Green Festivals – How far have we come?

Oxford University have predicted that some 84,000 tonnes of carbon

(other chemicals remain unmeasured?) are generated each year by 500 UK music festivals.

Sir Paul McCartney (former Beatle) has given his backing to the ‘Green’ Isle of Wight Festival in the UK, which won the Green Festival Award in 2009.

Several years ago I started a small campaign to demonstrate how easy it is to reduce your carbon footprint at music festivals.  Since then the GreenFestivalMan has brought the latest eco camping gadgets to you, thoughts on climate change, homebrew and inspiration on going vegetarian.   Hopefully somewhere along the way, I may have got people to think differently, even if it were just to think I’m mad.

This year GreenFestivalMan will be attending Glastonbury Festival 2010, making his own bacon and bringing the latest on green festivals and eco living from the Green Fields of Glastonbury Festival, which is now in it’s 40^th year.

For me, no festival is as incredible as Glastonbury.  It’s the community feel that you miss when you are at other festivals.  It’s that feel we need to get back into communities if we are to take the transition to a greener society.  Social networking is bridging the gaps for the Gen’Xrs.  But it doesn’t replace the things we can achieve when we just talk to each other face to face, only complement. Many global festivals achieve that.  Sites like eFestivals are the glue that stick it all together.

It’s also the inspiration.  Each year the festival brings us an eclectic mix of the latest in alternative green living, whether that is permaculture, blacksmithing or the latest in loft insulation. It makes you appreciate the effort in our products.  The philanthropic roots of this festival are strong, and it’s comforting to know that around £2million each year goes to Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace.

Green festivals have expanded across the country and  numerous green festival awards have been created across the planet.  Competition drives development, and we’re on the right course.

But litter and waste are the cancer of the festival circuit, each year people leave much more than just footsteps.  Maybe it’s the same mental attitude of littering that prevails outside of the festivals.  “Someone else will clean that up”.  They will, so does it matter?  After all leaving litter behind does create jobs.  But for me litter is a proxy for people’s environmental attitudes and their level of consumption.  Do you really need to leave a cheap tent behind because you can get another one so cheaply?  I know it’s a pain to carry it across the fields after a weekend of excess but it’s exactly this approach to consumption that make our carbon footprints soar.  Many items are made of plastic (oil) and as opposed to being formed of recycled parts many are made in China.  Before it’s even reached the prospect of you buying it, it’s travelled further than many of us have in a lifetime and wracked up a carbon footprint that make even Sasquatch’s feet look small.

This year Glastonbury are participating the ‘Please Take It Home’ campaign.  Maybe in our culture of carrots and sticks the carrot is prevailing.  After all, isn’t it more enticing to reward, as opposed to punish?  Some festivals have employed the tactic of paying you a small amount for each paper cup you bring back.  I’ve seen people make up all their drink money by recycling cups at festivals.  Reward systems seem to work much better than the ‘Green Policing’ approach.  But I doubt it can deal with the root problem of our over consumption.