'Green' Festivals

It is getting slightly chilly so I would like to take a moment to reflect on my summer 2010, which although it feels like a long time ago now, still lives on in my heart and my mind. This year I went to the Edinburgh festival for the first time and had a thoroughly enjoyable time listening to gospel singers empty the contents of their lungs across the largest auditorium I have ever been in, marvelling at the raunchy rock and roll scenes in Spring Awakening, watching dancers and prancers leap across the stage like new lambs in spring and building up my stomach muscles with belly-crippling laughter at the comedians.

One thing I was not impressed with was all the paper. I was never a fan of leafleting during the Union Election period at Bristol University, for the obvious reason of several trees going into a promotion effort that will probably be ignored and instead end up being trampled on the floor or wasted in the bin when the message could have been done in some more eco-friendly poster/chalk on the pavement/ word of mouth based way much more effectively.

Edinburgh, however, was another kettle of fish entirely. Or rather, less like a kettle of fish and more like leafleting gone crazy, creating a slimy sea-floor of paper maché where leaflets and half-tickets go to die. The newly-printed leaflets and pieces of paper feel shiny and new-born only momentarily before the sad realisation that they too will end up in that muddy mush hits them like a haggis round the chops. Resistance is futile as the new leaflets just keep on a comin’. Walking down the Royal Mile during Edinburgh Festival gives you a chance to experience leafleting on crack. I don’t mean you have to be on crack to experience it, nor on crack at all, I just mean...oh never mind. Basically there was a lot of paper usage and wastage over about a month in the Scottish capital and I would like them to at least try and improve on that for next year. Rant over, thank you.

Moving onto Bestival on the Isle of White. Getting to Edinburgh festival involved a 4 ½ hour train journey from London, wheras getting to Bestival involved walking, 2 tubes to Waterloo, a 1 ½ hour train to Portsmouth, a taxi to the harbour, a 5 hour wait for the hovercraft, a 10-minute hover craft journey, a ½ hour bus to the festival site and finally, a 1 hour walk to find a decent spot to pitch our home for the week end. Surprisingly, the journey to Bestival was more fun, which might be something to do with the fact that the 5 hour queue also comprised best friends, sunshine and a certain amount of Southern Comfort mixed with ginger beer. All the ingredients to start off a decent week end dans les champs.

Despite being painted blue (all 6 of us were dressed genies) for most of the week end, my beedy green eyes were forever watchful. I understand that any music festival is going to have quite a large carbon footprint what with thousands of people travelling hundreds of miles for the privilege, not to mention the huge light and sound systems involved in projecting our favourite lights and sounds across large open spaces.

I did however, spot a few things which pleased me. Composting toilets was one. A sign saying ‘Bestival is a 10:10 festival’ was another. And finally, a whole field dedicated to the future of the planet and where we might get our energy from made me grin from ear to ear. Other festivals around the world take note. Festivals originated from peace, love, unity and an enjoyment of the arts and music. Although now over-commercialised and over-priced, I think in order to continue enjoying these ‘in-tents’ week ends (te he he), it is high time we went back to the roots of all this and made reducing the damage to the environment a priority.