Sustainability – Tiaki I Te Taiao

Burning Horse takes place in a humbly beautiful part of a country–true Kiwi, rural New Zealand.  We are where Kiwiana takes root. We are absolutely blessed in this country and should strive to uphold the clean green image we’ve been graced with.  Being a new festival we have a prime opportunity to set our environmental standards high.

We all know that minimizing single-use materials is a no-brainer.  If you’ve ever been among the last ones standing at a gig, it is very likely you’ve witnessed the same scenes we have: dance floors littered with plastic cups (please bring re-usable drinking vessels, otherwise you can buy a reusable Burning Horse mug on site!), food trays and water bottles.  Whether you’ve made it through to that point with zombie-like persistence or a consistent flow of euphoria, you’ll know that the sight is a blight on human potential. Working together we will build the solution.

Another horrific scene for all the minimalists out there comes on Pack-up Day.  Some of you may be the pack-up-and-get-the-hell-out-as-soon-as-the-sun-rises types, but surely some would prefer to wait it out and soak up the last of the weekend.  In the latter case, you would notice that often by the time all the people have departed, the campsite is still half full!  These are consumerist times, and it is very easy to get into the mindset of concerning yourself only with the personal cost of an item and not the environmental cost.  In the same way, single-use water bottles are super wasteful, single-use tents and other camping equipment are probably way worse, eh?  Before your “supplies trip” to The Warehouse, check to find out if there are options to borrow, hire, share etc.

In the case that it does just make sense to up-and-bail on Sunday morning, totally okay.  We have you covered. Inspired by an initiative we first saw set up by Amnesty International at Sziget Festival in Hungary, we have a system in place for dealing with no-longer-needed equipment.  At Sziget, you could put a sticker on your tent that informed organizers to pack in up and deliver it to Hungary’s Eastern border where there were thousands of desperate refugees looking for shelter.  Fortunately, we don’t face such dire situations here in Southland, but we are happy to pack your gear up and deliver it to a local charity if you tell us that you’re cool for that to happen.

If you are interested in the sustainable festival initiative have a look at http://www.agreenerfestival.com for much more information about a really positive movement.  And if you’ve never given any of this much thought, it would be REALLY neat if maybe you watched a few documentaries, or perhaps a simple google search of “how can I reduce my environmental footprint” would get ya going!  🙂