Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival goes green

The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, is known for its stellar blues. But this year it’s adding more green to its palette.

Land Rover Portland, a major sponsor of the 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, will offset 100 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the air and road transportation of all musicians traveling to Portland to perform at the festival — an estimated 300,000 air miles and 82,000 road miles of travel, equating to 124 tons of CO2. Land Rover Portland will administer the offset through its carbon≈neutral program. The program enables The Conservation Fund to restore native forests which offset carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, a process in which trees use energy from the sun to convert CO2 and water into oxygen. CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. The Conservation Fund plants and preserves forest in the Mississippi Delta, an area with close ties to blues music. In addition, Land Rover Portland will provide two carbon≈neutral Land Rovers for the festival’s transportation needs.
EcoShuttle, an environmentally friendly transportation company, will transport festival artists to the festival site using vehicles that run on 100 percent biodiesel converted from used vegetable oil, a biodegradable, carbon-friendly fuel.
Festival sponsor PGE will power the festival with renewable energy by purchasing credits from wind farms in Oregon and Washington to offset the estimated 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity used at the festival. This avoids production of 11,000 pounds of CO2.
In addition, the 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is a sanctioned friend of the Live Earth Concert, an event featuring 24 hours of music across seven continents, in an effort to raise awareness of global warming. The festival will work with NW Film Center to broadcast the Live Earth Concert from the First Tech Blues Stage at 10:15 p.m. on Saturday, July 2.

About Land Rover Portland’s carbon≈neutral program
Land Rover Portland’s carbon≈neutral program is the local firm’s commitment to offset 50,000 miles worth of CO2 produced by every new and certified pre-owned Land Rover that it sells. Land Rover Portland is the first automobile retailer in North America to take this step.

About EcoShuttle
EcoShuttle is a transportation company that offers environmentally-friendly transportation for a new travel industry. EcoShuttle uses 100 percent biodiesel converted from used vegetable oil, a nontoxic, biodegradeable, carbon-friendly fuel to power its vehicles, so customers can enjoy guilt-free trips. EcoShuttle currently offers tours to wineries and popular destinations in Oregon and Washington. It also provides transportation assistance at special events. Visit www.ecoshuttle.net for more information.

About Portland General Electric: Portland General Electric Company, headquartered in Portland, Ore., is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 796,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. Visit our Web site at www.PortlandGeneral.com.

About festival sponsors. The 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by First Tech Credit Union. Major sponsors are iQ Credit Union, The Oregonian A&E, KINK.fm, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, PacificSource Health Plans, FedEx Freight, DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial, Miller Brewing, Delta Music Experience and Land Rover Portland.

About Oregon Food Bank: Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of the Oregon Food Bank Network, a statewide network of 20 regional food banks and 884 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash. Last year, OFB distributed more than 34.3-million pounds of food.

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