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Thanks for visiting and for your support.

Glastonbury Festival 2008, ‘Love the Farm, leave no trace’ that’s what this year’s slogan said. The organisers even developed some biodegradable tent pegs to stop those lovely dairy cows cutting up their feet and mouths.

So how were the festival’s green credentials? Well a damn site better than any other festival in the UK I have no doubt about that, but the tent pegs were rubbish. The weather was good and the firm ground, snapped a third mine. It’s the design, not the materials.

Glastonbury always is an eclectic mix of green knowledge, music and madness. This year was no exception. My forth time, it was my best year yet.

But all was not perfect in this land, that suffered from archipelago syndrome during the sea level rise in the 7th millennium BC.

The sun kept the Solar Panels gushing with clean energy, but on the first day of the festival. I was disappointed to see the lightbulb bunting around the camp site still on in the daytime. Maybe it was powered by biodiesel.

This year a number of Green Gadget stalls were present selling solar panels etc.

The queues at the Vegetarian food stands seemed slightly longer this year but maybe that was wishful thinking.

Last year there were signs everywhere to tell people not to p*ss in the streams, this year there were less. It may be a coincidence but there were a lot more people relieving themselves that way this year, and even more people not taking them to task about it. I guess the number of dead fish, and reduced water oxygen will eventually give the real picture.

There was also a lot less rubbish around the site this year than the last sunny year I saw. I never saw a paper cup bonfire this year, but I heard they went on. Overall it was disheartening to still see so many ignorant people. Sure someone will be around at the end, to pick it up, but does that make it ok? Recycling bins were everywhere though and recycling bags seemed to magically appear outside my tent.

Trash City, a Mad Max-esque, re-incarnation of various metal remains, showcased a darker side to recycling. Surrounded by fire breathing, metal towers, fashioned into dark structures, the Bar’s exterior announced ‘ Abandon all hope we have!’. Tucked inside a corner of Trash City, the Rubbish Fairy demonstrated a twisted, but fun side to recycling through her art.

The Green Fields showcased an eco-home, a greenhouse made of recycled bottles, a giant felled redwood made into a banquet table and chairs and numerous stalls including campaigns for the people of Tibet, skilled craftsmen and women, and various connotations of climate campaigns.

Up in the Tipi Field, you got the good appreciation for nomadic living, and the sheer happiness of people living a basic but fulfilling life. The showers and saunas nearby were powered by renewable energy (fire and solar).

WaterAid initially inspired me to raise funds for them at Glastonbury with their (slightly more pleasant) toilet experience. This year they were back again with their African Style Pit Latrines.

Was the festival Green? You bet it was.

Could it do better? It always does, I can’t wait until Glastonbury 2009.

I asked a number of people at the festival what they were doing in their own lives to tackle climate change and also what they found the most difficult.

Sharia – Greenpeace Fundraiser

‘I shop locally, eat locally, manage my own allotment, and cycle to work. I don’t use supermarkets, so for me fitting in all my shopping, along with everything else is difficult. But the vegetarian and vegan co-operative I’m a member of, makes this slightly easier.’

Joe – LetsTalkGordon.org.uk Campaign Co-ordinator

‘I’m getting active politically, at the moment I’m co-ordinating LetsTalkGordon.org.uk a campaign dedicated to getting the Prime Minister to make a televised address to the nation on climate change, launching the national debate about how we should respond.

I’m trying to eat less meat and cut down on flights. It’s difficult because my brother lives in New York. I offset, but am not convinced. Not being a vegetarian, eating less meat is not easy.

Helen – Festival Go-er

‘I’m growing my own veg in the garden, going to local farmers markets and buying too much cheese! I try to buy eco-products like organic, fair trade clothes and earth friendly toiletries. Overcoming my own laziness is the hardest part.’

Three Drunk Blokes on Cider

‘Arhhhhhhhhg.. Take a photo.. hic’

Gemma – Anti-Slavery Campaigner

‘Buying energy saving light-bulbs and saving energy around the house. I find the hardest part is seeing how were all making a difference, knowing that the part you play is just a small part in the whole thing.’

This year’s Glastonbury Festival was one of the greenest yet, but there was still room for improvement. It will be remembered as ‘one of those fantastic years’.

Keep coming back for a review of the Festival’s Greener Side in the coming days.

The Guardian recently reported that a study by Julie’s bicycle, revealed that large music festivals (i.e more than 40,000 people) can generate around more the 2,000 tonnes of CO2.

This year I’ll be going to Glastonbury Festival, and Camp Bestival and living by 10 greener festival tips as The GreenFestivalMan.

Number TEN – Fashion
Don’t waste money buying new clothes that will get trashed. Shop around charity or thrift Shops for pre-festival bargains. A large number of UK festivals have charity shops on site.

Number NINE – Toilets
This applies to guys more than girls. Festival toilets can be pretty grim but less grim than the thought of 10′000s of people urinating at random in a field. Doing so is tantamount, to empting the content of a large toilet right over the entire festival. Poor santitation = nasty stomach upsets and ecosystem pollution.

Number EIGHT – Lighting
It’s dark you need light. Use renewable power torches and lights, like the Puma Dynamo Torch available from EcoOutlet.co.uk. (It even has a strobe light).

Lights comes in all forms from solar to water powered.

Number SEVEN – Tent pegs
Made from potato starch, Millets.co.uk have launched a range of biodegradable tent pegs from GreenStake. Reusable, but won’t harm wildlife if you lose them in the ground.

