REGULARS HOME GROWN Whether it be world tours or studio construction, Gareth Stuckey is determined not to leave his mark! Instead he’s headed for neutral ground, where the air is clean and the beer is free.

Text: Brad Watts

During October this year I extricated myself HOT COLD & NEUTRAL GS: Exactly, and the rooms are also fully floating to from the AT editorial bunker and headed up Brad Watts: So tell me more about the carbon improve isolation, cooling and air movement. The to my old neighbourhood of Surry Hills in . neutral aspect of your operation Gareth. I gather new walls are two inches off the structural cement, The aim was to chase up a few tips I’d received there are a lot of issues surrounding the studio’s and there’s damp-proof Isofoam in the cavity. The regarding studios of interest in the district. My carbon neutrality. floor then floats on 25mm Isofoam flooring. I’m initial destination of appeal was the industrious, and Gareth Stuckey: Definitely. Firstly we had to look really happy with it so far. the best aspect of it is literally underground operation of Gigpiglet at the ventilation. Obviously air-conditioning was that we’ve achieved a pretty constant temperature Headquarters, a well equipped production facility out of the question; it’s just too expensive to run and without the enormous carbon footprint. Okay, so it’s run by the very capable Mr Gareth Stuckey. incredibly environmentally unfriendly. But because a bit cooler in winter and a bit warmer in summer, Gareth has been mixing front of house and tour Gigpiglet Headquarters is underground it can also but overall it’s quite liveable without the usual power managing a number of acts over the last decade: get quite damp. To resolve all this I employed a hungry ‘studio’ style air-conditioning. Thirsty Merc, George and his mainstay gig of ventilation specialist who came in and measured BW: Has this always been an ambition for recent years, the inimitable . up the volume of the rooms and ascertained the air Gigpiglet? More recently – after MGF’s demise in 2005 – its movement required to manage both the internal GS: I got involved in the carbon-neutral pursuit enigmatic lead vocalist, Pinky Beecroft (a.k.a. Matt temperature and the humidity – now there are 12 as it became more prominent a few years ago. I’ve Ford), has been rekindling his love of perspiring fans throughout the building that extract air. They’re always been a bit of a hippie anyway. I don’t drive a Australian gigging life with his band, Pinky not silent, mind you; you can hear them ticking car, I get on my bike. It’s all about the simple things Beecroft and the White Russians. The outfit is away but you can turn them all off when required. you can do. Obviously I’m not anti-transport – quite a departure from the alternative electronica The air is replaced about three times an hour while riding my bike simply means one less car on the gyrations of MGF, and Beecroft has shown a return they’re running so the relative humidity – at its road. to some pensive song writing and more traditional worst – is only about 2% above the levels outside the production ethics – all while keeping the majority building. I’ve just been in China for a weekend doing a show of his clothes on. In charge of production, recording over there and I simply couldn’t believe it – it’s BW: So the air-con is keeping the dampness under and mixing has been Gareth Stuckey, who I planned horrible. The smog is just incredible! We never control as well as cooling the spaces? to chat with about the making of Pinky’s record, want to live like that here, let me tell you. So for Somethin’ Somewhere Better. But while we all like to discuss record making, it became apparent that there was an issue of far greater import than the making of yet another album (apologies Mr Beecroft). What’s interesting about Gareth’s working ethic is the lengths he’ll go to keep the production process as carbon neutral as possible. One wouldn’t initially believe that record production could be such a contributor to global warming, but like everything we humans do on this planet, its waste products and power consumption damage the environment. Using electricity, driving fossil fuel-reliant vehicles to and fro’ studios and rehearsals, air-conditioning and CD packaging are all aspects of the recording process.

