Latest news with #WeLoveGreen
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Sustainable Music Festivals Redefine Summer Fun
Summer music festivals are beloved for their energy and community, but their environmental footprint is significant. As a result, they are under increasing scrutiny for their environmental impact. According to Seaside Sustainability's 2024 report, a typical three‑day festival generates about 500 tons of CO₂, or roughly 5 kg per attendee per day, with the majority of emissions coming from audience travel. Long car journeys and flights make up the largest share, while diesel generators used to power stages and facilities add significantly to the overall footprint. Furthermore, with climate change driving record‑breaking heat waves and increasingly erratic weather, the industry faces a critical question: Can live music become climate‑conscious without losing its magic? Sustainable music festivals suggest the answer is yes. Integrating renewable energy, circular design, zero‑waste systems, and community engagement are ways in which summer fun and climate responsibility can coexist. Sustainable Festivals That Set the Tone for Summer 2025 The festivals that have already taken place this summer have done their part to prove that music and sustainability can coexist. Feel Festival in Germany championed bike‑friendly travel, a waste‑deposit system, and mostly plant‑based, organic food. We Love Green in Paris ran on solar, hydrogen, and biofuel power with a strict zero‑waste and fully vegetarian approach. Switzerland's Greenfield Festival paired its rock and metal lineup with renewable energy, reusable systems, and aggressive recycling. Austria's Paradise Garden Festival powered its stages entirely with local wind and solar, promoted train travel, and served seasonal vegetarian cuisine. Together, these events show that cultural celebration can leave a lighter footprint on the planet. Upcoming Summer Sustainable Festivals Øyafestivalen has spent over 20 years building a reputation as one of the world's most sustainable music festivals. According to its organizers, the event operates entirely without fossil fuels, relies on permanent site infrastructure to reduce waste, and serves local, organic food to cut transport emissions and support regional producers. Since 2023, its sustainability strategy has expanded to include diversity, equity, inclusion, and community engagement, making social responsibility as central as environmental care. Deep Tropics is a green North American music festival. According to the festival's 2024 sustainability report, it diverted 87% of waste, preventing 7,387 pounds from reaching landfills, and planted 101,000 trees, offsetting more than 2,000 metric tons of CO₂. The festival operates with zero single‑use plastics, stainless steel 'Infinity Cups,' and is moving toward 100% renewable power. Its Sustainability Summit which begins on August 14th explores how music and environmental stewardship intersect, featuring discussions on regenerative urban design. It will also feature artist Merchant, who also brings climate‑focused themes to his music, panels, wellness sessions, and a sustainable fashion show highlighting circular, zero‑waste design. Summer 2025 has shown that music festivals can keep their magic while cutting their environmental toll. Sustainable events like Feel Festival, We Love Green, Greenfield, Paradise Garden, Øyafestivalen, and Deep Tropics prove that renewable energy, zero‑waste systems, and local, plant‑forward food can turn celebration into climate action. The future of live music belongs to festivals that leave more than memories, but also leave a lighter mark on the planet.
LeMonde
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
Nonprofit helps French festivals fight gender-based violence
To the music of Lucky Love, three volunteers walked the lawns of the We Love Green festival in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, on Sunday, June 8. They were members of Safer, the only association dedicated to fighting sexual and gender-based violence present at this type of event. "We keep up constant prevention efforts so everyone can enjoy the moment without fear. Festival-goers know we're here, just in case," explained Siriane (those mentioned by their first names have requested anonymity), a 28-year-old volunteer wearing a branded vest to ensure visibility. Among the festival-goers, Nada, age 31, felt reassured just by seeing the Safer booth at the entrance: "Assaults at festivals are always on my mind, even if I try to focus on the party. I pay close attention to who comes near me, I watch my drink and I'm wary of crowds. I'm glad to know there's a place I can go if I don't feel safe."
