We already had last year’s edition of Belgium’s Paradise City Festival on our festival bucket list and with a steady evolution of artist and activism, it’s 2018 edition is undoubtedly one of the most sustainable (and global) minded events on the planet.
Musically, we can say a lot about its lineups, featuring globally-minded acts like Call Super b2b Objekt, Jennifer Cardini, KiNK, Laurent Garnier, Red Axes, Studio Barnhus, and more, but we’ve kinda said a lot about them all already. Here, rather we focus on the global nature of Paradise City Festival, looking at a few of its intangible qualities that make it a must attend event. Let’s start with the first line of its mission statement:
“We utterly believe the future can be bright but that our generation needs to stand up and act.”
From the get go, Paradise City Festival has adopted this philosophy in terms of providing the greenest festival experience possible, while aiming in 2018 to produce ZERO-waste event; needless to say, starting small, eventually growing its sustainability initiatives alongside its lineups. This year, over its three days, the festival has added certain steps in minimizing its Carbon Footprint while being minimally “pushy” in its actions (the current local festival trend of only 100% vegan food options allowed comes to mind). Why is this important and worthy for an editorial? Because such social responsibility and acknowledgement of environmental rights as human rights does not come cheap…making it very easy for other festivals to bypass these initiatives in the sole interest of capitalist advancement. In contrast, Paradise City Festival acknowledges the costs and logistics of sustainability, adapting spaces and places to meet its mission with a comprehensive 10 step program toward minimal environmental impact.
-
- Green Energy: 95% low consumption lightning powered by reneweable energy.
- Food: Locally sourced & organically grown food and ingredients from fair-trade sources.
- Waste: Reusable cups for all drinks and donate free portable ashtrays + surplus food to be distributed to people in need.
- Transport: Closer entrance for Bicycle travellers; encouragement of public transport & ride share.
- Water: Paradise City still & sparkling Tap Water with no plastic bottles in site.
- Paper: Only FSC paper.
- Toilets: Eco-toilets that reduce water usage.
- CO2: Offsetting any unavoidable climate impact alongside CO2logic’s climate project.
- Camping: Circular Inn with Camp 2 Camp allows attendees to rent a tent, an air matrass, a sleeping bag and/or a camping chair with “history” from €5 to €10.
- Communication: A steady word of mouth between attendees, ambassadors, and partners on the environmentally-minded necessity of modern festival planning.
As you can see, the 10 steps toward sustainability involve a lot more than simple Carbon footprint reduction, also drawing from social responsibility toward those less financially privileged, a distinct non-corporate mindset, and a focus on community and communication…all intangibles not just for the festival and music world, but proper rules of thumb for a wider society as well. As environmental rights are human rights (who else would we be doing this for, after all), Paradise City doesn’t just talk the talk (like certain “progressive” events), but it steadily walks the walk toward a sustainable future, both within our scene and for the coming generations. We’d urge every event, anywhere in the world, to follow this lead…and local governments who provide permits, it’s your responsibility too…DO NOT grant permissions without a comprehensive pledge for sustainability and equality from ANY event seeking to occur within your jurisdiction. This may alter your bottom line, but the future of the world will thank you.
Read More about Paradise City festival Green initiative HERE, and find the remaining tickets and more information below.
29 June – 1 July | Paradise City Festival 2018 | Tickets | Brabant, Belgium
