A musician from the multi-platinum band AJR, advocate Adam Met, and Founder and Executive Director of Planet Reimagined, was honored with the TIME Earth Award during the TIME100 Next Gala held Wednesday (October 9) at Current NYC. The Earth Awards are one of TIME’s most prestigious awards, recognizing individuals who influence the planet’s future through their work on climate justice, awareness, and activism.
Met was honored with the award for his continued contributions to the climate movement. As the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit Planet Reimagined, Adam develops research and fosters change locally and internationally. Planet Reimagined trains and engages future climate leaders, using media and entertainment platforms alongside strategic advocacy to mobilize climate action.
Met holds a Ph.D. in human rights and sustainable development from the University of Birmingham and is a professor at Columbia where he uses his expertise to teach about climate policy and campaigning. He has been featured in The New York Times, Wall St Journal, and People, and is a regular commentator on climate issues for CNN. He has also brought his climate messages to entertainment and music outlets, including Rolling Stone and the Hollywood Reporter, as well as NPR Weekend Edition which recently aired a profile on Met about his effective climate advocacy campaign.
Met also works closely with the US Congress and the White House on bipartisan efforts to promote renewable energy policies in the U.S. Internationally, he serves as a celebrity advocate for the United Nations Development Programme, raising awareness about climate issues.
This past spring, AJR, Planet Reimagined and REVERB, a non-profit with twenty years of experience helping artists, festivals, and venues employ sustainability practices and engage fans in social action, partnered together to publish Amplify: How to Build a Fan-Based Climate Movement. The study investigated what thousands of live music fans think and what they are ready to do about climate change, and revealed that nearly 75% of live music fans are concerned about climate change and are eager to act—especially when motivated by their favorite artists.
Planet Reimagined created a new approach to artist advocacy: using the results of Amplify, artists now have the tools to inspire their fans to meaningfully respond to the climate crisis: through collective efforts to push policy-makers to pass climate-positive policies and produce systemic change.
AJR implemented the Amplify approach and used their platform to mobilize fans on the local level throughout their 25-show Maybe Man Tour across 21 cities this summer. AJR spotlighted local environmental campaigns and invited fans to participate in high-impact civic actions, including contacting elected officials and signing petitions, empowering fans to take immediate, collective action. Over 35,000 climate actions were completed by fans, including 12,000 civic actions (signing petitions, contacting elected officials, registering to vote, making donations, and volunteering), 12,500 sustainability actions (single-use plastic bottles avoided by fans using REVERB’s free water station) and 10,500 ‘learn more’ actions (scanning QR codes and signing up for further engagement).
