Audience travel is by far the biggest single contributor to carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from festivals which are not well served with public transport links. If you can share your car with friends and family, it will make your journey to and from a festival far greener, it might be more fun, and it will substantially reduce your carbon footprint. Remember the key word - LIFTSHARE.
Festival Harvest. Double CD and download. Out June 7th 2010.
The First winners of the Greener Festival Award 2010 have been announced – and we have a record breaking eight Australian festivals getting our prestigious Award, topped by Peats Ridge Festival whose team win our outstanding Award for 2010. These brilliant festivals eventually made the grade in Australia (nearly double the number of last year) are a testament to the real efforts Australian festivals are making to get green clean, and lead the fight against climate change. The winners are Bluesfest, The Falls Festival (on two sites) WOMADelaide, Southbound, Fairbridge, Island Vibe, Blues n Roots and Peats Ridge.
Our Awards Organiser in Australia, Amie, adds (more…)
The start of 2010 has seen the hottest weather since records began, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA’s National Climatic Data Centre said this week that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for both April and for the period from January to April. The monthly analysis, based on records going back to 1880, showed April’s global land and ocean average surface temperature was the warmest on record at 58.1°F (14.5°C), which is 1.37°F (0.76°C) above the 20th century average of 56.7°F (13.7°C). According to the Climate Prediction Centre the climate pattern El Niño is expected to continue the warming through June.
From www.edie.net
Sir David Attenborough, Patron of the World Land Trust, recently drew attention to the fact that while some 20% of the Amazon rainforest had been destroyed, a whopping 93% of Atlantic rainforest had been lost. The Atlantic Rainforest once covered a huge swathe of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and now it is reduced to small remnant patches. Sir David said “It’s the golden lion tamarin I mostly think about when we talk about Atlantic rainforest”. The golden lion tamarin (below) is a tiny and exquisite monkey emblamatic of all the hidden species to be found there. The World Land Trust raises funds for its overseas project partners to purchase and protect critically threatened habitats for their biodiversity. Sir David was speaking directly about WLT’s exhibit at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show when they brought a tiny corner of the Atlantic rainforest to London. The exhibit went on to win a Gold Medal and Best in Section (Continuous Learning). Organisations like the World Land Trust (WLT) will be critical to protect the remaining 7% of Atlantic rainforest and here at AGreenerFestival we are going to support WLT this year.
You can find out more at www.worldlandtrust.org and the WLT has an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.
You can now PRE-ORDER our 28 Track double CD of specially selected talent from the 2010 festival season…
For details – see the story on our homepage here
Distributed by MC9 Music / Activate Media
As news of the horrendous damage done by the floods in Nashville comes hot on the heels of the devasting and ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which itself follows the 2005 flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katerina - we put out a call to all country musicians – WE NEED OUR COUNTRY – to support sensible sustainable energy policies and the fight against climate change. The Nashville floods have been disasterous. The Music Valley Wax which houses effigies of country’s biggest stars including Willie Nelson, Taylor Swift, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Roy Acuff and Dolly Parton has been flooded out – and accross the road the Grand Ole Opry House was likewise washed out – the stage was undeer two feet of water, buckled and has had to be ripped out. Musicians were hit by the floodwaters too: Kenny Chesney returned to Nashville to find that his houses was submerged. His gym was ruined and he lost his collection of sports memorabilia. His home is now likely to be condemned. Keith Urban lost a collection of vintage guitars dating back to the 1930s at a flooded storage warehouse and Creedence Clearwater frontman John Fogerty feared that the water may have destroyed his collection of 30 Les Paul guitars. The worst damage inflicted on musicians came at the SoundCheck warehouse in an industrial park next to the river. Workmen are ripping apart the little-known 160,000 sq ft storage and rehearsal facility where 600 musicians stored their valuable gear. Brad Paisley posted photographs of his destroyed road gear on Twitter after it was flooded at the SoundCheck warehouse. He said: “Somebody had a great idea to make artwork out of these ruined guitars and auction them for charity. I like that.” But his beloved 1968 Paisley Telecaster, played throughout his career, survived. Paisley has had 14 No 1 hits, and a record 10 consecutive chart-topping singles. He was one of a bevy of stars who played with the Grand Ole Opry at the White House recently.
We have a new coalition government in the UK – is this a new chance for more environmentally friendly policies? Well, here are some of the clues so far:
- The new UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary is Chris Huhne (pictured, left) who has said publicly said he is against any investment in nuclear power
- the coalition is committed to radical ‘decarbonisation’ of Britain’s energy supplies
- The roll out of smart meters and feed in tariffs to reward people who produce green energy has been prioritised
- The planned third runway at Heathrow has been scrapped
- Airflights (rather than passengers) are to be taxed to stamp out the airlines current practice of flying empty planes in order to keep landing slots
- Plans are afoot for a ‘green’ bank to invest in low carbon projects
- New transport minister (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport ) Norman Baker MP hates using the car and rarely flies – he holidays by train!
- Prime Minister David Cameron MP has promised that central government would cut its carbon emissions by a tenth over the next twelve months – and that he wanted his to be “the greenest government ever”.
BUT
- a ‘rigged’ carbon trading market may favour nuclear power
- The £6 billion of annual cuts the coalition has promised may have a dramatic negative effect on policies
- and the new Secretary of State for Transport Phil Hammond MP has said he wants to end the war on motrorists and suggested all new road building is privatised (although is that such a bad thing? I quite like the idea of pay as you go toll roads)
Aveda has collaborated with our friend Sally Walton, the ethical designer behind the hit company CarryABag, to bring you this summer’s must-have – the Aveda Festival Kit. Aveda Festival Kit is stuffed full of essential products, in a gorgeous makeup bag to keep you looking gorgeous and fresh come mosh pit, camp site, rain or shine. The goodies include Pure Abundance Hair and Shampure Shampoo and Conditioner as well as Foot Relief, an intensive moisturising crème that revitalises those dancing feet, it nourishes, conditions and invigorates. Jojoba and castor oils significantly soften and soothe rough skin while rosemary, lavender and tea tree oils deodorise skin, Peppymint, a clever little bottle of breath freshening drops with cooling essential oils, peppermint and anise that combine for a potent, long-lasting burst of flavour and Lip Saver, the moisturising botanical balm with SPF 15 and anti-oxidants. Protects lips from UV exposure and other harsh environmental factors with natural waxes that seal in moisture for lasting protection.
You can find out more at www.liberty.co.uk / www.carry-a-bag.com
The line up and track listing for our brand new FESTIVAL HARVEST double CD is out. The new CD will be packed in 100% card to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has been certified for the new IG Mark. The CD will be released as a limited edition double CD and as a download on June 1st. The bands are the BEST of British new talent – enjoy! (more…)
Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire and one of the World’s richest men, is funding research into machines that suck up seawater to seed clouds in the hope that the newly ‘whitended’ clouds will help reflect sunlight away from Earth and stablise global warming. (more…)
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