On a warm July afternoon in the Bowl’s Jerry Garcia Glen, musician and environmentalist, Jack Johnson presented the Santa Barbara Bowl with a custom Water Refill Station, in support of the Johnson’s All At Once Sustainability Award, which recognizes venues making a strong commitment to green practices and the environment.

The Bowl is being recognized as a leader in venue greening and for implementing best practices, piloting new initiatives, and setting the stage for others to follow particularly with our popular #MyPintAndMe campaign to reduce single-use plastic at Bowl concerts.

“Being an ocean loving community we all appreciate the Bowl’s leadership in keeping plastic out of the waste stream, knowing that so much finds its way to the sea,” said Johnson.

The inaugural award carries the name All At Once, which is Jack Johnson’s social action network that promotes plastic free initiatives and sustainable local food systems, two themes integrated into Jack’s tour greening and into sustainability practices that he encourage venues to adopt.

The new Water Refill Station was designed specifically to help reduce single-use plastics at Bowl concerts. Widely embraced by concertgoers the Bowl’s #MyPintAndMe program lets patrons buy stainless steel or silicon pints at each show to replace the single-use plastic cups. Bowl patrons can bring their pint cups to every Bowl show and receive drink discounts for the life of the cup — or use the cup at the new Water Refill Station.

Thanks to patron participation, since the inception of the program the Bowl has seen cost savings from the reduction in plastic cups purchased and waste hauling fees. Over 10,000 plastic cups have been offset by the sales of Bowl pints and refills since this program started at Jack Johnson’s August 2014 concerts.

We take great pride in its commitment to environmentally friendly initiatives and greening efforts. Our Greening the Bowl campaign—to become the greenest music venue in the U.S. by decreasing the Bowl’s ecological footprint—has gained increased momentum in the last few years. From the re-usable stainless steel pints to 92% landfill diversion to power consumption reduction to complimentary bike valet, we aim at making the venue as close to carbon neutral as possible.

“Music venues like the Santa Barbara Bowl are raising the bar on waste management, plastic-free initiatives, healthy local food options and alternative transportation systems and much more,” added Johnson.

The key to all of these initiatives is participation by amazing Bowl patrons – like you. Commit and share your commitment by attending shows with your reusable pints: https://sbbowl.com/mypintandme.

Photos: Larry Mills