If you’re a music fan with extra change in your pocket, chances are you shelled out a paycheck or two to catch your favorite bands at a festival this summer. Each year, thousands of people travel across the nation to see topnotch acts perform at popular festivals including Sasquatch! in George, Washington and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee. Goldenvoice/AEG Live Events excitedly announced this year that it would bring its well-known Coachella festival (held in Indio, California every April) to the East coast in the form of All Points West. For the first time ever, All Points West was held on August 8, 9, and 10 against the breathtaking backdrop of Lady Liberty in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park.

The first two days of the festival had the most popular ticket sales, thanks to Radiohead, which headlined both nights. For diehard fans, the weekend turned into a test of endurance and ultimately, a proclamation of dedication to the England-based quintet. In a vigorous attempt to reserve front row spots, over a hundred fans fought the heat as they waited outside the Blue Comet stage for nine hours on both days. Radiohead, on tour to promote its latest album “In Rainbows”, wowed its loyal audiences with its LED light show and catalog of new songs and old favorites. The band alternated each night’s encore between “Everything in Its Right Place” and “Idioteque.” Front man Thom Yorke dedicated the band’s performance of “Pyramid Song” to “a very hectic” New York City, which, in accordance with the song’s theme, has lost and yet gained so much since the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Other artists performing during the first two days of All Points West were The Roots, Metric, Girl Talk, Kings of Leon and Andrew Bird. The third day featured festival veteran Jack Johnson as well as Cat Power and Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals. Some bands that played at the festival have new albums out this year: The Roots’ “Rising Down” was released in April, while Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” is due out in September.

While All Points West made every effort to differentiate itself from its West coast counterpart, it has contributed to the ever-growing trend among festivals by using music as a platform to spread environmental awareness. For the past two years, Coachella has partnered with Global Inheritance to host a recycling program that rewards people with one free water bottle for every ten they recycle. Lollapalooza, which was held in Chicago in August, boasted an entire “Green Street” area where fans could try free samples from whole food stands and shop for band merchandise and crafts made out of bamboo and other sustainable materials.

These festivals’ main attractions, the musicians, have been very vocal in this new approach to expanding environmentally conscious decisions to the masses. At All Points West, curious festival attendees had the opportunity to educate themselves through interactive booths set up by The Village Green, provided by Jack Johnson and All At Once. Johnson has been demanding that recycling bins be set up at every venue he performs, for the purpose of encouraging eco-friendly habits among his fans. On its official web site, Radiohead stressed that fan travel made a big impact on its overall carbon output on previous tours. Thus, the band has chosen to play at venues with access to public transportation, in an experimental move to minimize its tour’s carbon footprint. Liberty State Park seemed like an ideal candidate to hold an eco-friendly festival, as it’s easily accessible by ferry and light rail, which lends to substantial reductions in the amount of carbon emission from vehicles.

So far, the environmental efforts of music festivals have increased awareness of an issue very pertinent to society. Including artists in the environmentalist influences their fans as well.

Erin Coleman (Scripps ’11), who attended Lollapalooza this year, applauded musicians while acknowledging the connection between art and current issues. “Fans often support their favorite bands because they can relate to the music,” says Erin. “To use a concert to raise awareness on an issue important to the bands should resonate with many fans and create a connection on yet another level.”

All Points West may not return until next summer, but its central cause lives on in its fans. Those who choose to attend a concert or festival this year are encouraged to inform themselves about the event itself. Whether it is locating recycling bins at the venue or taking advantage of public transportation, these small steps can make a vast difference in how the environment is affected by individual actions. Organizations like Global Inheritance, (always looking to recruit new volunteers at shows), list events they support and partner with on their websites. If enough individuals take these efforts seriously, concerts will become an incredible way to not only celebrate music, but also to spread environmental awareness at the same time.