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• Green Music Festivals Guide

  Hi! I read this article back in the spring and thought it was great. Some friends of mine have produced a great guide to creating greener music festivals. You can find it at http://sustainable.events.free.fr/20070716_MusicFestivalsGuidebook.pdf
  
  Thanks, Momentum. Happy riding.

  Posted by Dwayne October 12, 2010 07:33:33

• Response to Green Fire

  Dear Foss,
  
  I am complete agreement with your sentiments. I would like to honour the synchronicity of our converging sentiments since, at Shambhala I wished with heartfelt ardour that the festival was more eco-friendly. This seemed even more important after seeing that someone had dumped neon green dye into the river, which to me seemed symbolic of the lack of respect being shown juxtaposed between the two poles being represented at the festival: a) sacred respect for creator, creation, ecology, survival, nature and respect for the land; and b) the offering of and support for commercial culture, for-profit food, plastic port-a-potties, and a cornucopia of disposable plates, coffee cups, and water-bottles.
  
  I felt that Shabhala could easily offer a more sustainable option, such as when the Folk-fest in Vancouver decided to offer re-useable plates and cups. For those that are not aware of this process, they charge a refundable fee of 2$ per plate and or cup which is refunded at a wash and dry station when you are finished eating your meal. At the folk fest they used a stiff plastic plate/cup option, however stainless steel is quickly becoming a cheap and eco-friendly option; furthermore, in India at the large gatherings they use pressed bamboo leaves which are used as plates and are compostable.
  
  Composting toilets are another very simple eco-friendly option, as are electric vehicles for on-site shuttle use, and I am sure there could be more eco-friendly options explored with greater investigation. I am no expert in that which is eco-friendly, but I have a heart and say in what continues to be created on earth and these ideas represent a part of what I would like to see being represented in a camping/festival atmosphere. When I was growing up the principle of carry-in carry-out stays with me... 'leave no trace and leave the land better than how I found it'.
  
  Festival culture for a large part seems a way for people to gather outside of our 9-5 day to day working environment to celebrate life, nature, sacred connectivity, and the higher states of consciousness brought about by dance, sound, and community. Alone, this seems to operate as a portal into a better life. I myself experience great moments of clarity, focus, creativity, healing, and openness often lacking in most working environments. Since festival environments already offer a portal into a better way of living, it seems a natural extension to further this offering to present an even greater portal into a better future. I hope that this future is filled with people who are even more dedicated to implementing the cheaper, healthier, and more cost effective ideas that have already presented themselves on Planet Earth so that we can start looking at ourselves as beings living in harmony with earth instead of creating dissonance.
  
  Note: green fire is a term used to describe a salt-fire made with alcohol used similarly to a smudge to clear negative energy from space.

  Posted by Zoraah August 11, 2010 12:08:48

• Green Fire

  Thanks for the article on greener festivals. You have shared wonderful ideas and information that will help us create and celebrate sustainable life ways and communities.
  
  Many of our artistic, beautiful, sexy friends are enthusiastic about the Burning Man festival, but I have not been attracted to it. The size makes me uncomfortable; yet I would want to go to BRC to witness all the rich sharing of creativity the festival brings forth, if it were really about sustainability, if it were not just the big box party at the end of the world. To me the party and the work of sustainability need to be in balance, much as they are in traditional communities where celebrations are part of a cycle of shared labour and conviviality. I also still believe that bioregions can focus earth learning and foster life honouring communities if we gather to celebrate in each region. This will also consume less fuel. Open fire is the prime element of the Burning Man festival and represents a revival of primal passion and spiritual aspiration. The festival culminates in the bonfire of the enormous wooden statue of the Man, a ritual of sacrifice that reminds us of tribal times. To me the burn is a "archaic revival" without clearly expressing any new paradigm about our relationship with the atmosphere and fire.
  
  Fire helped the human species emerge from the tropics, deal with the ice age and expand consciousness and language, and fossil fires power our global industrial civilization. But a prime fact of the 21st century is global warming. We have come to the end of the carbon frontier and we see that life is a cycle that needs balance for sustainability. If we are going to make a kind of prayer or theatre of intention for a better world, water or green vegetation would be ritual elements more aligned with the intention than would a summer bonfire.
  
  There can be some talk about the Mayan calendar at hippie gatherings and I agree that entering a new galactic aeon is an invitation to a new consciousness. In 2012 I would hope hippies would share art and creativity on the labour day weekend with the poor and the working people of their own communities instead of running off to the temporary autonomous pleasure dome in the desert. It would be so awesome if, instead of burning a statue that dumps carbon smoke into the atmosphere as a party cap-off, we could share, in an inclusive community gathering, a dramatic ceremony to celebrate our balanced and continuing participation in the cycle of life.
  

  Posted by Fossilosopher August 09, 2010 11:41:46

• Greening Festivals

  Great article Amy! Here is a website that was born from a council at Burning Man related to greening festivals by one of the organizers of Symbiosis Festival. A great resource for greening festivals:
  
  http://www.ecogatherings.com/

  Posted by Sobey July 01, 2010 12:52:16