Bonnaroo’s Planet Roo statue
Music festivals have become a summer “must do” where people can spend a few days in the sun with friends, eating food, and listening to their favorite artists. The day of, thousands of attenders flock towards the festival gate, many don’t realize that huge environmental impact that occurs in festivals. Think about it: thousands of people traveling to the same designated area, consuming food and drinks in disposable carton and cups, where does all that trash go?
Bonnaroo, a music and arts festival in Manchester, Tennessee, prides itself as being a green sustainable festival. It is usually hosted annually on the second Thursday of June, until Sunday lasting 4 days. To begin with, Bonnaroo encourages carpooling to lower the carbon footprint traveling towards Coffee County. Once onto the farm, volunteers provide each vehicle 2 trash bags & 2 recycling bags for their campsite. The farm will become their home for the duration of the festival. Throughout the farm, there are multiple reciprocals that divide waste into trash, recycling and compost. Every food container, cup, or plate is made from potatoes and can be put back into the soil after used.
The festival also has Planet Roo, a haven for sustainability and global consciousness, where festival goers can find a variety of nonprofit organizations, the Bonnaroo Learning Garden, yoga, art and meditation classes. Clean Vibes Trading Post is a non-profit project that rewards you for your green behavior by helping to recycle at Bonnaroo. You can trade recyclables for cool prizes. The Learning Garden provides free classes where you can learn anything from the basics of gardening, to adding livestock to your homestead, to saving heirloom seeds from different types of vegetables.
In addition, Bonnaroo has won the Highly Commended Award ranking in 2014 from the A Greener Festival Awards. This is the festival’s 8th consecutive award that indicates an environmentally aware festival that takes significant steps to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The festival also provides an annual sustainability report to further create transparency on the projects that festival goers helped actualize. All things considered, Bonnaroo music festival is environmentally conscious on the effects that we have on our planet and sets the standard in sustainability and green practices in North American concert events. Not only can goers enjoy their favorite artists and food but they can also learn the benefits of recycling and environmentally friendly practices to incorporate into their daily practices.