AT 54 my part, I’m trying to live my life with a sensitivity to the environment around me, and my impact on it. It’s a sustainability thing. And the whole point of educating people about this is to encourage everyone to do their bit. If everyone takes little steps towards using less energy, we’ll all be much better off. BW: You’re certainly passionate about the concept. GS: Absolutely, it’s very important. I like the world! I’ll probably have kids one day and I’d like them to enjoy the world too. People often hassle me about it, but I’m not saying you’ve got to completely change your entire life, or avoid everything that’s detrimental to the environment. You’re not going to change the urban landscape 100% overnight but you can certainly make a difference. CLIMATE FRIENDLY BW: So how are you tackling the other aspects like electricity use in the studio? GS: A company called Climate Friendly is doing it for me. These guys measure, assess, offset, reduce, renew, and then reassess your carbon footprint. Just like anyone doing any kind of audit, they try and analyse what’s happening in your life as precisely as possible, to see what your work practices are like and how they can be made more efficient. BW: So that means measuring your electricity use, water use and how much fuel you burn? GS: Yep, all of those aspects. What’s fascinating about it is that a lot of your consumption can be traced back to the way you choose to do things. A big part of my lifestyle nowadays involves doing everything as locally as possible. I’ve been living in Waterloo for seven years or so now, and in that time I’ve managed to get this whole building fitted out with materials from this suburb alone. The plasterboard and timber were from a hardware store that’s literally a block from here. I even Pinky Beecroft & the White Russians’ album is borrowed their big wheelie tray to wheel it all back barred from Woolworths here! A lot of the building materials are also from and K Mart because it’s not in a plastic jewel there, but I also use recycled materials wherever case. The cover is made possible. Unfortunately that’s just a small portion of recycled paper and/ of my overall footprint. When I’m touring, I’m or plantation timber and printed with soy inks. flying everywhere, so when you look at the chart of my business’ ‘environmental outgoings’, air travel constitutes about 75% of it. BW: So how do you begin to tackle all that aviation fuel being chewed up?

AT 55 GS: Again, that’s where Climate Friendly really FRIENDLY FOOTPRINTS

comes into play. It calculates the C02 tonnage you’re To get a clearer idea of how Climate Friendly get accountable for by auditing your flight milage. things rolling, I spoke with its Communications You then pay them accordingly and they ‘offset’ Executive, Jessica Miller. my footprint by using that money to generate new Brad Watts: So Jessica, can you fill me in on just renewable energy sources. how you go about making Gigpiglet carbon neutral? BW: Surely there’s still the worry though that How does the process actually work from Climate Climate Friendly mightn’t be doing the right thing Friendly’s perspective? with your dollars at the other end? Jessica Miller: I guess the first thing to mention is GS: Exactly. This is why Climate Friendly is backed that we don’t tend to use the term ‘carbon-neutral’. by the World Wildlife Federation and accredited The term is becoming increasingly throwaway. We by the Australian Government. All its projects tend to use the term ‘climate-friendly’, and then try are independently audited afterwards by the and get people to think about what their carbon Voluntary Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, and footprint is, where the emissions actually come the Australian GreenPower program. It invests the from, and then what they can do to measure it, money into things like green power, wind farms, as reduce it, and ultimately offset it. What we did with well as supporting and funding other projects that the Gigpiglet crew was initially send through a form will continue to offset my carbon outgoings into the that asked for some information about Gigpiglet’s future. enterprises and, from there, look at where most of the emissions of the business come from. As it Another thing we’ve done at Gigpiglet is offer ‘offset’ turned out, the largest proportion of emissions was tickets at our live shows. For $3 extra you can offset actually from air travel – about 74% of Gigpiglet’s your average Sydneysider’s day out, even if they total footprint. make no effort of their own. So anyone buying a ticket to our shows can choose to do that – it’s BW: So how is that information ascertained? three bucks so it’s not a big outlay. That money JM: It’s a pretty simple process that starts with a goes through an account – not to me – that’s been data collection form. We gather all the data from setup through Oztix, who pays it directly to Climate activities that release greenhouse gas emissions – Friendly. It then invests it in all the right places. things like air travel, taxis and car rental, electricity, A few venues we use have also expressed interest in waste paper, and couriers… stuff like that. You look Green tickets, so I’ve hooked them up with Climate at how many kilowatts of energy you’re using each Friendly as well. Hopefully, the Jive Bar in Adelaide quarter, look at your invoices from all your taxis, and The Annandale in Sydney will be offering put your head out the window and check how many the same thing soon. From there the whole thing bins you’ve got full out the front, and how many snowballs hopefully. It’s a classic example of that old reams of paper you’re buying each quarter, and then adage, ‘from little things, big things grow’. Then of we go from there. We use the Intergovernmental course there’s CD packaging to worry about. Panel for Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is the international standard for BW: By packaging I presume you mean the jewel measuring emissions output. case? BW: So a separate body correlates that information GS: Exactly. If you look at the packaging of the with how much carbon is emitted? White Russians disc, you’ll notice it’s completely cardboard. Firstly I’d realised that plastic is shit, JM: Primarily yes. We’ve got our own technorati it’s a killer – there’s so much waste associated with carbon geeks that work it all out as well, but we go it, and that’s aside from the waste incurred from by the best international practice in terms of what its initial manufacture. So I designed this cover in the actual emissions factors are. Those protocols conjunction with our distributor, Inertia. We’ve and standards are decided by the United Nations dispensed with the jewel case – it’s a big chunk of predominantly, on the advice of scientists that work ugly plastic we don’t need anyway, and often that’s in the field. And those systems are pretty standard wrapped in plastic again for shipment to the shops. across the globe. We’ve gotta stop using them. But although it’s an BW: So what happens then? How does your easy thing to say, so far it’s proved difficult to do. company balance this up? BW: Why is that? JM: Well, we do the calculations that determine GS: Well the battle at the moment is trying to get the size of the footprint, and bear in mind we’re cardboard packaging into the Woolworths and dealing with emissions that have already occurred K-Mart stores; apparently their security systems – carbon that’s already out there. So if you’re super require a jewel case. We’ve designed this on 100% keen you can go, “right, I wanna get rid of that recycled or plantation timber. It’s printed with footprint so I’m gonna offset the whole lot right soy inks, folds out, looks beautiful, and there’s not now.” To do this the client pays us a figure, and then Above: Jessica Miller at Splendour in the Grass, a trace of plastic in it. Yet these big chains won’t we source carbon credits, usually from wind power ‘manning’ the Climate accept the format! It’s crazy when recycled card is projects internationally. We invest in renewable Friendly booth. becoming cheaper. I’ve noticed just from printing energy sources that don’t produce greenhouse gas A3 posters, where two or three years ago I’d print emissions, or alternative energy sources that are 500 posters on recycled paper for around $1,000. more economically viable than coal-fired energy, Now it’s around $500. It’s all becoming cheaper, because coal is one of the biggest causes of climate everybody’s just got to take these expenses on as change. part of everyday life. BW: So you track down other companies that are putting together programs that fit the criteria?

