PICTURED: Rick Hip-Flores (keyboard) and Nik Walker. Photo by Michael Hull, courtesy Broadway Green Alliance.

Earth Day is April 22, and we want to make sure Local 802 members know about the Broadway Green Alliance! We are an industry-wide initiative that educates, motivates, and inspires the entire theatre community and its patrons to implement environmentally friendlier practices on Broadway and beyond. As a community of industry and environmental professionals connected by the shared goal of normalizing greening practices on Broadway and beyond, the Broadway Green Alliance has successfully implemented significant sustainability reform at the forefront of the industry since its inception in 2008.

(We interrupt this article for a quick plug! Theatre musicians: become a Green Captain at your show! In addition to supporting general sustainability efforts, Green Captains can focus on actions in the pit, such as setting up an instrument string recycling collection. Learn more here.)

The Broadway Green Alliance was launched in 2008 as an ad hoc committee of the Broadway League. (We are also a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.) We host a wide range of programs at the intersection of theatre and sustainability — from reuse and recycling drives in Times Square to a nationwide network of green theatre advocates. We cultivate a space for theatre makers and fans to work toward the well-being of all people and our planet, and build a sustainable theatre movement on Broadway and beyond.

Our impact

• We developed free and accessible educational resources, like our brand new Production and Design Toolkit (including a section for musicians!), to help advance our industry’s sustainable production practices.
• We led the change of all the marquee lights on Broadway to energy-efficient LED and CFLs. That’s over 100,000 actual bulbs and saves over 800 tons of carbon each year.
• There is 100 percent Green Captain participation on Broadway, with over 1,600 Green Captains across the country on Broadway, Off Broadway, regional theatres, and colleges and universities.
• We have an active College Green Captain program at over 100 colleges and universities, providing free educational and engagement opportunities to student artists and climate activists.
• Kept over 24,000 pounds of textiles out of landfills since 2008 through our textile reuse and recycling drives and our BGA collection bin in the Actors Equity Building.
• Kept over 63,000 pounds of electronics out of landfills since 2008 through our e-waste reuse and recycling drives.
• Expanding our ongoing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access work; there is no climate justice without racial justice.
• Shows now wash costumes in energy efficient washers (generously donated by LG Electronics), which saves enough energy to light the outside and marquee lights for nearly two months.
• Most shows now use rechargeable batteries in microphones and flashlights, keeping thousands of toxic disposable batteries from the waste stream every month. Switching to rechargeable batteries is easy, saves money, and is better for the environment.
• We hold electronic-waste and textile recycling events twice a year — free and open to all — in Times Square. Check our Web site for the next one.
• We operate a free binder exchange (in our office at Broadway Cares and at Actors’ Equity) where anyone can drop-off or pick-up binders, many of which are used in readings and rehearsals. This keeps binders out of the waste stream and encourages re-use. Since 2008, we have kept over 10,000 binders reused and recirculated across NYC.
• Touring productions reported recycling programs and green product use at over 80 percent of theatres. The Touring Green program has offset over 10,000 tons of carbon through Native Energy.

The Broadway Green Alliance and Times Square Alliance are proud to announce that Broadway will once again raise its voice for the planet as the Broadway Celebrates Earth Day concert returns for the fourth year on Saturday, April 26 from 11 to 3, presented by SUMMIT One Vanderbilt. Taking place in Times Square’s Pedestrian Plaza, the concert serves as a marquee event for the NYC Department of Transportation’s city wide “Car-Free Earth Day” and will highlight the theatre community’s ongoing efforts to combat the climate crisis with actionable steps. Fans can tune in from around the world through the livestream hosted by Stars in the House.

Learn more about us and join us at www.broadwaygreen.com

Information in this article from www.broadwaygreen.com