FreshGrass Sustainability Manifesto

Music — and art in general — is deeply connected to Earth. It is, quite literally, in harmony with the natural world. As an organization whose mission it is to support grassroots music, the FreshGrass Foundation must therefore also fully support nature in pursuit of this mission; failure to do so would contradict our reason for being and would, in turn, diminish the art we so passionately try to serve.

As such, we at the FreshGrass Foundation pledge to make our organization completely sustainable and carbon neutral. Our own path toward a more sustainable future involves the following steps. 

The FreshGrass Foundation will reuse and upcycle existing materials to make our products and/or utilize materials made from sustainable methods and sources. We will reduce the amount of travel for raw materials and finished goods as much as possible in the production processes.

• For No Depression journals, we will continue to use recycled paper.
• Merchandise for the FreshGrass festivals, No Depression, and Folk Alley will use organic or recycled materials whenever possible.
• We will use nontoxic dyes for all clothing.
• We will use local vendors whenever possible (and will continue to assess and improve yearly as we grow).
• For anything we ship, we will use compostable or recyclable packaging.

The FreshGrass Foundation will reduce our waste to the greatest extent possible with the goal of achieving zero waste.

• We will work to eliminate single-use plastic entirely.
• We will work to use only certified compostable or recyclable containers, utensils, and cups at festivals.
• We will choose vendors who adhere to the same philosophy in their production and sales process (and create specific guidelines for our vendors).
• Over time, we will phase out the practice of artists and companies shipping physical copies of albums to both No Depression and Folk Alley for review (and work to change this industrywide).
• Whenever we serve food, we will focus on locally and organically grown products and emphasize non-meat alternatives.

In order to reduce, or entirely offset, our carbon footprint, we intend to grow a FreshGrass Forest as a method to recapture carbon we have generated through our businesses and Foundation operations.

• In partnership with One Tree Planted, we will plant one tree for every attendee at each festival each year, and we will plant 10 trees for each performer who comes to play (since they typically travel farther).
• We will calculate our energy usage each year (that is not generated from clean sources) and will plant the appropriate number of trees to offset this impact.

By committing to these principles, we believe we will actually improve the quality of experiences and products we create and add positively to the overall vibe of everything we do. Ultimately, we believe this will allow our organization to better fulfill its mission and be successful. 

Finally, the FreshGrass Foundation intends to serve as a laboratory for new ideas related to sustainability and carbon reduction within the music industry, and will partner with organizations whose missions are in pursuit of these objectives. We will also conduct our own research and testing to develop and share the best practices both for FreshGrass and the industry in general.

We will hold ourselves accountable and be transparent as we try to reach these objectives. We will communicate with our community on our results each year and publish a report summarizing our achievements, progress, challenges, and how we intend to improve in the following year. 

If you have suggestions on how we can better achieve our goals, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for your support!