How Green is Glastonbury?

Whilst the line-up is building to a climax and the many thousands of festival-goers shuffle on piggy-back to get the best view of the stage, let's take a moment to look into the long-established 'green' status that Glastonbury boasts about.

Saturday_Festival_016 (1)
Radiohead at Glastonbury 24/6/2017
Credit: Anna Barclay
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/saturday-in-pictures-5/
Since it began in 1970, Glastonbury has gathered all it's milk, straw and cider from it's very own 'Worthy Farm' and profits have forever since been shared with the CND, (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid. In this way, Glastonbury has taken a leading role, not only in how to deliver an incredible celebration of music but, also in how to celebrate the wonder of our world and support the range of charities which campaign for a world the owners strive for. They held their ethics at the forefront of what they did and did not let business plans, profits or even ego blur their greener, cleaner & fairer vision.

Although, their record isn't all squeaky clean.

In the 1990's, litter coated the fields, diesel generators were releasing CO2 along with all the emissions from 135,000 travellers and the rivers were giving rise to eutrophication, threatening fish and wildlife - not from fertilisers but from people's urine. 1 bucket-full pollutes the entire river. An ugly thought, indeed.

Roughly 400 gazebos, 9,500 roll-mats, 6,500 sleeping bags, 3,500 air beds and 2,200 chairs had been abandoned after the 2011 Glastonbury Festival. It costs them £780,000 to dispose of all this leftover rubbish. £780,000. This is money that would have gone to charities. Water Aid say that this money would give 52,000 people access to safe water, improve hygiene and sanitation. 52,000.

Researchers at Oxford University once analysed 500 UK festivals and found that, combined, they emit around 84,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Not a healthy figure.



Your typical festival? Glastonbury 23/6/2017
Credit: Andrew Allcock
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/friday-in-pictures-5/


Despite all these setbacks, I find positivity in the way that Glastonbury organisers constantly invent creative ways of becoming and encouraging attendees to be greener.

Starting small. Plastic and polystyrene cutlery, utensils, plates and cups are banned. To substitute, compostable material is used which benefits the local farm and the global community. There are 15, 000 bins on site, many of which are recyclable so that in 2014, 983 tonnes, 54%, of waste was recycled. You can even volunteer to help recycle and even get free entry doing so!

There are 1,200 compost loos (so you don't have to pollute the streams; even though you may think you're 'fertilising' the land) and the numbers of solar panels and hybrid generators keeps on increasing. Even the showers are solar-powered!
A Glastonbury campaign poster
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/green-glastonbury/our-green-policies/
They plant tress, buy Fairtrade and they don't supply plastic bags. I've got to say, not only is Glastonbury an expert in the festival business, the whole event is a leader in the environmental movement.

Yes, there's been issues. However, they've now learnt how to deal with them. Every 5 years, you may wonder why you can't watch your favourite band at Glastonbury and that's because they take a break. They're not lazy; they're clever. Helping wildlife to recover and foxes, rabbits and birds to return. They've become part of the natural ecosystem, rather than exploiting the land they 'own.'

So go on. Jump around, sing along, 'dance' if you still can and just have a good time. There's nothing to feel guilty about. Just as long as you take the time to listen to the campaigns, act on them and take your tent home with you. By doing these simple actions, Glastonbury will be there to welcome you back in a couple of years time.

H _ M
    :)

Bibliography:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/glastonbury/10127604/Glastonbury-2013-How-green-is-going-to-a-festival.html
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/green-glastonbury/
http://www.wateraid.org/
https://www.oxfam.org/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/
http://www.cnduk.org/

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