I’m pretty sure every one of us at one point in our grade school careers memorized the lyrics to “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies. But have you ever thought about the lyrics? WHatta bout when he sings “If I had a million dollars…I’d buy you a fur coat…but not a real fur coat, that’s cruel.” Today, I learned that the Barenaked Ladies vocalist, Steven Page, really cares about the environment.
A couple of years ago, the Barenaked Ladies left their major cd label and partnered with Reverb, a nonprofit that helps musicians green their tours and raise awareness with their fan base. Steven Page hopes that one day, cities will have plenty of bike paths, whole communities will be powered by wind and other renewable energy sources, and music will be released online and on refillable USB thumb drives instead of CDs encased in plastic. Steven Page is very vocal about his views- campaigning with Canada’s New Democratic Party, wearing a “Vote Solar” shirt on stage, serving on the board of directors for WWF Canada, and participating in Windshare, a renewable-energy co-op in his hometown of Toronto.
Since we’ve recently studied Wind Power, I decided to research what “Windshare” was all about. 
“WindShare’s mission is to demonstrate leadership and action in the community wind power sector, and to develop community power projects that are sustainable economically, environmentally, and socially. WindShare provides an alternative to large, centralized energy generation with the development of local, profitable and inclusive community power projects. “
Currently, the first community owned wind farm in North America is being developed in Ontario. This “Lakewind Power Project” will have the capacity to produce enough 100% renewable electricity to power over 3,400 homes in Ontario. That’s pretty sweet.
STeven Page is really passionate about his dreams of greening the music industry, and building cities “that really work.” (With bike lanes, public transportation, etc.) I think it’s great because they’re really communication the issues they really care about to their fans.
http://www.windshare.ca/about/about_windshare.html
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/18/BNL/index.html
