It was announced last week that Radiohead will be performing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on Wednesday. As you may know Radiohead are a British band firmly committed to reducing their carbon footprint. Thom Yorke is even designing his house so that it is heated naturally using soil (more on that later.) In order to reduce their carbon footprint on this occasion they have opted to appear on the show by satellite link.
This has caused a huge backlash for Radiohead with plenty of American fans being outraged by the move. By not flying over the Atlantic Ocean they’ll be saving resources for Gaia. Some fans are wondering if they should reduce their carbon footprint by not turning up to the show. This seems harsh considering the band are just leading by example.
Radiohead are so committed to reducing their carbon footprint they have bought two sets of instruments stored on different continents for when they do world tours. Thom Yorke has also teamed up with Friends of the Earth to promote their climate change campaign The Big Ask. As part of this Thom Yorke has edited the March edition of the Observer Magazine.
So there we have it. Is Thom Yorke and Radiohead right to stick to their guns and not travel to America or are they depriving their fans who keep them in business? The team here at Ethical and Green think that Radiohead deserve respect for standing by their beliefs and leading by example.
Laura said,
May 12, 2008 @ 8:03 am
I agree, good on Radiohead for sticking to their guns- it wold be hypocrisy if they continued to jet-set all over the world while telling others to reduce their environmental impact. Ive always admired Radiohead for this kind of attitude, more power to them!
nick said,
May 20, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
This is a Conan O’Brien show, so while many in his audience could be Radiohead fans, they are not there to see a concert, they’re there to see a late night talk show. That Radiohead chose to do the show via satellite link won’t affect the great majority of fans watching on their TVs. I do feel bad for Conan not being able to walk over and shake Thom’s hand though…that’s something you can’t get via satellite.