8 eco-friendly and sustainability festivals from across the world

Are you a person who loves festivals and is someone who keeps an eagle eye on the calendar just to make sure you pre-plan things in advance as it makes you hella excited? If you are a festival goer but are also wholeheartedly committed to the environment, you might feel guilty about the waste that comes along with a festival. We all have seen the trash on a festival ground when everyone leaves. Fortunately, there is a growing movement toward sustainable festivals. We have come up with some Sustainability Festivals just to keep you updated that a Green Festive Season does exist!

1. Echoes of the Earth

            Where - Bengaluru

            When - December 

If you are a lover of both music and the environment, this festival is just for you! Echoes of Earth remains India's most environmentally conscious music festival. The festival, cradled among lush greenery, features a stellar line-up of over 40 International and Indian musicians performing on four uniquely designed stages, all in the name of one Earth. Every aspect of Echoes is designed and curated with sustainability in mind. Each year, they strive to find new ways to make this festival greener, as well as to ensure that the audience takes home sustainable methods learned at the festival. 

2. Ziro Festival of Music

            Where - Arunachal Pradesh

            When - September

This four-day festival/event uses local compostable ingredients to ensure sustainability. The bamboo used in the infrastructure is sourced locally. The festival features two stages, Donyi (Sun) and Polo (Moon), built almost entirely by local artisans. Also, the signboards are made of reclaimed wood and painted with environmentally friendly paint. They have a team of volunteers who help clean the festival grounds before and after the event, and they encourage everyone to participate in their 'Clean and Green Ziro' initiative and promote responsible tourism

3. Sarhul

Where - Jharkhand

When - March/April

Sarhul is a major festival celebrated throughout Jharkhand, a predominantly tribal state in central India. During Sarhul, which means "tree worship", participants pray to the sal trees for providing food, shelter, and protection. 

Sarhul is essentially a worship of nature and spreads the message of protecting our forests. In a time when forest cover is being redefined and reduced in the name of development, this is a festival of high relevance.  

4. Hasiru Habba, the green festival

            Where - Karnataka

            When - June - July

BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development- Karnataka has been popularising the Hasiru Habba– Green festival in all of its project locations since 2001 to popularise tree plantations on a large scale involving rural communities. It is an effort to give religious meaning and recognition to tree planting by involving people from all walks of life in the village. A date for hasiru habba is usually set in consultation with the community during June and July. On the previous day, transportation of seedlings, seeds of fast-growing plants, pit excavation in the selected land, and other arrangements will be made. 

5. DGTL

            Where - Amsterdam

            When - April 

This innovative electronic music festival in Holland is truly cutting-edge, with its edgy lineup and ambitious environmental goals. DGTL's goal is to become the world's first circular festival by 2020, and the event is constantly being redesigned and evolved to achieve this goal. Instead of designing the food court menu based on what their customers would most likely want, they designed it to use up food waste and imperfect produce from local suppliers. In addition, they installed compostable toilets, only served drinks in reusable cups, and chose Jakarta, Amsterdam's circular hotel, to host their performers.

6. We love green

Where - Paris

When - June

We Love Green, as the name suggests, is a festival that takes the environment very seriously. The two-day event includes talks, workshops, and discussions on sustainable living, as well as an eclectic and exciting music lineup. From installing eco-toilets and using 100 percent renewable energy to encouraging festival-goers to use public transportation. We Love Green is working hard to live up to its name. They have also managed to plant 80,000 trees in collaboration with Ecosia, which we think is fantastic!

7. Northside

Where - Denmark

When - June

This three-day music festival, held in Aarhus, a university city on Denmark's east coast, has a strong lineup and an even stronger sustainability agenda. And for the past ten years, they've been working hard to reduce Northside waste, reduce carbon footprint, and find an eco-friendly food supply during the three-day event. Behind the scenes, no decisions are made without first considering the environmental implications. In 2017, all the food and wine sold at the festival were organic. 

The most spellbinding aspects of their sustainability initiative are the 'trash butlers' and 'trash maids' – people dressed in stylish service outfits who walk around the festivals handing out trash bags and pocket ashtrays for cigarette butts. 

8. Green festival expo

Where - United States

When - April

For over 15 years, the Green Festival Expo was the largest and longest-running sustainability and green living event in the United States. Global Exchange introduces thousands of people to the future green economy each year through the Green Festival. These dynamic events, which eventually expanded to five cities across the country, brought together inspirational leaders, social entrepreneurs, and community members to celebrate and enjoy everything from green energy systems to Fair Trade Certified products to organic food.

let us celebrate green

To manifest your constant partying and sustainability mood, here was a list of a few sustainability festivals. Though the list keeps on going on and on, if you think you want us to add any sustainable festivals that you are familiar with, then feel free to connect with us. If you want to make your life more sustainable and happening, then “awenest” is the only answer. Pitch our varieties on how to be sustainable and win the environmental fight. Come, let us step into a completely Green World, where Green is the only thing to be celebrated!

Let us - Live Green. Celebrate Green!

Photo by Tijs van Leur on Unsplash

Author - Prarthana is a PostGrad Applied Physics student and a freelance writer who enjoys reading and writing poetries and articles on a variety of topics. She can be found on Instagram and LinkedIn