Did Rothbury Live Up to Its Green Promise?

You may have to forgive me if my writing on this subject is lackluster. It has been a long day, and I am tired, but I feel compelled to write about Rothbury's "Green" Mission and whether or not it lived up to its promise.

You can read about Rothbury's Mission & Commitment at the festival website via this link. You can also click on the Rothbury image to the right to enlarge its statement of commitment.

Overall, was Rothbury a more environmentally friendly event than other events I have attended? Yes. Absolutely. And no, not so much.

One of the most impressive differences I observed at the venue was the presence of fully manned disposal stations offering consumers 3 options to dispose of their waste. The options we had at each station were landfill, recycle, or compost. This was only effective for one reason though: the person standing next to each station directing us to the appropriate bin.

The producers of Rothbury are obviously advocates of the energy forms derived from corn products, such as ethanol based fuel and the new compostable corn products that are used in making disposable products such as cups and forks. Most of the food served at Rothbury was served in one of these compostable containers. Water filling stations were also conveniently located for those who wanted to fill their reusable containers throughout the day.

While I admit that thinking about a throw away cup that will decompose or compost as opposed to sitting in a landfill, waterway, or ocean somewhere gives me a certain amount of relief, I still cringe at the long term ramifications of food based energy and product creation. I won't go into the details of that debate right now, but there are many great discussions on the internet one could find if they were looking for information on such a thing.


I think overall, Rothbury did a good job at creating a mass consumer event that appealed to the environmentally friendly. But the consumers? Not so much. Even in the face of reminders to clean up and recycle, etc... waste was still ubiquitous. Most people were there for a good time and that's about all.

I personally went through at least 6-8 of the compostable cups, at least 3 plates and two bowls. Even though we were told that we could get our cups refilled, hanging onto a cup that looks just like everyone else's cup in the midst of 35,000 people was too much even for me.

(I will attest to doing my part by sneaking in a bottle of gin and mixing our own drinks on Saturday (exhibit A: left). That had to have eliminated quite a few cups for several people, not to mention making the day more affordable by skipping on the $8.00 drinks.)

It really all boils down to what it has always boiled down to. Industrial waste is a huge problem, but personal responsibility is the only answer that will get is where we need to go.

For all of the compostable cups in the world, the Odeum arena was still littered with thousands of plastic glow sticks on Sunday night that are not going anywhere ever (exhibit B: right). At one point, we had about 10 plastic beach balls accumulated at our feet during the show, and I wrestled with several plastic animals throughout the night to get a good view of Phil and Friends.

I also got beamed in the back by a plastic xbox 360 frisbee, and the crowd tried to attack Dave Mathews with a giant orange beach ball. I suspect the beach ball was provided directly by the company Merrell, which was a Rothbury Sponsor. I thought the ball was an annoying distraction to the music, probably dangerous, and is now just sitting in some landfill to be pondered on by future generations. Thumbs down to Rothbury for having such wasteful sponsors. Now that I think about it, Merrell products were littered all over the place.


Bottom Line: The music industry can call it a green festival and even do a pretty good job at creating it, but until consumers care a little more en masse, we are a long, long way from green. Taking a pass at a disposable culture is the only way we are going to create mass change.

The good news is- we can do it. Every time we don't stop at the dollar store to pick up new glow sticks- we are making progress. For every inflatable bunny that doesn't get bought- we have made a change for the better.

Even in the midst of all this critique- Rothbury was still a good thing and I am proud to have been there.

For more examples of the glow stick and inflatable plastic phenomenon, thrown together with a bit of some great music brought to you by Phil and friends., watch this snippet of Franklin's Tower from Sunday night:

Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day;
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind