On Sunday, April 20, PSU’s Common Ground hosted its first annual Earth Jam event. The concert featured bands that were powered by solar energy to play for a large and diverse crowd.
Common Ground is a student organization that is geared towards environmental and social justice. The organizations first annual Earth Jam was an all day event in which bands played in front of the Silver Cultural Arts Center for students, local residents and many others that sat on the lawn of the small amphitheatre. There were also many booths set up at the event, with the likes of D’Acres, WPCR, the Six Burner Bistro, Real Green Goods, a blacksmith, as well as a table run by Common Ground.
Four bands played Earth Jam, Big Love Monster, Black Bear Moon, the Matter, and Twiddle. PSU students David Cote, Ben Trister and Nathan Weaver played in between sets. Power for the event was supplied by a large van with two solar panels on top of it. The show was put on completely 100 percent of the grid, according to Gerry Berthelette, a members of Common Ground. “Nothing at Earth Jam was drawing from oil,” Meghan Power, the President of Common Ground, said, “The whole event went off just using the earth’s resources.”
All the musical acts played for free, including the Earth Jam closer, Twiddle, a jam band that traveled all the way from Vermont.
“We didn’t want to raise any money,” Berthelette said, “Everybody was just happy to come for awareness. The bands came without even worrying about getting paid.” At the high point of the day, there were approximately 300 people at Earth Jam at one time, but many people were just passing through. Activities ranged from hula hooping, to raffles, to just relaxing in the 80-degree weather, the warmest day of the year so far.
Part of the success of this event was due to the promoting that all the members from Common Ground did the weeks prior to Earth Jam. Members of Common Ground were impressed by the turnout.
“The amount of people that showed up was great,” Berthelette said, “I felt like it turned out better than I could have possibly imagined it to.”
This event comes at a strong time for the organization, which had been recently lacking in campus participation and membership until it was revived within the past year. This year they received approximately $3,000 in allocations for the Fall of 2008 and Spring of 2009 school year after being brought back to life with new, strong passionate members. The hope is to get the point of Common Ground out to the community and to make a difference. “The point of Common Ground is to raise awareness about issues around the community,” Power said.
The event was the first of what is hoped to be an annual event, which will carry on the tradition of entertaining the Plymouth community as a whole while still raising awareness to global issues that can be confronted on a local level.