Thom Yorke Hits Out At Touring's Environmental Impact

Thom Yorke, he of the recently world touring Radiohead, has blasted touring’s environmental impact.

The front man is even looking into travelling to Japan by train for upcoming dates in an attempt to lower his own carbon footprint.

He explained: "I think it's a necessary part of what I do, to tour or play live, but I find it unacceptable what the consequences of that are."

Yorke is backing the Friends of the Earth campaign to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by making it law.

He added: "Some of our best ever shows have been in the US, but there's 80,000 people there and they've all been sitting in traffic jams for five or six hours with their engines running to get there, which is bollocks.”

"The way that tours are structured now and the way it works is a ridiculous consumption of energy... I would consider refusing to tour on environmental grounds, if nothing started happening to change the way the touring operates."

And on the bands own touring plans he went on to say that although he’s backing alternative travel plans the rest of Radiohead aren’t so sure.

"When you discuss it you feel like a prat because you're saying, 'I'm not happy with that and I want to do it another way. I want to go to the US by ship'," Yorke told The Guardian.

"The Cure did that years ago because Robert Smith refused to fly, and then I get told that if you take the ship, that's as much carbon usage."

He added: "Long haul flights just feel wrong. I'm trying to figure out a way of getting to Japan by train. I quite fancy that Trans-Siberian whatsitsname but apparently it's a bit scary."