festival charity hopes to start a revolution

festivals join up for a new initiative on climate change

By Scott Williams | Published: Fri 20th Feb 2015

Simian Mobile Disco

A new green not-for-profit initiative called Energy Revolution has launched from the festival think-do tank Powerful Thinking, whose steering members include Bestival, Festival Republic, Shambala Festival, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), Julies Bicycle, The Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), A Greener Festival, the Production Services Association (PSA), and Firefly Clean Energy.

The charitable initiative has just launched and sees more that 10 major festivals join together in a concerted effort to tackle climate change. Their aim is to take an active stance on climate change, try to reduce environmental impacts, and fund a 1-megawatt wind turbine within 5 years.

The festival charity hopes to make audiences who travel to festivals aware that getting to events often makes up 70% or more of a festival’s total carbon footprint.

Chris Johnson, Chair of Powerful Thinking said, "This is an exciting moment in festival history; a chance for the whole industry to work together on an issue which is far bigger than any one of us, in a way that has real impact. We hope to have over 100 festivals on board within 3 years. The potential for festivals to start an energy revolution is real…"

To tackle this impact, the initiative will crowd-source voluntary donations from festivalgoers at the point of ticket purchase, allowing them to account for their travel emissions. All of the money raised will be invested into clean, renewable energy, replacing dirty fossil fuels with wind and solar power, to help tackle climate change and help create a more sustainable future for everyone.

Festival goers will be made aware that investing in and using renewable energy is the best chance we have to reduce global emissions to levels that are not critical for the planet.

Scientists recently announced that human activities are pushing the Earth's climate beyond what is safe, and we are now in a risk zone, since the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has exceeded the limit value of 350 ppm (parts per million). This could lead to temperature changes on Earth that could have consequences for animal and plant life, wind conditions, ocean currents, ocean water levels, etc.

The Energy Revolution hopes to harness the power of a festival community from over 200 outdoor festivals and approximately 2 million festivalgoers, to make a real difference in accounting for millions of miles of travel.

Festivals launching the initiative include Bestival, Camp Bestival, Standon Calling, BoomTown Fair, Kendal Calling, Secret Garden Party, Wilderness, Starry Skies, Shambala Festival, and Love Saves The Day, with many others soon joining them.

Participating festivals are also tackling their carbon footprint by using renewables where possible, reducing energy consumption, and investing directly into renewable energy projects. 

The initiative has launched a website explaining the initiative www.energy-revolution.org.uk.

Please consider making a donation, where it's on offer, whilst buying your tickets.




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