Green technology at Coachella Music Festival
Psychedelic LED's, water-filling stations and Carpoolchella makes this the greenest music festival yet.
Mon, Apr 20 2009 at 12:17 AM EST
It's amazing what a difference a few years can make. The last time I attended Coachella Music Festival, the hundreds of thousands of discarded plastic bottles overflowing every available receptacle were an ever-present reminder of the concert's enormous environmental impact.
Fast-forward to 2009. As I walked across the large open grassy field, there was nary a bottle to be seen. Thanks in large part to Global Inheritance, a youth activism organization focusing on sustainability, Coachella implemented a bunch of green programs:
- 10-for-1 bottle exchange (bring in 10 empty bottles and get one full water bottle free)
- Free water filling stations
- Totally hip art show called TRASHed: the art of recycling
- Carpoolchella -- a ridesharing program done through Pickuppal.com
- Recycled paper plane competition (prize: backstage with MIA, nice!)
- Alt-fuel golf cart race (ethanol vs. solar vs. biodiesel)
Lastly, there were a host of environmental art installations including the world's tallest bamboo tower and the mind-bending Quad Cubatron (which I shot in the video above). The two 20' cubes hover 10' off the ground and are comprised of over 5600 LED lights controlled by a sophisticated computer program. I missed Henry Rollins who played with MWard (I just couldn't pass up Crystal Castles who were at the same time) but according to my friend @chimpanjonas, he talked about our duty to the planet, or as he calls it, the "big blue-green fun ball."
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Comments
steeeeev
04/20/2009 02:22 AM
is the 10 for 1 problem really eco friendly? they're using the same number of bottles, they're just screwing a worker that would have been picking them up out of their pay and then acting like it's a "green" gesture
Kalib Kersh
04/29/2009 13:31 PM
The 10-for-1 activity is meant to bring awareness to recycling... and I doubt they hired fewer people to clean up on account of that... that place is a mess when it's over, and they're not going to skimp on cleanup crew hiring, just because a non-profit shows up.
The water refill stations present another piece of the solution. You got to reinforce constructive behavior in every way possible.
Thanks for the comment!
