Massive Attack: Environmental champions to role model

That Massive Attack organizes itself Arsenal fest in Kragujevac, on which he will host in the summer, probably only locals would be able to host him, vegan food would be eaten, and renewable energy would be consumed.

The band held a festival in their hometown of Bristol last summer, and it turned out to be the music event with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions.

The show was symbolically called ACT 1.5 as a call to action and an allusion to the lower, more ambitious limit of the Paris Agreement to curb global warming to 1,5 degrees Celsius, writes the portal "Klima101".

In their intentions of decarbonization, Massive Attack succeeded. The lead producer, Mark Don, said that it was "the cleanest, greenest festival event ever organized".

These are not just some subjective evaluations by Don, but they have been confirmed as well by the Tyndall Climate Change Research Center report.

What did they do?

Instead of diesel generators, electricity was provided by batteries in which energy from renewable sources was stored. Emissions in that sector were reduced by 98 percent compared to events of a similar size.

Certainly, the sustainability of the festival, which was visited by as many as 32 thousand people, did not stop at the use of green electricity.

Given that the stalls sold exclusively vegan food, with a focus on locally produced foods, the carbon footprint is significantly smaller than usual, by 89 percent, to be exact.

When it comes to waste, the key priority was to collect everything and forward it to composting or recycling, whether it was food scraps, packaging or metal cans. The use of single-use plastic was not allowed.

On this occasion, Massive Attack decided to deal with the biggest source of harmful emissions when it comes to live performances, that is, audience transportation. Although this is the segment where organizers probably have the least direct influence, several different strategies have been implemented to mitigate the carbon footprint of transportation.

Only for locals

At first, only local residents could buy tickets in advance. And fans who showed their ticket at the festival had access to a special bar with toilets. Also, those who bought train tickets through the partner app Train Hugger contributed to the planting of almost four thousand trees.

From the railway station to the location of the festival, which is about 4,5 kilometers away, the organizers provided transportation with electric buses that were available for visitors to return after the event.

Emissions from transportation were thus reduced by 70 percent. But despite this success, it should be borne in mind that five percent of the audience - who came to the festival by plane - produced as much as 64 percent of the total broadcasts of this event.

The members of the electronic composition themselves, Robert Del Naya and Grant Marshall, live what they preach, so they travel by train to their European performances and avoid flying in order to reduce harmful emissions. They even refused to perform at this year's Coachella festival due to concerns about the environmental impact.

Source: Klima101.rs