Is the Earth Day Festival itself green?

With this incarnation of the Greater Sudbury Earth Day Festival (in its third year), the organizing committee continues to be strongly committed to keeping the festival's environmental footprint as light as possible. This primarily involves climate, waste, food, transportation, electricity and equipment considerations. Here's our report on what we are doing this year:

• purchase renewable energy to power the event from Bullfrog Power (which you can do too for your very own home or business by the way, as some of our committee members have)


• provide recycling and composting stations throughout the event for waste disposal, and have volunteers police these stations to ensure their maximum use


• to help reduce the climate impact of those attending the event, both provide free admission to the event to those not driving (ie. walking, biking, taking the bus) and have the City agree to provide free bus service to anyone coming to the event (show your transfer at the gate)


• require all of our food vendors to use at least one major locally grown ingredient in all of their food


• encourage our vendors to be responsible with the amount of paper handouts they give


• borrow or rent all of our equipment from local sources to minimize the energy needed to transport them or the need to manufacture new ones for our use (this includes primarily the tents, stages, chairs, table clothes, dishes and cutlery)


• provide and require the use of only real ceramic and metal dishes and cutlery for all our food vendors so as to prevent the use of disposable versions


• have our volunteers be identifiable by locally handmade brightly coloured arm bands, made with reused wool fabric


• focus on almost all local performers to minimize their transportation impacts

In order to make it more economical and practical for all local festivals to share equipment rather than purchasing, as we've tried to do, we are also very supportive of creating an "Events Network" in Sudbury. These networks have been established in many other communities in Ontario, under the umbrella of the provincial "Festivals and Events Ontario", and are extremely successful at increasing the capacity and sustainability of local festivals through providing a forum for coordinated equipment and knowledge sharing.

If you have any more ideas on how to green the event even more, just let us know!