Number SIX – Fire!
If like me you need fire be sociable and gather round someone else’s.

Use deadwood, don’t pull any branches down. Using charcoal? make sure it’s from a sustainable source. Charcoal in the UK should be FSC certified and can be sourced from British woodlands.

This year I’ll be using the WoodGas Biomass Camp Stove. Originally designed for developing countries to minimise smoke pollution. There are only a few UK stockists at the moment, but a larger number in the USA.

Number FIVE – Power
Use recharagable batteries or personal renewable power sources.

A number of personal solar panels are available to charge various different electronics like MP3 players, batteries and mobile phones. Most can be found for reasonable rates on the internet.

A recent addition to the pack, is the HYmini wind powered generator and handheld charger.

Number FOUR – Cleanliness
Use natural, bio degradable, wet wipes. Better still, take a flannel, remember those?

Use biodegradable soap and Eco-friendly toothpaste. Many ‘non-green’ hygiene products release nasty chemicals. These chemicals eventually get into food chains.

Number THREE – Rubbish / Trash
Leave no trace. Leave nothing but footprints. Use on-site recycling facilities or take home waste to recycle and/or compost.

Don’t trash your tent or burn it, give it to an organisation like Globalhand.org for recycling. If it does get trashed, salvage the useful bits. Tent poles can make good flag poles. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Number TWO – Food
Buy local, eat seasonal – try out the local food stalls. Meat eaters can cut back their carbon footprints but eating more vegetarian food. Cut it out or cut it back. This year at Glastonbury I’ll be only eating vegetarian food, but only if I can find another 15 meat eaters to join me. Sign up on www.PledgeBank.Com/GoVegetarian .

If going vegetarian isn’t your bag try to make the special effort to get something that’s local, free range and preferably organic. The meat tastes better that way and will have taken less carbon to produce.

A good range of organic and fairtrade museli and granola bars are available (excellent munchie food).

Decant soft drinks into a re-usable bottle, like CamelBak’s innovative BPA free range.

Alcohol from local breweries will quench the festival thirst. Find yourself stuck with a bottle but no way of getting in to it? Show your friends how old stuff can be reused. EcoOutlet.co.uk retail bottle openers made from recycled metal spoons.

• Number ONE -Transportation

Most of your Carbon footprint originates from the way you travel to the event. Use public transport where possible, many festivals across the world can be accessed by trains and coaches. Rock am Ring in Nurberg and Glastonbury included.

Going by car? arrange a lift share via liftshare.org or find a travelling companion on boards like eFestivals.com or networking sites like isanyonegoingto.com. Whatever your means offset it a few times using audited carbon offset companies like Climatecare.org.

Have a happy Festival and Camping Season. See you at Glastonbury or Camp Bestival.

GreenFestivalMan

(aka Gareth, GGG Editor)

This year I’m trying to reduce my carbon footprint at Glastonbury Festival by living by 10 Carbon Busting Green Festival Tips.

Recently a number of GreenGuys and GreenGirls have written about the environmental and health benefits of going vegetarian. Some reports even say vegetarians have half the carbon footprint of their meat eating counterparts.

People go vegetarian for many different reasons, but for me it’s about the environment.

I’m looking for 15 other meat-eaters to join me between the 25th – 29th June 2008, and try out vegetarianism.

WILL YOU JOIN ME?

Join in the fun at http://www.pledgebank.com/GoVegetarian

OR text ‘pledge GoVegetarian’ to 60022 (in the UK only)

The idea has already generated a lot of lively debate on eFestivals and fits in nicely with Glastonbury’s attempt to lead the way in Green Festivals in 2008. Much of their marketing material carrying the strapline ‘Leave no trace, Love the farm’.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be reviewing a number of the latest eco-camping products and publishing my 10 Greener Festival/Camping Tips on GreenGuysGlobal.

I’ll be writing from the festival on my environmental finds, and asking people what they are doing in their lives to help reduce their carbon footprint, and finding difficult about making changes in their lives.

Join the group ‘Follow The Green Festival Man’ on Facebook, and become a friend of the Green Festival Man on Myspace http://www.myspace.com/GreenFestivalMan.

Look forward to chatting with you soon.

GreenFestivalMan
(aka GGG Editor Gareth)

PS Keep watching this website for my GreenFestivalTips later in the week.

Hello.

I’m Asi and I’m really happy to be part of the Green Guys Global team. I’m a strategist at Poke and I will mostly write about green marketing stuff and tell you about really nice environmental campaigns.

In my first post here I’d like to tell you about something I’m personally involved with – the WWF Get on Board campaign to strengthen the UK Climate Change Bill.

The UK is leading the field by introducing legislation committing us to reduce our CO2 emissions by 2050, but the WWF along with many others are pressing for deeper cuts and clear targets. Poke have focused on one seemingly crazy omission from the calculation of CO2 emissions – namely that the emissions from international aviation and shipping are currently excluded from the calculations.

As aviation is the fastest growing source of UK emissions, it’s got to be bonkers to leave it out. We’re going to be making a rather large paper plane and boat to highlight this issue, and are hoping to take them from Gabriel’s Wharf where it will be exhibited for the whole weekend – 15th-18th November – to The Houses of Parliament – which should get some attention!

The people who sign the petition will have their names printed on the giant boat or plane so please go and sign up and tell your mama and sista and friends to support us as well.

We’ve been working with some lovely people who support the WWF and for celebrating my first post here, I’ll show you an exclusive outtakes/blooper video footage that will make you laugh…you can watch it here