Festivals: great for fun, not usually so great for the environment. (Hello plenty of plastic, abandoned tents and rubbish mountains, all ready to go to landfill).
One set of people looking to switch this up are the team behind No Planet B: billed as a zero waste, vegan event that’s currently slated to happen on the 17-19 August 2018, in the Cotswolds.
Now crowdfunding on Kickstarter, the three day-er is touting itself as “TED Talk meets music festival”, with classes and workshops held by the likes of Louise Smith, founder of She Grows Wild, environmentalist Sustainable Stephanie and vegan activist James Aspey.
Maudie Johnson, the festival’s creative director, told HuffPost UK she decided to set up the event as she wanted to bring like-minded people together: “If the people around you aren’t interested in the same things [zero waste living, veganism and minimalism] you connect online. But I was bored of digital relations, so I wanted to bring all these people together, to meet face-to-face. And what better way than this?”
Food will come courtesy of food trucks Epic Veg Kitchen, En Root and Fuelled By Liv, with music from One Man Plan, Ukebox Band and Lekenah Eccles.
Guests will be asked to bring their own water bottle, cutlery, food container and mug, there’ll be a mug and glass deposit scheme, all meals will be served on biodegradable plates, and Johnson is also working on getting compost loos sorted.
Johnson adds that being zero waste is “more faffy, but, as a collective, we’re shifting in the right direction – people are ready to step up and do it the hard way.” Attendees are also encouraged not to print their tickets and to cycle to the event, plus help packing your tent up at the end has been promised, to stop anything being left behind.
The festival will only go ahead if the team hit their crowdfunding goal of £25k by the 13 June – so if you’re interested you need to pledge £89, £102 or £156 for a one, two or three day ticket, respectively, while there are cheaper options for kids and student passes. No money will be taken from your account until 13 June, and only then if they have raised enough to fund the festival.
If not, there’s plenty of other festivals on the more traditional route – here’s some of our picks.