Our Carbon Footprint
The trend
A drop in the ocean
Social and Political change
Our Carbon Reduction Plan
Our big contribution
Carbon Offsetting Myth
Absolving sinners
Aims
Transport
Food and Waste
Our Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is the measure of the amount of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere as you go about your life. Almost everything you do affects it, turning on a light, buying a piece of fruit, or taking a bus. Transport and food are the biggest contributors of our carbon footprint. Air travel accounts for about 3.5 percent of the human contribution to global warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. You can nether offset or eliminate carbon that is produced, but you can reduce your carbon footprint. Many people are now choosing to do so in some very simple ways, from using reusable bags, not heating their homes as much, walking or cycling instead of using a car. Making these kinds of choices has become a growing trend among people who want to reduce the size of their carbon footprints. At the same time, they must grapple with the question of whether their actions really make any difference. Bigger reductions will also have to be made. We need to take a serious look at air travel, the size and efficiency of our homes, where our food comes from and who we buy if off. Even if as individuals if we tackle all of these issues we are but a drop in the ocean compared to industry, the United States or the new industrial powers. A strong social and political change is needed if we are to look at really tackling climate change and deal with the pressures peak oil is going to put on us. It is easy to get disheartened when looking at the scale of what has to be achieved. We can take hope from doing the small things keeping in mind it is leading to a bigger change. The social and political change will have to come, and It will have to start somewhere.
We realise that the measures we are taking are very small and not the solution. We are not trying to just put a green wash on the festival. We hope to start small and to improve on it.
For more information on some of these topics:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Our Carbon Reduction Plan
For the festival we want to limit our input of CO2. Our biggest input will be people and guests travelling to and from the festival. We would like to advocate a more environmentally friendly method of transport for our performers and festival goers alike. This year being our first year we are in a steep learning curve and there are many ways to improve for next year, when hopefully we will get some people from Europe over here by boat.
We are not taking the route of carbon offsetting. Carbon offsetting is where you pay a company to equalise your CO2 emissions from lets say a flight by planting a tree. This concept is flawed. Once CO2 has been emitted there is no turning back the clock. So all people are doing is easing their environmental guilt. There is an argument that at least they are doing something. But they are not doing anything to reduce their CO2 emissions, just using a delay tactic. The companies who offer these services are completely unregulated and have almost over night created a multi million dollar industry. A lot of the money collected up until recently went to tree planting projects, the effectiveness of these have since come under fire. Now the trend is to fund environmental or humanitarian projects rather than purchase carbon banks. When the money was going on planting trees, the companies weren't actually planting trees but were buying the carbon rights from existing forests and forestry projects.
When the surface is scratched on this new industry there are many discrepancies, I am not going into them all here, below is a very interesting article on the subject which compares carbon offsetting to the practice of the medieval church selling 'indulgences' to absolve sinners. Carbon offsetting is a flawed concept, and it encourages fossil fuel use instead of reducing and finding alternatives.
For more information:
Aims
To reduce the carbon footprint of the festival
To raise awareness of our environmental impact and the ways in which to address that.
Build the foundation of a structure to be improved each year of the festival
Public Transport
Public transport in Ireland is way behind our European contemporaries, but it is still there and the major routes are serviced regularly. We would encourage everybody to use public transport to and from the festival. It is not only less polluting but a more social way to travel.
Car
For those driving or who would like to get a lift with someone we have set up via the web site a car pool forum. So you can have the chance to help someone out and reduce your carbon footprint.
Bikes
We have 15 rental bikes on offer to get you around cork city.
Bikes are available from: Cycle Scene , 396 Blarney Street, Cork For pre booking call: 021 4301183
One bike for 2 days costs €15 A €100 deposit will have to be put down for each bike.
Pedal powered Generator Powering a sound system will be a pedal powered generator, provided by Cork Community Bikes. The Generator will be in the Mardyke Arena over the weekend. It will also be leading the way from the festival show in the Firkin Crane to the Renegade show in the Imperial hotel.
Waste
We will provide none packaged food, drinks and snacks, made locally and for very reasonable prices.
For anything you feel compelled to buy wrapped in plastic we will provide recycling bins.
For any organic waste there will be a compost bin, the compost will be used to make soil for growing food.
The more we use waste, the more we can question what we need more closely
Information
We will have an information desk in the Mardyke Arena. There will be a computer available with a carbon calculator programme running. You can tally up your annual contribution.