Striking the right chord: Sustainability steals the show at music festivals
NH7 Weekender kicks off this December on the lush green lawns of Pune, there will be the usual song and dance, and three days of partying. One new thing festival-goers will encounter: a lot of gentle nudging to save the planet.
"Sustainability isn't something that's nice to have; it's a mandate.
And it's the right thing to communicate to our audience so that they start thinking about it as well," says festival director Tej Brar.
NH7 is not alone. Most major events in the country are embracing sustainable practices and amplifying the messaging around it.
Homegrown music festival Echoes of Earth claims 100% of the waste generated at their event is reused, whereas at Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh, less than 1% of the trash was reject waste this year. At the latest editions of Lollapalooza India and NH7, organisers say around 85% of the waste was diverted from landfills.
After taking care of the basics, like eschewing single-use plastic and implementing measures for waste segregation and management, festival organisers say they are now actively looking for new ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
While three-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej's Mumbai concert in March was powered by solar energy, Echoes of Earth is experimenting with using biodiesel as a fuel.
Kej, who's also a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, says his entire band travels with their own water bottles, while he personally tries to amplify the message on social media and otherwise. To assess the long-term impact of his efforts, Kej has hired a bunch of PhD students who travel with the band for some of their concerts.
'Zero-waste Policy' | page 7
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