At Ball Arena in Denver, thousands of fans of the multi-platinum-selling indie pop group AJR do the wave. The vast, coordinated ripple as the concertgoers throw their arms up instantly unites the room. It's this type of mass, coordinated energy that AJR bassist and climate activist Adam Met wants to harness.
"Can we actually capture that power in the concert space and make use of it to get people to do something more?" said Met, who also runs the climate change research and advocacy non-profit Planet Reimagined . AJR has been filling arenas across the country this summer on its Maybe Man tour with quirky-existential hits like "Bang!" "Burn the House Down" and "World's Smallest Violin." Along the way, the band has also been collaborating with local nonprofits in each city to inspire concertgoers to take local, policy-based action to help reduce the impacts of human-caused climate change — right there in the arena.
Getting fans to do something more According to data shared by Planet Reimagined and verified by its local nonprofit partners, concertgoers at AJR's two Salt Lake City shows sent 625 letters and 77 handwritten postcards to Utah legislators calling on them to decrease the amount of water being diverted from the Great Salt Lake. "In Phoenix, they sent more than 1,000 letters to the city council calling on them to recognize extreme heat as a climate emergency," Met said. "In Chicago, 200 fans sent letters to Illinois legislators urging them to pass the Illinois clean j.