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The Independent
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Forget Glastonbury – this little-known European music festival offers a sophisticated vibe and a killer lineup for less
My desire to go to Glastonbury faded somewhere between my only time going in 1997 – a rainy year where my lasting memory is pulling my wellies out of the mud with every step – and more recent times, when the word 'spreadsheet' was used in my friends' Glasto ticket-buying group. That's how I found myself sipping a riesling in the sunshine at French festival We Love Green, waiting for FKA Twigs to arrive on stage. As both a music writer and music fan, I've forgone Glasto to catch a range of European music festivals instead, from the boho vibes of Electric Picnic in Ireland to the concrete playground of Primavera in Spain. It was my first time at We Love Green, which read like a composite of my dream festival: it's mid-sized (it holds 40,000 people a day), located in the gorgeous city park of Bois de Vincennes, involves an all-killer no-filler lineup in the evenings (this year's included LCD Soundsystem, Charli XCX, Bicep, Air, Sampha and Ezra Collective, and very little clashing with set times) and, crucially, zero camping for this princess. It's also wildly great value for money. My three-day ticket which cost €149 (£126), hotel (£115) and flight (£110) came in at less than the price of a Glastonbury ticket (£375). The clincher for me? While We Are Green doesn't have the sunrise finish of other European festivals, the music stages run until 1am, so in the daytime, I was free to explore the delights of Paris. What a bonus. Anthony Bourdain's wise words sprung to mind as I arrived in the City of Lights: 'The vacation gone wrong in Paris is almost always because people try to do too many things…Please, make the most of it by doing as little as possible.' I planned to see one exhibition a day, with festival fun in the evenings. I was keen to see 'Out of Focus', an exhibition at Musée de l'Orangerie about blurriness as an artistic expression. This is an inspired theme, explored so powerfully in the home of Monet's Water Lilies, which is arguably the finest manifestation of it. Then, it was a trip out to the suitably shimmering Philharmonie de Paris for 'Disco: I'm Coming Out', an exhibition celebrating the genre's music, politics and aesthetics featuring artworks by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. It felt like a fitting amuse-bouche for the music festival ahead as it boogie-walks visitors through the disco era, from its roots in soul and funk to its importance in the Civil Rights Movement. As nourishing as the days are, the festival is the main event. On arrival, the mandatory faff of loading credit onto your wristband (with a €1.50 fee each time) sucked, but the festival layout was perfect. The Bar à Vins, which served natural and organic wines and artisanal soft drinks, took prime position at the centre of it all, the dance tent was set back in order to go full blast, and there was a low-sensory area in case festival-goers felt overstimulated. And best of all, because it's Paris, there was a champagne bar. Were there enough toilets? Absolutely not. But there was a champagne bar! As the name suggests, We Love Green trades on its eco-conscious outlook, though I'm shamefully aware it's no reason to travel 300 miles. Most noticeably, it had 'dry toilets' that use sawdust to flush, which I'm told saves 1.5 million litres of water. A much more welcome initiative was that the food and drink onsite is fully vegetarian and 80 per cent of the drinks are produced within a 200km radius – easily done when you have access to some of the world's best agricultural land, including vineyards around you. My flavour-packed aubergine, spinach and feta pastry from Groot, a Parisienne pie shop was exquisite enough for me to forgive the accompanying smoked potatoes that taste boiled (proposed new rule: at festivals, all potato products should be chips or chip-adjacent). A year since I saw her launch Brat summer at Primavera, I was most excited about seeing Charli XCX again, who'll be a highlight at Glastonbury too. 'I'm warning you now, I dance like crazy,' a Paris-based Aussie next to me said as we waited patiently. On the other side, French boys struck up a conversation with my partner. By the end of her blistering set, we'd all practically swapped numbers. The vibes were immaculate, as confirmed by Dylan (25) from Hull and Jack (26) from Belfast, whom I met in between sets. 'The level of respect and appreciation is beautiful, and the music has been outstanding,' Dylan said. 'Yesterday, we saw Magdalena Bay perform possibly the greatest pop album in the last 10 years in full, for a crowd who clearly wanted to be there. That's what separates this from anything else I've been to – it's for music lovers.' Jack added: 'The people have been so lovely here – welcoming and respectful. Being from the UK, it's refreshing not to see people throwing up or peeing at the sides.' The rest of the festival paled into insignificance when FKA Twigs arrived on stage. Buoyed by her evocative latest release Eusexua, her show was commanding and carefully considered. She's not announced any festivals in the UK yet, so it felt like a coup to see her here. Thinking back to my weekend in Paris that involved world-class art, tasty veggie food, fleeting friends and great wine, I feel as though I've made a unique discovery. Hardly any of what I experienced could be replicated in the UK. And that's why I'll be back again next year – champagne in hand. How to get there Eurostar tickets from London to Paris start from £39 one way, and take around two hours 30 minutes. Various airlines fly from the UK to Paris, including British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair and Air France. Flight time is around one hour 20 minutes. Where to stay Le Ruisseau, Saint-Mandé This is a charming hotel set above a restaurant. Traditionally kitted-out rooms are cosy but comfortable, and keenly priced. Hôtel De La Porte Dorée On the edge of Bois de Vincennes, Hôtel De La Porte Dorée is a family-run Parisienne boutique hotel with heaps of contemporary French flair. So/ Hotel So/ Hotel is a design-led hotel with the wow factor on the banks of the Seine, don't miss the rooftop bar with 360 views of Paris's landmarks.
Evening Standard
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
What London can learn from the Parisian version of All Points East
The festival's food scene was nothing like your standard English offering, either. The French take great care with their food, so much that We Love Green has its own jury of experts who select the vendors they want to serve food at the festival. In addition to this, the environmental focus of the festival means that all vendors have to serve vegetarian options – no meat at all – with a required vegan meal that must not exceed €10. C'est bon, when you consider what you pay at British festivals for some very questionable grub.
LeMonde
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
Charli XCX marks first anniversary of 'Brat' with hedonistic revelry at We Love Green
The We Love Green festival could almost have been renamed We Love Lime Green. The crowd filling the wooded setting of the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, on Saturday, June 7, was awash with references (from shoes to hair color) to the shade featured on the now-iconic cover of Brat, the sixth album by British artist Charli XCX that was released exactly one year ago. Over the course of 12 months, the "bad girl" has become a cultural and commercial phenomenon and was the undisputed star of the second day of the festival that concluded on June 8. As it often has since 2010, this pioneering festival for environment-friendly gatherings – always on the lookout for avant-garde pop and urban music – proved prescient. "We booked her right when Brat was released," explained Emmanuel de Buretel, head of the record label Because Music and co-producer of We Love Green. "At that time, her fee was still reasonable; it would be much higher today," he added, pleased with this French exclusive.
