Green Hands USA: America Volunteers

To call Cloud Cult a "green-leaning" band would be an understatement. In or out of concert venues, and in the course of producing eight critically acclaimed albums, the Minneapolis-based indie pop band has made "green" a musical?and lifestyle?imperative.

Cloud Cult travels in a bio-diesel van and all their tours are greened with energy offsets through NativeEnergy.com. They record in a farmhouse-turned-recording studio powered by a geo-thermal system, and have planted a thousand trees to absorb pollutants from travel and manufacturing.

The band's frontman, Craig Minowa, who works as an environmental scientist, also founded Earthology Records, the only nonprofit record company to offer environmentally-friendly CD production services. Their live shows also feature two painters working on stage. The paintings are auctioned off after their set, with the profits going to environmental groups.

But the music? Critics have called their brand of experimental indie pop (think The Arcade Fire and The Polyphonic Spree) "passionate" and "absolutely essential"?not unlike their environmental message. Their latest album Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) is now available at their website. Cloud Cult will also play the Langerado Music Festival in March.