AT 56 JM: Yeah, the problem is that because coal is so cheap, you’ve gotta dangle a pretty big carrot in front of investors to get them to back wind power. So if they’re able to generate an income over time through selling carbon credits, that’s a really good incentive. That’s our main agenda. There are two standards of projects we support: the Gold Standard and Voluntary Carbon Standard Projects. Basically what that means is there are independent auditors and assessments of these projects to make sure that they’re not all a load of crap, and that some businessman doesn’t run away with the cash in a suitcase. We’re also making sure the projects don’t cause more environmental damage than they aim to repair and that the communities these projects operate within are gaining a benefit as well. We also make sure that the credits being generated aren’t being double-sold. We have to verify the entire process. BW: So, in a nutshell, if a business wants to build wind power generators and they need investment for it, you guys can channel funds towards that project? JM: Yep, that’s what we do. We’re constantly looking for projects we can either help establish or continue to maintain through funding, but we only support projects that meet these criteria to make sure We’ve dispensed “ they’re actually having a positive impact. The way with the jewel case to recognise these is to look for a Voluntary Carbon – it’s a big chunk of Standard Project or a Gold Standard Project. ugly plastic we BW: I imagine there must be heaps of shonky don’t need anyway, dealers in this game at the moment. and often that’s JM: Oh yeah, dozens of them. But we’re also wrapped in plastic a member of an international group of offset again for shipment providers who are gung-ho and making sure the to the shops. We’ve industry remains credible and that there are some gotta stop using principles in place. There has to be confidence in them. the process. BW: So who’s getting in on the act? JM: Some of my favorite clients are small businesses ” that are super committed. I’ve got a hairdresser in Glebe who doesn’t buy a lot of offsets but he’s gone one better by managing to find ways to reduce his energy consumption within the salon. The music industry’s also really supportive. Splendour in the Grass has been a massive supporter from the very beginning, Missy Higgins is outstanding, Blue King Brown are outstanding, Powderfinger are outstanding (their Grand National Tour was incredibly successful in this regard), , Crowded House… there’s too many to mention. One of my colleagues has his own thing going where he does these amazing festival recycling programs. He encourages people onsite to recycle by giving them drink tokens when they return their containers. It’s basically a ‘recycle for beer’ enterprise, it’s fantastic! And it’s so effective. The whole ground is immaculate because people are picking up their rubbish, taking it to the container recycling stations and getting beer tokens in exchange. And it marks a cultural shift as well; it’s not just that prescriptive greenie, hit-you-with-a- stick-until-you-recycle mentality, it’s really engaging – people feel like they can make a difference. BW: Awesome, I’d be picking up stuff for beer, for sure!

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