The Urkult festival takes place in Nämforsen in the north of Sweden. Photo: Mattias Lundblad.
Summer time is festival time, and during this summer an enormous amount of music festivals have been lining up in different parts of Sweden.
While festivals didn’t always use to give much thought to sustainability, leaving behind parks and other festival sites in different states of devastation, it’s now more and more becoming standard to have an environment policy.
This weekend it’s time for the Urkult festival , in Nämforsen http://kartor.eniro.se/m/IpJeF in the north of Sweden. For the 16:th time visitors gather close to the ancient carvings at Nämforsen rapids to listen to musicians from many parts of the world. The festival has environmental thinking as one of its basic elements. Most of the waste is composted at the spot, as much of the food that is served at the festival is locally and ecologically produced and toilets that separates the urine are used.
Another festival claiming their “green-ness” is Way out West , taking place in my old home town Gothenburg on the 12-14 of August. This year Way out West wants to look specifically at etical production.
Some festivals also charter trains and fill them with activities like live bands and dj:s playing music, making the way to the festival an experience in itself.
There are also lots of artists taking an interest in these issues. One of the most ambitious projects is the environmental artist collective Foot (“Friends of Old Trees”) This collective wants to make the artists environmental role models, and thereby inspire their fans to lower their own environmental impact.
Foot also helps to adapt festivals to a greener “thinking” and once a year they award the best adapted musicfestival in Sweden with The golden Foot prize.
