Jam Session
Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard chats about the band's environmental ethos

By Sarah van Schagen
21 Jul 2006

Pearl Jam.

Photo: Danny Clinch.

Stone Gossard, hard-rock guitarist and founding member of Pearl Jam, has a soft spot for the environment. Maybe it's the water-meets-mountains scenery surrounding his Pacific Northwest home. Or that name of his. But the guy knows green. He's even got his own pimped-out 1982 Mercedes Benz, which runs on used vegetable oil and "smells a little bit like a wonton."

Lately, though, Gossard's been rollin' in a biodiesel-fueled bus, touring the country to promote the band's newest album, Pearl Jam. And he's been using all that time on the bus to think about how, as a business, the group can help advance a culture that is responsive to the environment and rewarded for positive new ideas.

Never ones to shy away from taking a stand -- whether in lyrics (their recent single "Worldwide Suicide" is a blatant swipe at Bush) or in front of Congress (Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament appeared before a subcommittee during a dispute with Ticketmaster in 1994) -- Pearl Jam recently announced a major green project. Their Carbon Portfolio Strategy is intended to offset the impacts of their latest tour -- which heads from the U.S. to Europe and Australia later this year -- by donating a total of $100,000 to nine organizations doing work around climate change and renewable energy.

Last week, Gossard found time between a sound check and a club show in Hollywood to talk with Grist. The down-to-earth (literally) rock star shared his thoughts about addressing the band's carbon-heavy lifestyle, trumpeting the work of grassroots nonprofits, and hoping these latest moves resonate with fans.