Based on this calculation, the band allocates a portion of tour profits to invest in various environmental projects that serve to offset or mitigate the carbon dioxide that was released into the atmosphere.
The following is a look at Pearl Jam's carbon mitigation projects to date:
2011 and Beyond - Forterra C3 and Arlington Arbor Day
Pearl Jam's donation will go toward improving native forest conditions at Discovery Park by planting enough Pacific Northwest native conifer trees to sequester 20,000 tonnes of CO2 over 100 years.
In 2011, Stone personally purchased $8,000 worth of native plants on 4.6 acres as an additional offset as part of Washington State’s Arlington Arbor Day celebration. Stone and volunteers worked to plant more than 500 native shrubs and trees in the city's new Country Charm Recreation and Conservation Area, the former Graafstra dairy farm.
* Measurement based on the following estimate: Pearl Jam is seeking to offset 20,000 tons of carbon for every 7 legs of tour, given that our carbon output per tour leg is approximately 2000 metric tons per tour.
2009 & 2010 - Cascade Land Conservancy Puget Sound Planting
VIDEO: Stone Gossard discusses the Pearl Jam/CLC partnership.
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2007 & 2008 - Conservation International La Laguna De Cube Project
Pearl Jam donated over $78,000 from the band's 2007 and 2008 tours to Conservation International's La Laguna de Cube project in the Esmeraldas Province in Ecuador. Restoration took place in the Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve, a 300,000-acre reserve established by Ecuador’s Ministry of the Environment and contains the Laguna de Cube, which was declared a “wetland of international importance.”
Conservation International’s restoration efforts add another layer of protection to this critical remnant of Ecuador’s coastal rainforest that is home to a number of unique plant and animal species, including the jaguar, the long wattled umbrella bird, the giant anteater and the threatened mantled Howler monkey. As this regenerated forest grows, it will absorb more than 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the next 30 years, provide habitat protection for endangered plant and animal species and direct support for local communities.
2006 - Carbon Portfolio Strategy
Through the Carbon Portfolio Strategy, Pearl Jam donated a total of $100,000 to nine organizations doing innovative work around climate change, renewable energy, and the environment.
Donations went to: American Solar Energy Society, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Conservation International, Green Empowerment, Honor the Earth, Cascade Land Conservancy, IslandWood, EarthCorps and the Washington Clean Energy Initiative. The band’s investment to Conservation International from this effort was used to help restore degraded tropical forests in Ecuador through replanting of native species of plants and trees.
2004 - Vote For Change Tour Renewable Energy Project
Stone Gossard spearheaded an effort on the 2004 Vote for Change tour called the "Vote for Change Renewable Energy Project." This initiative raised over $77,000 to fund a variety of small-scale renewable energy projects in several of the states through which the tour traveled. Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt, Pearl Jam and Stone Gossard individually donated money to this effort, which was overseen by Tom Starrs of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. 2003 - Conservation International Partnership For "Carbon Neutral" Tour
Pearl Jam joined forces with Conservation International to help make the band's world tour "carbon neutral." Pearl Jam's contribution of $85,000 offset 5,700 metric tons of CO2 by creating and managing a new protected area in the rainforest of Makira, Madagascar.