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Can Festival-Goers Embrace Greener Music Festivals.

Andy Robertson

The biggest contribution to a music festival’s carbon footprint comes from the thousands of festival-goers attending. Festival organisers can do everything in their power to reduce their carbon footprint and waste but making music festivals greener remains difficult. What challenges are there to change festival-goer behaviour to contribute to greener events?


In any scenario people’s attitudes and behaviour are the attributes that are the most difficult to change. This is because it requires changes to current habits while embracing new and unfamiliar sets of actions. The same principles apply to all festival-goers who are generally motivated to attend a music festival to party and enjoy themselves. Despite an organiser’s best efforts to make changes to their operations the majority of festival-goers may give little thought to their carbon footprint or behaviour that impacts the event's sustainability policies. What extra actions can organisers take to change behaviour and attitudes whilst attending a festival.

Clarity of Communication. 
It is essential that the festival organisation provide clear and transparent sustainability policies and a commitment to reducing the event’s carbon footprint. Aside from policies the organisers need to demonstrate what action has been taken to make these statements a reality along with verifiable results. A festival stance on sustainability and fighting climate change can be communicated to festival-goers on their website and through social media channels along with regular press releasees to keep to topic current.

Forcing Change. 
Most festival organisers are now forcing changes to how their events operate. Banning single use plastics and replacing rubbish bins with recycling and compost bins can force visitors to think carefully about their waste disposal. Increasing the use of public transport and restricting car parking or making it very expensive can force festival goers to use transport options that reduce their carbon footprint. The same restrictions can be enforced on all site visitors including vendors and sponsor too. 

Peer Pressure. 
One of the most effective ways to change attitudes is to use peer pressure and festival organisers are pursuing this route as it appears more effective. Some organisers are now encouraging festival-goers to invest in ‘eco-bands’ (green wristbands) that can be proudly worn to signify a commitment to a greener festival. The small charges made for these generates revenue that is then invested in planting trees as a way of offsetting the event’s carbon footprint. In addition performance artists and influencers can help to make changes by pledging their support for greener festivals and reiterating what specific actions festival-goers can take to make a difference. Organisers can also encourage artists to use trains rather than flights between events to demonstrate their commitment further.

It takes times to change behaviour and attitudes but there are encouraging signs that things are changing for the better in the music festival sector. 

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Photo by Wendy Wei via Pexels

Andy Robertson
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