Austin City Limits Plans Greener Music Festival
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio 
on 09.11.07
When it comes to minimizing the footprint of mega-events, music festivals seem to be ahead of the curve. Obviously Live Earth had programs in place to reduce the impact of the worldwide concerts, but recently internationally-renowned yearly music festivals such as Bonnaroo and Bumbershoot are leading the way, too. That brings us to the next big music festival of the summer: Austin City Limits. This weekend's ACL festival promises to bring the noise and lose the landfill. The festival's first order of business? Banning styrofoam, the scourge of outdoor festivals everywhere.
Instead of using styrofoam, vendors will be required to serve food in compostable or biodegradable materials. Other programs include recycling programs for festival-goers, the use of LED and CFL lights when possible, and energy from both biodiesel and solar power for festival activities.
And, of course, what modern day mega-event would be complete without carbon offsetting. From the ACL Festival site:
ACL is offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions created by the festival's generators and electricity usage as well as staff travel and office based emissions. Just by offsetting the staff travel and the electricity used to power the event, ACL will offset over 94,000 pounds of (CO2) carbon dioxide emissions.
::Via Ecorazzi
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Wouldn't it be much "greener" if they broadcast this on TV, and everyone could watch from their house without going anywhere? Or does anyone believe that no using Styrofoam cups trumps 50K cars in traffic jams, coming, going, etc. The big picture seems to be missed by the eco-warriors.
There is more and more happening on the side of green festivals and events this days. Some say it is overkill, I say that if it doesn't hurt, and indeed actually helps, then why should there be a limit? :)
Austin City Limits sounds good, if only I could be there :(
Dave,
EcoNub.com - The Pulse of the Environment
The same could be said about NFL football games, the NHL, the NBA, Monster Truck Rallies, Country Music Concerts, and any other public event that draws a crowd. I recently attended an NFL game and was amazed at the amount of congestion, trash and other potential pollution generated by this one event.
Either we can start trying to minimized the environmental impact of large events, or we can ALL stay home and become a nation the ONLY experiences things on television.
I'm thinking this is a fantastic step. As a regular at the annual ACL festivals, this will be a sight for sore eyes. There were always clean-up issues post-fest and I'm quite happy to see the movers and shakers of ACL doing something clean. The traffic is a city concern, people will arrive how they will arrive, one way or another.
Well this event does typically offer public transit from downtown. You can park a few miles away to avoid traffic jams and bus in. They also have a huge amount of bike racks installed every year near the front gate. There are always thousands of bikes locked up.
The year that I went, I was discouraged by the amount of trash. If they do ban foam an move to encouraging composting, it'll be more like the Green Festivals in SF, Chicago and DC.
Baby steps everyone.
Watching it on TV just isn't the same...
I live in Austin, and though i've never gone to ACL - it's very expensive - I think it's great that they are trying to be greener. Austin is a fairly green city anyway, so it makes sense that acl would do this.
what to watch for, though is if next year they add to their green plans from this year, and continue to get greener every year.