At Ball Arena in Denver, thousands of fans of the multi-platinum-selling indie pop group AJR do the wave. The vast, coordinated ripple as the concertgoers throw their arms up instantly unites the room.
It's this type of mass, coordinated energy that AJR bassist and climate activist Adam Met wants to harness.
"Can we actually capture that power in the concert space and make use of it to get people to do something more?" said Met, who also runs the climate change research and advocacy non-profit Planet Reimagined.
AJR has been filling arenas across the country this summer on its Maybe Man tour with quirky-existential hits like "Bang!" "Burn the House Down" and "World's Smallest Violin."
Along the way, the band has also been collaborating with local nonprofits in each city to inspire concertgoers to take local, policy-based action to help reduce the impacts of human-caused climate change — right there in the arena.
Getting fans to do something more
According to data shared by Planet Reimagined and verified by its local nonprofit partners, concertgoers at AJR's two Salt Lake City shows sent 625 letters and 77 handwritten postcards to Utah legislators calling on them to decrease the amount of water being diverted from the Great Salt Lake.
"In Phoenix, they sent more than 1,000 letters to the city council calling on them to recognize extreme heat as a climate emergency," Met said. "In Chicago, 200 fans sent letters to Illinois legislators urging them to pass the Illinois clean jobs platform, which supports investments in building transportation and the grid."
Those seem like tiny numbers. But they make an impact.
"So if 30, 40 or 50 people are in a live setting and they're being encouraged to support a particular nonprofit’s agenda, and they all send emails at the same time, that is definitely going to get the attention of lawmakers because that’s unusual," said Bradford Fitch, president and CEO of the non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation, which has done research on outreach to lawmakers. "That doesn’t happen very frequently."
Artists for climate activism
A growing number of artists are working to educate ticket-buyers at concerts about human-driven climate change as part of a broader environmental movement in the music industry.
"We're seeing more and more artists and venues and festival teams increasing their ambitions around sustainability overall," said Lucy August-Perna, global head of sustainability for music events promoter and venue operator Live Nation.
Artists like Billie Eilish have discussed the issue on stage.
“Most of this show is being powered by solar right now," Eilish said at last year’s Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. "We really, really need to do a better job of protecting this [expletive] planet."
Many other performers, like Dave Matthews Band, The 1975 and My Morning Jacket, are also inviting activist groups to share information at concert venues.
"We have tables where fans can learn about local climate organizations and basically just connect about climate and sustainability," said Maggie Baird, who oversees Eilish's climate and sustainability efforts. (She's also the rock star's mom.) "I think it's really important that artists use their platforms. They have a unique gift, and they also have a unique responsibility."
"Most of our partner tours have fan actions and things that they can do on site," said Lara Seaver, director of touring and projects at Reverb, which works with touring artists such as Eilish and AJR on implementing their environmental efforts.
Seaver said what sets AJR's engagement work apart to a degree is its consistency and depth. "In every single market, we have something very local and meaningful and impactful happening," she said.
Assessing the impact
According to Planet Reimagined, around 12,000 audience members participated in climate-related civic actions during AJR's tour, such as signing petitions, sending letters, leaving voicemails, registering to vote, making donations and volunteering. An additional 10,500 scanned QR codes and signed up for emails to learn more about an issue.
AJR’s Met said he felt confident they would be responsive: Ticket buyers for concerts and festivals featuring artists like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Dave Matthews Band and many more were polled in the recent Planet Reimagined Amplify: How To Build A Fan Based Climate Movement study, undertaken in collaboration with Live Nation. The majority of respondents said they’d be open to not just learning about climate change, but also would be open to take climate-related actions at these events.
Met said the findings also highlight what artists should do to be effective at each stop on a tour, such as being relevant to the local community. "If it’s affecting them and their community personally, they’re so much more likely to take action," Met said.
Met said the research also shows artists need to model those actions themselves. "Fans have this deep connection to artists," Met said. "So there is so much more impact on fans if the artist says, 'Will you join me in doing this?' As opposed to, 'Will you do this?'"
Putting research into practice
In Denver, fans were able to use their phones to scan a QR code displayed on screen to support a local campaign aimed at getting an initiative on the 2026 Colorado state ballot to phase out new permits for fracking by 2030. A contentious issue in Colorado, the process is used to extract oil and gas. It generates wastewater and emits toxic pollutants and methane, which is a major source of planet-warming pollution. But it’s big business.
Meanwhile, out on the concourse, representatives from 350 Colorado, the local climate change nonprofit that’s running the campaign, chatted up fans.
350 Colorado's Chelsea Alexander told AJR fan Robin Roston that the QR code, "takes you to a form that takes about 20 seconds to complete."
"I think it's a good way to get boots on the ground, chatting with real people who are here to enjoy music, and connecting that with helping the environment," Roston said.
Small steps, big potential
According to 350 Colorado, 179 people took action over the course of AJR's two performances in support of the phase-out fracking campaign. At least 125,000 physical signatures will be needed to get the initiative on the ballot in 2026.
But 350 Colorado representative Bobbie Mooney said every bit helps.
"We often think in terms of a ladder of engagement, where we can invite someone to take a small action and give them a sense of empowerment that they're a part of the solution," Mooney said. "And then we can invite them to take another, maybe greater action. They can join a committee, they can become a part of advocating for a particular bill in our legislature."
Because of the collective energy they create, big, live gatherings such as concerts and sporting events provide a particularly powerful setting to get people on that ladder.
"The fact that everyone around us is doing something makes us dramatically more likely to do it ourselves," said Cindy McPherson Frantz, a professor of psychology and environmental studies at Oberlin College.
But Frantz said it’s not easy for fans to sustain enthusiasm for such things after coming down off that big event high.
"You could get all excited about calling your senator or voting at the rock concert," she said. "And then you go home, a week goes by or a month goes by, and you forgot all about it and you're busy and whatever. And then it just completely evaporates."
Frantz said simply getting fans to talk about climate change at a concert is a win, though. "The power of bringing people together and giving them the sense of, 'I am not alone, I'm not the only person scared about this, I'm not the only person working on this problem,' is a huge antidote to the hopelessness and the helplessness that comes from being isolated."
Copyright 2024 NPR
