Last month, Rte was certified by 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging their resources to create a healthier planet. Members recognize their responsibility to and dependence on a healthy environment and donate at least 1% of their annual net revenues to environmental organizations worldwide. The alliance aims to prove that taking environmental responsibility is good for business.

1% for the Planet maintains a database of nonprofit organizations they have researched to ensure credibility and alignment with environmental criteria. They do this to ensure that the organizations supported by 1% for the Planet business members are bona fide environmental groups with a clear mission and objectives and a track record of effective environmental projects.

Each for-profit member contributes 1% of its net annual sales to any of the environmental organizations listed in its database. In an effort to reduce attendant bureaucracy and encourage members to develop independent relationships with the groups they support, member companies disburse their own contributions. To maintain membership and use of the 1% for the Planet member logo, 1% for the Planet annually certifies that member companies have granted at least 1% of net revenues to approved environmental organizations. For profit members of 1% for the Planet include companies like Patagonia and Nautilus as well as artists like Jack Johnson.

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SCI Rocks the Earth

Photo by C. Taylor Crothers

As mentioned in our April newsletter, on April 2 and 3, The String Cheese Incident held two benefit concerts at Suede in Park City, Utah, in which some of the proceeds went to Rock the Earth. As a result of these shows, we are very happy to report that SCI has generously donated $5,000 to Rock the Earth. Thanks again to SCI, Madison House, and most notably, JC Barber, for helping to make this happen.

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Festivals That Rock (the Earth)!

Rock the Earth is ready to hit the road again this summer, traversing the country to reach out musicians and music fans across the land! We are traveling from coast to coast, mobilizing and informing the music community in a massive effort to stop the advances of the destructive forces acting upon our planet. Together we need to make our voices heard in order to protect our beautiful, natural places!

Last year Rte tabled over 50 concerts and festivals and with the help of our Volunteer Staff and volunteers around the country we hope to do even more this year! Already on our tour schedule we have the Summer Camp in Chillicothe, IL (May 27-29), Appalachian Uprising in Scottstown, OH (June 2-4), Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN (June 10-12), The 27th Annual Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, CA (June 11-12), All Good Music Festival in Masontown, WV (July 15-17), and 10,000 Lakes Music Festival in Detroit Lakes, MN (July 21-24) with many more to come!

We will be joining together with our friends in Reverb on the Zooma Tour this summer featuring Trey Anastasio and Ben Harper. We will also be participating in the BIG Summer Classic (featuring SCI, Spearhead, Umphrey's McGee, Keller Williams, Yonder Mountain String Band, and New Monsoon) at select venues around the country, as well as Ani DiFranco concerts and other musical events. Please stay tuned to our website for more concert dates that will be announced soon! Stop by our booth to sign up for membership or contact us in advance if would like to help us out by volunteering.

Keep the Scene Green & Clean!

We all enjoy clean, beautiful places so we must each do our part to keep the music scene green and clean this summer, setting an example for responsible action and respect for our mother. By simply reducing our trash and helping to remind others of our responsibility to protect the planet, we can all help to Defend the Planet One Beat at a Time. Don't forget that individually we can all make a great impact. Organize a small group of fans to clean up the parking lot and venue after a show or festival, offer to take recycling in for traveling music fans, or better yet help set up a recycling station at the venue! There are lots of ways we can all help to keep the planet beautiful while enjoying the scenery of new places or those in your own backyard. Remember what you can do and encourage others to help out in whatever way they can. And, of course, don't forget to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!

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Mimi Fishman Foundation Rocks the Earth!

Rte is pleased to announce that the Mimi Fishman Foundation is holding an on-line auction of rock 'n roll memorabilia to benefit Rock the Earth and our friends at Conscious Alliance. Signed posters from the Rte benefit concerts, limited edition batiks, and some rare rock art are just some of the items up for auction. All winning bidders in the auction also receive a membership (or membership renewal, if applicable) to Rte. For further details or to bid on the auction items, go to www.mimifishman.org and click on the word, "Auction". Hurry -- the auction ends June 1!

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A Plethora of Summertime Benefits for Rte Members

Rte is proud to announce our initial list of Members Only discounted festival and concert tickets as well as exciting Meet & Greet opportunities at Bonnaroo. If you are a member of Rock the Earth, you can order tickets to certain festivals through Rte at a discount. In addition, if you are willing to volunteer to assist in tabling these festivals for a few hours a day, tickets can be even further discounted. For more information on purchasing these tickets or to volunteer to help us at these events, write to us at membership@RockTheEarth.net!

