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As multitudes of music-lovers prepare to wriggle into their wellies and wade to UK music festivals this year, we consider a recent survey published by Buckinghamshire New University that showed more than 80 per cent of festival fans surveyed agreed that noise, waste and traffic all contributed to a negative impact on the environment.
With this in mind, Seven Magazine's Richard Martin has created an eco-conscious festival guide for 2008 with the help of Ben Challis, co-founder of A Greener Festival, to let you know exactly where your muddy carbon footprint won't squelch so deep into our green and pleasant pastures. This article first appeared on Seven Magazine.
30 May - 1 June 2008: Wychwood Music Festival
Weekend Camping Ticket - £100
Day tickets - £35 to £50
A relatively new date in the festival calendar, Wychwood was launched in 2005 by "a group of festival enthusiasts" conscious of the footprint a festival can leave behind. As such, every lightbulb on site is low-energy and fitted with daylight sensors, while recycling bags are given out to revellers upon arrival.
Wychwood takes place at Cheltenham Racecourse and has stringent conditions for its on-site traders. The caterers are all local with locally produced or sourced produce and are asked to bring only reusable or compostable, biodegradable disposables. Any surplus wrapping must be removed before they arrive. In addition, all tea, coffee, sugar and hot chocolate must come from fair trade sources. Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and Greenpeace are regular attendees and this year you can enjoy over 100 acts across four stages including The Divine Comedy, Billy Bragg and Duffy.
13 - 15 June: The Big Session Festival
Weekend Camping Ticket - £65
Day tickets - £20 to £35
The Big Session won the Greener Festival Award last year and landed the public's vote as the 'greenest of the green' at the UK Festival Awards 07. Held at DeMontfort Hall in Leicester, this is another event in its infancy and will play host to Steve Earl, Seth Lakeman and Vincent Vincent and The Villains, among others this year.
The Big Session works in conjunction with The Complete Wasters (a not-for-profit community recycling organisation). Its bars use compostable pint glasses and this year compostable food waste and used vegetable oil will be collected from caterers with the aim of recycling it into biodiesel. Organisers intend to offset their carbon emissions by giving away energy-saving lightbulbs, and the festival welcomes suggestions from the public on ways it can improve sustainability.
Ben Challis says, "As a city-based festival, Big Session has a distinct advantage with low audience carbon footprints -- and now they have tied up with Sustrans [the UK's leading sustainable transport charity] to reinforce the 'use public transport message'."
27 - 29 June: Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts
Weekend Camping Ticket - TBC
No UK festival guide would be complete without the original and largest: Michael Eavis's ever-evolving brainchild, Glastonbury. While it could be argued that the sheer scale and attendance of the festival compromises its environmental ethics, there's no questioning the hard work and keen measures the Eavises take to champion good causes. They continue to support Oxfam, Greenpeace and Wateraid, exclusively sell fair trade coffee and hot chocolate and the festival even holds its own 'Green Trader Awards'. Last year's winners were Ecogadgets and Chai Wallahs, performing arts tent of natural remedies.
Contrary to some misinterpreted reporting in the press recently, Glastonbury does have a public transport infrastructure and will provide solutions for almost 45,000 guests this year. Ben Challis adds, "The Glastonbury Festival has a host of new green initiatives this year, including biodegradable tent pegs which will be given to all campers, a commitment to recycle at least 50 per cent of all waste and 100 green police on patrol helping fans get greener." The confirmed line-up remains much of a mystery as always, but Michael Eavis has revealed that Jay-Z will headline The Pyramid Stage along with Kings Of Leon and The Verve.
11 - 13 July: T In The Park
Weekend Camping Ticket - £160
Anyone for Green-T? Scotland's favourite festival, T In The Park, touches down at Balado Airfield in Kinross-shire again in July and welcomes the talents of Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash and Chemical Brothers. Ben says, "T In The Park is the biggest carbon neutral festival in the world and the festival's CO2 emissions are offset through various global carbon offset schemes, including sustainable forest, solar and technology initiatives across the world."
