Ecologically sound is the mood music for festival season

GREEN EVENTS:Electric Picnic and Green Gathering flaunt their eco-credentials but is a carbon-neutral music festival really possible or is it enough just to raise awareness?

THE "ELECTRIC" in this year's Electric Picnic music festival will be as green, sustainable and carbon-free as possible, organisers are promising.

Car-pooling will be offered, carbon emissions will be measured and waste recycling will be doubled if not trebled this year as compared with last.

Organisers of the "boutique" festival, which takes place in Stradbally, Co Laois at the end of the month, say they are starting a strategy this year which will see it become the most carbon-neutral festival in Europe. Theirs is not, however, the only festival tuning into the green agenda.

Though far smaller, the second annual Irish Green Gathering in Co Wexford this weekend (with about 5,000 expected compared with 38,000 at the Picnic) says it will be this year's "greener, cleaner, low-budget, non-profit, family festival".

At Woodbrook House, Enniscorthy, bands such as the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra, Giveamanakick and the Guggenheim Grotto will perform. There will be a healing area, organic food and wines as well as yoga classes for adults and children, talks, discussions and DJs playing until 4am.

"Giles Herbert, who owns Woodbrook House, is very green orientated," says Nicola Brown, co-ordinator of the Green Gathering. "I fundraise for the Carlow-Kilkenny Green Party. So we ran it last year and it's really to promote green issues."

But can there really be a carbon-neutral festival, especially one away from urban areas to which thousands of people will want to travel - probably in cars?

Davie Phillips, of the Cultivate Centre, who is co-ordinating the green strategy at this year's Electric Picnic, describes the aim as a long-term one.

"This is the first time the Picnic is really looking scientifically at reducing its impact on the environment." This year is easy, he concedes, in that the first task is to measure emissions.

"An Irish company called Emission Zero will be measuring the carbon output from the generators that power the lights and the mics and everything on site. It's a case of crawling before running. After this year, we will be really looking at how to reduce emissions next year and go even further the year after that."

Damien Quinn of RecycleNet, who is spearheading waste reduction, is adamant "there is no excuse for any rubbish to be left on the ground" after this year's event. The vast majority of people at the Picnic are interested in reducing waste, he says, but last year recycling containers were not being emptied fast enough and non-recyclable waste got mixed up with recyclable. This will be addressed.

There will be a 40-strong team of Bin Your Empties volunteers on site handing out clear plastic bags to festival-goers so they can gather recyclable cans, Tetra-packs and plastics and bring them to recycling containers all over the site, in exchange for a T-shirt.

All food vendors are being asked to use biodegradable containers and wooden cutlery and a composting service is being introduced.

There will also be a car-pooling service; "recharge pods" - ie booths for getting phones recharged - run on solar and wind energy; and a "gigulator" where people can measure their carbon footprint and confess their "carbon sins".

"It's a challenge at a music festival because people aren't there to be lectured," says Phillips. "So we have to be creative in how we get the message across."

The constant theme at the event will be "The Climate is Changing. Will you?" The mantra will be on banners throughout the site as well as hung from music stages.

"Every festival is going to have some environmental impact," says Phillips, "but we aren't going to stop having festivals."

The Irish Green Gathering takes place from today until Sunday in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. www.irishgreengathering.com . Electric Picnic is on August 29th-31st. www.electricpicnic.ie