DON'T FORGET: If you are a member of Rte, you are entitled to 20% off all gear from SCI Gear! Write to membership@RockTheEarth.net for more information.

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What's the Deal with Biodiesel?

» What is Biodiesel?

Biodiesel is one of the fastest growing alternative fuel choices available. Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel that is often confused with other alternative fuels currently available. Biodiesel is not ethanol and is not the same as running your diesel engine on pure vegetable oil or animal fats.

While biodiesel is made from vegetable oils and animal fats it is created in a chemical process known as transesterification. This process removes the glycerin from the oils and animal fats and creates the bi-product methyl ester (the chemical name of biodiesel).

Biodiesel can be used as a pure fuel or can be blended with conventional diesel at any level to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in diesel engines with little or no modification and has been found to have similar fuel consumption, torque, horsepower and haulage rates when compared to conventional diesel. Biodiesel also has the highest BTU rating of any alternative fuel and offers superior lubrication.

» What are its environmental benefits?

Biodiesel is made from renewable resources that are found here in the United States. Its use decreases our dependence on foreign oil and decreases our need to explore for oil in pristine areas of the United States while also contributing to our own economy.

Use of biodiesel, when compared to conventional diesel, significantly reduces the amount of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. The emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates, common in acid rain, are essentially eliminated. The overall smog forming potential of biodiesel is 50% less than that of conventional diesel. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have successfully completed the Tier I and II health effects testing requirement of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Biodiesel has a positive energy balance. For every unit of energy needed to create biodiesel, 3.2 units of energy are gained.

» Where can I get biodiesel and how can I learn more?

Biodiesel is available nationwide through biodiesel producers and marketers, petroleum distributors and a growing number of public pumps.

The National Biodiesel Board is a great place to learn more about biodiesel and can help you locate the nearest biodiesel station or distributor.

» For more information, visit www.biodiesel.org.

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Advisory Board Member Bob Lippman Rocks The Earth

Rte Advisory Board Member Bob Lippman with Marc and Barbara Ross

In this month's spotlight, we wanted to interview one of Rock the Earth's Advisory Board Members. We chose to speak with Robert "Bob" Lippman who currently serves on the Castle Valley (Utah) Town Council. Over the course of a 25-year career, Bob has been an attorney, a college professor, a river guide, and an activist, primarily in Arizona and Utah. Prior to attending law school, Bob worked as a river guide in the Grand Canyon, and served as a ranger in the National Park Service, Volunteer in Parks program (Grand Canyon National Park, 1975-1976). He chaired the Environmental Law Society at the University of San Francisco (1978-1979), and interned with Friends of the Earth (1978-1979). In 1981, Bob founded the Colorado Plateau Office of Friends of the River, directing that office in Flagstaff for 7 years. During that time he served on the board of the Western River Guides Association (Arizona Chairman, 1983-1984), and later co-founded the Colorado Plateau Ecology Alliance (1993-95). Bob and his wife, Pamala Hackley, a soils scientist from Helena, Mt., recently constructed and joyfully moved into their off-grid, passive solar, adobe and rastra home in Castle Valley. They immensely enjoy live music, rowing their dory down the Colorado River and its tributaries, and waxing poetic about the life, times and philosophical explorations of Edward Abbey.

Rte: What environmental issue(s) do you consider to be the most critical at this time?

There are so many issues facing us today, I would say the most critical are, in no particular order:

• Fossil fuel reliance
• Greenhouse emissions
• Global warming
• Loss/destruction of habitat and wilderness, leading to extinction, and ecological collapse
• Toxic chemicals and emissions
• Agricultural and fishery issues (depletion, toxics, & GMO's)

Rte: What has inspired you to combine environmental activism with your music?

Music is love; Nature is home; everything is interconnected and in-love. Music is a powerful, consciousness raising, integrating and activating force that can bring humans back into harmony with nature and each other.

RtE: Where is your favorite place in nature to go to find solace or inspiration?

The Canyons of the Colorado river and it's tributaries.

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Rockin the Earth at The Canyons in Park City, UT

RtE Membership & Outreach Chairperson Lori Gray ridin' the rail at SCI in Park City

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