Sustainable Sounds

Last week in Pilton, Somerset, England, some of the biggest names in music gathered for the Glastonbury Music Festival. Over 175,000 people came to see such bands as The Who, The Chemical Brothers, Pharrell Williams, Motorhead, and Lionel Richie.

Kanye West also performed, but that’s a story for a different blog.

Anyway, Glastonbury started in 1917, and was always a sort of counter-culture sort of event. They bill themselves as the largest “greenfield event” in the world, and they really hit their stride during the early days of flower power and the environmental movement. In 2004 they recycled 300 metric tons of waste and composted a further 110 metric tons. They still have a commitment to being sustainable.

But look at what this year’s festival-goers left behind.

Hardly green, is it?

Virginia has a number of really cool festivals each year. In late July, many thousands will travel to sleepy Floyd for Floydfest. Four days of bands like Grace Potter, Drive By Truckers, Chris Robinson, Sam Bush and more. Some old-fashioned rock & roll, some bluegrass, and tons of pickin’. We hope, however, that the pickin’ won’t be tons of trash after the festival.

In September, artists like Carlos Santana, Anders Osborn, Jimmy Cliff, and Little Feat will meet up in Arrington for the Lockn’ Interlocking Music Festival. Held at Oak Ridge Farm, this relatively new festival is quickly gaining steam. From their website, they advise:

“When the show ends, Site Ops teams will be at the Main Gate exit to the Campgrounds handing out free trash bags! Please clean your campsite by putting everything in these bags, tying the bags up, and leaving at the campsite. Better yet, carry to one of the waste pods in your area. Include your cigarette butts! Let’s leave Oak Ridge Farm as clean as we found it!”

Well said. A clean, green, sustainable event.

For the past few years, we’ve been proud to assist in recycling and litter prevention at the Richmond Folk Festival. We help to coordinate recycling bins, organize post-show cleanups, and get folks energized about enjoying some clean, green, and sustainable folk music. Our friends at HandsOn Greater Richmond, along with partners like the Virginia Green Travel Alliance, are organizing teams of green volunteers to help make every Central Virginia event a beautiful one. We’ve also been crowing for a while about the upcoming UCI Road World Championship Bicycle Races which are coming to our area in September. This is like the Tour de France. Thousands will come from around the globe to watch and participate, and people all over the world will watch cycling’s elite sprint the streets of Richmond during internationally televised races. We’re excited about their efforts to make this a green and sustainable event, and proud to serve on a sustainability committee to ensure that it happens that way.

You may not be a music fan. Your idea of fun may not be camping through 3 or 4 days of loud sounds. Perhaps you aren’t interesting in cycling. At some point this summer, we hope, you WILL pack up your lawn chair, and perhaps a cooler, and enjoy some of Virginia’s beauty at an outdoor concert or show. Maybe some Beethoven Under the Stars. Surely some Shakespeare in the Park.

Whatever your tastes, we ask two things: No trash left behind, and no Kanye West.