The T-pickers work closely with The CarbonNeutral Company to constantly reduce and offset their emissions. Last year, they initiated a 10p deposit on every beer cup, and this year guests are invited to complete a CO2 workout card in association with Global Cool. Campers will find a battery recycling exchange in the campsite and are asked to bring only phosphate-site soap as the environment around the festival, Loch Leven, is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
17 - 20 July: Latitude
Weekend Camping Ticket - £130
Day Tickets - £55 (children free)
Latitude will be making waves on the self-styled Sunshine coast at Southwold again this summer. Its laidback blend of film, music, comedy, literature, theatre and poetry is set among the beautiful surroundings of Henning Park in Suffolk.
Ben comments, "Latitude does an awful lot to be green and promote a green ethos." Measures include a 'Lift-Share' program for fans travelling to the festival by car, and the distribution of Campers Waste Kits so that rubbish can be separated at your tent and then taken to one of the staffed waste stations. Ecover shower gel will be freely available for all campers while drinkers will have to pay a £2 deposit for every cup they sup from in a Reusable Beer Cup initiative. The deposit will only be returned when boozers take their empties back to the bar.
1 - 3 August: The Big Chill
Weekend Camping Ticket - £129
Leonard Cohen, Thievery Corporation and The Mighty Boosh are just some of the colourful artists comprising the eclectic line-up at this year's Big Chill. This successful medium-sized festival, set in the grounds of Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire's Malvern Hills, operates a 'leave no trace' policy. Ben says: "The Big Chill promotes site-wide recycling and has introduced a green car tax on car park tickets. The profit made from the car park tax funds green travel initiatives. The Chillers are offered free secure cycle parks, hard standing for motorcycles, free shuttle buses and [organisers] actively encourage lift share."
12 -14 September: Waveform Project
Weekend Camping Ticket - TBC
Another winner of A Greener Festival award, Devon's Waveform Project promotes itself as a sustainable dance music festival featuring the best in Psy Trance, Techno, Breaks, Drum N Bass, Old Skool Dub, World Beats, Cabaret and Chill.
"They really do everything to minimise the impact of the festival on the environment," says Ben. "Waveform is a champion of alternative energy sources and pedal, solar and wind power generators already provide a huge part of the festival's energy requirements."
Waveform is part of the global Earthdance celebration taking place in over 60 countries at more than 300 locations, and aims to be carbon neutral in the next few years. It accommodates compost toilets as opposed to chemical loos, has a local and organic food policy and supports the charity Ecoshelter.
For those of you who plan to get closer to nature at one of the dozens of UK music festivals this summer, here are Ben's Top Ten Tips for happy green campers:
1. If you can, travel by public transport -- if not, car/lift-share
2. Take your tent home please!
3. Buy durable products, returnable bottles and containers that can be re-filled
4. Look out for recycled goods and those packaged in recycled materials
5. Cut down on packaging by buying your fruit and vegetables loose
6. Put cigarette butts in an Ashcan or something similar
7. Buy local, fair trade and organic food, drinks and products, at stalls if possible
8. Use re-sealable containers to keep your food fresh
9. Use rechargeable batteries or buy a portable solar charger
10. Remember: reduce, reuse and recycle!
Other green weekends in the UK festival calendar:
Sunrise Celebration: 29 May - 1 June
Beach Break Live: 9 - 12 June
2000 Trees Festival: 11 - 12 July
The Glade: 18 - 20 July
The Big Green Gathering: 1 - 5 August
Summer Sundae Weekender: 8 - 10 August
End Of The Road Festival: 12 - 14 September
02 May 2008 05:22pm
BGG for me, all the way... good folk, laid-back atmosphere... though not as green as you'd think! We went last year and thousands of people had driven to the site rather than taken the bus
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