Last year’s Acoustic Carbonless Community Concert was held at Browser’s.

There are few things nicer than dimming the lights and kicking back for an evening of mellow music among friends. With a lineup full of up-and-coming artists and a small environmental footprint, the Acoustic Carbonless Community Concert is hitting all the right notes for success.

Supported by the University of Saskatchewan’s Office of Sustainability, the event takes the idea behind Earth Hour — going 60 minutes without electricity — and adapts it into a concert. While a lack of amps or microphones would be a crisis for most concerts, the ACCC uses its folky setting as an opportunity to set aside cell phones, close laptops and enjoy an evening of music by candlelight.

Artists performing at this year’s ACCC include The Shoeless Joes, Neusha Mofazzali and Zachary Lucky. All three are based in Saskatchewan and their sounds fit right in with the low-key atmosphere the concert is aiming for.

Although the concert was held in Browser’s last year, the 2013 ACCC venue will be in the Grad Student’s Association Commons in Emmanuel St. Chad Chapel.

“GSA commons is a grand space with great acoustics,” said Margret Asmuss, sustainability coordinator for the Office of Sustainability. “Lit up only with candles, it will be beautiful.”

The event was established last year to bring people together in support of environmental sustainability.

Alex Ferwerda, an intern at the Office of Sustainability and curator of the concert, hopes that events like the ACCC will help rectify the poor light that environmentalists are often seen in.

“I think when people discuss environmentalism, they think of tree-hugging hippies that are taking away their freedoms and instructing them to have less,” Ferwerda said. “It has nothing to do with having less; it has to do with having things that will serve the functions they’re supposed to and last in a meaningful way rather than the disposal culture we’ve been raised in.”

Despite its name, event coordinators acknowledge that holding a truly carbonless concert would be nearly impossible.

“When people think about Earth Hour, they get a little bit confused with the net value of actually turning off lights and burning candles versus the significance of the statement itself,” Ferwerda said. “It’s not carbonless. Everything has carbon in it regardless of what you’re doing, but I think to tie music to sustainability is really important because it’s a good way to bring people together.”

The ACCC lights up the halls of the GSA Commons March 23. Food and drinks will be available, and attendees who bring their own mug will enjoy discounted prices on beer. Tickets are $10, or $5 for students.

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Photo: Shannon Dyck