am sparked a change in the way he rolls. Before the chat, the Black Eyed Pea rolled in a Hummer.

Now the hip-hop ringmaster drives a Tesla electric sports car.

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