Earlier this month, I took my tween daughter to Night 17 of Harry Styles’ Together, Together residency at Madison Square Garden. I would like to say that we went because she is a huge Harry fan—I mean, they are both Aquariuses after all—but in fact, it was because this 40-something old lady can’t get enough Harry. From the marathon running to the androgynous disco aesthetic to the engagement to Zoë Kravitz, I am obsessed.
These days, I have one more excellent reason to justify my (perhaps a bit embarrassing) crush. It turns out Harry is an environmental champion! As early as 2015, during his One Direction days (and well before I cared), he and his bandmates were encouraging young people to act on climate change, poverty, and inequality with the UN’s 2015: Time for Global Action campaign. His previous tours, including 2021’s Love on Tour, all had climate-friendly elements, like installing water bottle refill stations at venues and encouraging fans to donate to environmental causes.
Tell Congress: The Climate Clock Is Ticking. Act Now for Our Kids’ Future.
All this work over so many years has raised considerable awareness, and he’s not stopping now. Harry carried this theme through to Together, Together—and from the “Dance No More” opener to the “Aperture” encore, the show does not disappoint (my daughter is now also a massive fan). As the Madison Square Garden residency comes to a close with a very special Harryween show this weekend, here are 3 ways Mr. Styles is working for a better future today:
1. With residencies, Harry has slashed the Together, Together tour’s carbon footprint.
There are a lot of reasons for an artist to choose a residency instead of a traditional tour. First and foremost: less travel is easier on the mind and body. It’s also easier on planet Earth.
For the Together, Together tour, Harry did six-show residencies in Amsterdam and London, plus brief stops in São Paulo and Mexico City, before he came to New York for a whopping 30 shows. Rather than repeatedly moving a major production across the U.S. by some combination of diesel bus and private jet, he kept his stage, lighting rigs, sound equipment, and other touring infrastructure in Madison Square Garden while fans did the traveling. There’s no data yet on how fans traveled (we came from Virginia by electric car, ferry, and subway), so I won’t bother to pretend to know if that lowered the tour’s carbon footprint. But it has to count that Together, Together was able to optimize the venue’s permanent energy, heating, and cooling systems, meaning Harry never had to rely on the temporary diesel generators that are common at mobile tour stops. And not for nothing, Madison Square Garden is adjacent to Penn Station and incredibly easy to access by train and subway.
As an added bonus, Harry partnered with Live Nation’s Green Nation initiative, which follows a strict backstage single-use plastic ban and prioritizes local sourcing for backstage food.
2. Harry’s style is unapologetically vintage and sustainable.
Vogue has called this Harry’s “sustainable fashion era,” but the truth is he’s been a slow fashion icon for more than a decade. He’s carried the same leather duffel since 2011 and consistently wears well-made vintage pieces that last for years. “He likes to get full use out of his garments,” says Daisy Jones of Vogue, “rather than amass a pile of clothes worn just a handful of times.” Hubba hubba.
The examples abound: On the cover of his latest album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, he has on a tee made from scrap yarn and vintage denim. The night we saw him in New York, he donned a vintage Cartier watch. In his “Coming Up Roses” video released this week, he’s wearing a thrifted shirt under a gray pinstripe suit.
3. Harry works to reduce food waste (and feed the hungry).
In addition to selling merch at Madison Square Garden, Harry is hosting a pop-up shop in the East Village where fans have flocked to buy exclusive souvenirs and fresh flowers. Proceeds from flower sales go to City Harvest, New York’s largest food rescue organization. Each year, City Harvest saves about 100 million pounds of high-quality food from farms, grocery stores, and restaurants that would otherwise go to waste and pollute the planet from landfills. They distribute their rescues to food pantries and soup kitchens across the city for free. According to their website, “By rescuing this perfectly good food—77% of which is fresh produce—we are preventing more than 16.1 million kilograms of CO2 from entering the atmosphere this year alone.”
Honorable mention: With the midterm elections just days away, Harry is getting out the vote.
Harry knows that voting is an essential way to express our values and fight for our children’s future. The HeadCount voter registration booth at Madison Square Garden this month is impossible to miss. For more than 20 years, HeadCount has partnered with artists and festivals across the country to register more than 1.7 million voters.
Do you still need to make your plan to vote in the November 3 elections? Find out where your polling place is and who’s on your ballot here.
Tell Congress: The Climate Clock Is Ticking. Act Now for Our Kids’ Future.