Rock the Earth gears up for another Greening Jam Cruise effort!

For a second year, RtE will be facilitating the greening program for Jam Cruise. GREENING JAM CRUISE is a grassroots, fan-driven effort to bring a high degree of environmental and social awareness to the Jam Cruise adventure. We will be working with MSC Cruise Line and an assortment of green sponsors and partner organizations to ensure a minimal footprint as we sail through the Caribbean. Some of the things we are cooking up for Jam Cruise 5 are:

• Recycling in partnership with Clean Vibes
• Resource Conservation
   - towel/linen reuse program
   - recycled paper
   - transition from bottled to keg beer
   - water filtration (reduction of disposable water bottle consumption)
• Non-toxic, biodegradable soaps
• CO2 offsetting with tree planting in partnership with Trees for the Future
• Leaving a Positive Legacy program
• Eco-friendly merchandise selections
• Eco-friendly gifts for our passengers
• Passenger Education
• Artist Participation
• Organic, fair trade and yerba mate
• Onboard silent auction

Social Change through Music Panel Discussion
As part of Rock the Earth's Greening Jam Cruise program, Rock the Earth will once again be hosting a private, interactive educational program on "Social Change through Music." Only the first 100 lucky individuals will be able to attend this exclusive event, which will be moderated by RtE Executive Director Marc Ross, and will feature several Jam Cruise artists and activists speaking about how social issues impact their work as artists. Confirmed artists include ALO's Zach Gill, Railroad Earth's Tim Carbone, Hot Buttered Rum's Aaron Redner, Zero's Martin Fierro, Perpetual Groove's Matt McDonald, and other artists to be announced later. Hot Buttered Rum will also provide a brief tutorial on the everyday use of biofuels as well as some musical interludes that are sure to be memorable. In addition, attendees will have an opportunity to taste fine Italian and domestic wines as well as different microbrew beers donated by Colorado's eco-friendly New Belgium Brewery, O’Dell Brewing Company and Georgia’s Terrapin Brewing Company . This event will be held on Wednesday, January 3, from 3-5 p.m. in the Byblos Discotheque (Deck La Bohème). Tickets are now available for $20 here. All proceeds will go towards Rock the Earth's Greening Jam Cruise project in furtherance of their mission to Defend the Planet One Beat at a Time. Only 100 tickets will be available, so get them now and don't miss out on one of the most unique events on Jam Cruise!

Tree Planting
Once again we will be partnering with Trees for the Future to plant trees in the region we are traveling to. Tree planting is an excellent way to remove CO2 from the global atmosphere. Jam Cruise passengers will have the opportunity to make donations for tree plantings, which will allow us to offset the CO2 emissions generated by Jam Cruise and by each passenger's personal travel to/from Fort Lauderdale. For every $10 donated by passengers, 1000 trees will be planted! Due to the generous donations from Jam Cruise 4 passengers, we were able to plant 51,000 trees in Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula. To find out more about Trees for the Future, responsible for planting more than 40 million trees around the world over the past 30 years, you can check out their website at www.plant-trees.org.

Silent Auction
Jam Cruise passengers will find a staggering array of items to bid on -- signed instruments and band merchandise, festival packages, photography, original artwork, eco-friendly products and more! Proceeds from the auction will help to offset the cost of implementing the Greening Jam Cruise program, and will support Rock the Earth's year-round efforts to Defend the Planet One Beat at a Time.

If you have something that you would like to donate to the Greening Jamcruise auction, please email Lori Gray at LoriG@RockTheEarth.org!

Biodiesel R&D
We are excited to have a biodiesel expert onboard with us for Jam Cruise 5, John Long with Blue Sun Biodiesel. Together we are working on R&D for a future biodiesel application on Jam Cruise.