Radiohead is taking their green message to the streets. Or, more precisely, they're taking their fans off of the streets. Frontman Thom Yorke has committed to only play at venues which are easily accessible by mass transit.

“We are trying to concentrate as much as we can on playing places with some form of transport infrastructure other than cars. and encouraging you lot as politely as we can without sounding preachy to consider car sharing if other things are not available,” said Yorke on his personal blog.

Earlier this year, Radiohead was named the “World's Greenest Band” by NME music. The rating reflects the group's effort to reduce their carbon footprint while on tour. Sting and the Police were near the bottom of the list, largely because their big stadium venues far from city centers mean that fans typically need to drive significant distances to shows.

Radiohead's using their super-stardom to keep spreading their environmental, pro-carectomy message. Yorke launched his Big Ask campaign in 2005 in an effort to get EU countries to lower their emissions by 3% per year.

As Yorke told the Daily Star:

We will never wake from the nightmare of climate change unless our national governments and the European Union act. They are the only ones who can put the structures in place that will help us tackle climate change.

By committing to annual cuts in our emissions at a national and European level we can play our part in tackling climate change and set an example to the rest of the world to follow."

The Radiohead members also look to lead by example in their own private lives. “I am trying to build a system under my house that heats it naturally from the ground," Yorke told a Friends of the Earth assembly in Brussels.

“One of the conditions of the band carrying on touring is that we do everything we can to minimize our impact on the environment. That has included buying two lots of equipment and keeping one in Europe and one in America so we never have to fly our kit around the world again.”

Photo via flickr by Samuel Stroube.

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Geoff said:

Hey we are organising a completely car free gig. We are even carrying all the bands' equipment to the event by bike and running on 100% accredddited greenpower. VeloRock 2008 - The bicycle powered indie gig Date: March 29; 2pm - 7pm Venue: Brunswick Velodrome, Harrison Street, on the Merri Creek. Come and see The LuckSmiths, Mid-state Orange, The Crayon Fields and other Melbourne indie bands at the Brunswick Velodrome. VeloRock is special because all the bands and their equipment will be transported to the venue by bicycle and the event will be run on 100% greenpower. VeloRock is a demonstration of the unrealised utility of the bicycle, human power and sustainable energy. And amazingly, this event is FREE, ALL AGES and ALL BICYCLE ! Website: http://www.velorock.net/

March 23, 2008 | url

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