With headlining acts such as MGMT and Gogol Bordello, the last thing on a concertgoer’s mind is renewable energy. However, sustainability and music aren’t totally unrelated: as support for eco-friendly practices grows, so does the number of retailers and event organizers scrambling to meet consumer demand. Here’s a look at five major music festivals that strive to reduce their carbon footprints, how they fare against each other and what you can do to help.

Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL): 6 of 10
For such an established event, I’m surprised Lollapalooza isn’t doing more in terms of sustainability. The major eco-friendly move touted on the festival’s website is the Green Street section of the event, which features a farmer’s market and local artists/vendors. Lolla Rock & Recycle gives an incentive for concertgoers to recycle by rewarding them with free swag. Driving? Carbon offsets can also be purchased with your ticket for an extra $3 (try carpooling to save even more air pollution!).

Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN): 7 of 10
On its website, Bonnaroo lists several sustainable goals for the 2011 festival, including incorporating more renewable energy, working to secure locally-sourced food for vendors and increasing the use of the well-water system and compost collection to reduce plastic bottles and other waste. Not much else is mentioned on the site, though, except for a respectable list of eco-friendly partnering organizations, which includes Clean Vibes, Seventh Generation and the Gulf Restoration Network. Bonnaroo-goers can join the Carbonrally online community, where they can complete CO2-reducing challenges (choosing biking over driving, tap water over bottled/soda, etc.) and interact with fellow music- and Earth-lovers.

SXSW (Austin, TX): 8 of 10
Despite its location in an oil-loving state, SXSW has some sustainable, if not atypical, tricks up its sleeves. The website touts paperless planning/registering, waste reduction/management and solar-powered scooter chargers among the event’s green initiatives. SXSW even works to make lodging and transportation more eco-friendly, thanks to brainstorming sessions that turn up ideas such as greywater irrigation and guest room recycling. The festival has been certified carbon neutral since 2006.

Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA): 9 of 10
The festival’s website has a long list of green initiatives, including recycling, composting and water refill stations as well as plenty of eco-friendly transportation alternatives. Bumbershoot partners with a couple big retailers on some efforts: Starbucks helps put on the Event Stations that help educate concertgoers on how to properly recycle and compost, and CLIF Bar gives away snacks to those opting to bike instead of drive. Like Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot offers a $3 carbon offset with every ticket purchase.

Sasquatch! Music Festival (Gorge, WA): 10 of 10
The Pacific Northwest definitely has a handle on green festivals: both Sasquatch! and Bumbershoot scored very high on the sustainability meter. Sasquatch! is certified carbon neutral, using 100% wind-generated energy to power its multiple stages. Honda is a major partner in this effort; the company has its own solar-powered stage (on which I watched Miike Snow, Deadmau5 and Edward Sharpe perform last year) along with a pedal-powered cell phone charging station. Although attendees are not allowed to bring in liquids, they can bring in their own food and refillable water bottles, and water stations are scattered throughout the venue. Esurance, another major sponsor, helped bring recycling services to the venue in 2007 and today encourages people to carpool through incentive contests. What makes Sasquatch! a bonafide green music festival is that it offsets its greenhouse gas emissions by 125%, leaving the air even cleaner than before the event.