Anyone who has been to a music festival knows the unmistakable thrill: foregoing the commodities of modern living, dancing in the dirt to ever-pulsing music, and camping out under trees and stars. But looking at it analytically, a festival is just a whole bunch of people getting together and putting some wear-and-tear on the local nature scene, meanwhile creating concerning amounts of waste (not to mention all that noise). How do these events influence the environmental awareness and stewardship of their attendees?
Just a few weeks ago, Paul Smith’s College was abuzz with anticipation for the third annual Otis Mountain Get Down, a growing music festival near Elizabethtown, New York. The festival was co-founded by Zach Allott, among others, whose father, Jeff, ran a bluegrass festival on the same property where Otis is held today. Co-founder of Otis and director of Sustainability and Resources Brian Somers says the festival’s organizers have “a deep appreciation and concern for the environment and the site.”
But what about people who don’t have a personal relation to the site? This year roughly 1,500 festival-goers attended Otis. Allott says it can be hard to be a proper environmental steward when there are so many people and so much waste. According to Somers, the first year’s waste management was self-run and “not a success.” But, as Somers acknowledges, waste management’s not at the top of everyone’s mind.
Photo Credit Pete Cirilli
However, Somers adamantly states that Otis is shooting for zero waste. Sommers knows this is a big feat, and that it has to start with the people.
“They like to know the sustainability [of the festival they are attending],” said Allott. “Most of them are self-aware, and really do care.”
Aside from music, the Otis festival has plenty of environmental aspects: from hiking, mountain biking, and camping, to hosting organizations such as the Boquet River Association (an organization concerned with the protection of a river running through the festival site).
“It’s a special opportunity, having that many young people in one place,” says Allott.
“The external message of the festival has been ‘protect where you are,’” says Somers. “The biggest part is getting attendees on board, and getting waste management as a part of the event.”
Sara Dougherty, a third-year Paul Smith’s student pursuing Environmental Studies, attended Otis Mountain Get Down for the first time this year and reflects on how the festival evokes environmental awareness and stewardship. She recalls that festival-goers were conscious of how they disposed of waste on their own terms.
“This one girl used the same cup she got from a vendor all weekend long. Like, why would you need another one?” Dougherty says. She noticed that everyone was making personal efforts and could see the others around them doing the same. When asked about the festival’s waste management infrastructure, she commented that it seemed to be a self-managed system more than anything.
Beyond the visible aspects of cultivating environmental stewardship, Dougherty also mentioned the more intrinsic side. “Music festivals are such a unique space, with so many connections between people and music and the environment and the ground … It’s impossible not to feel value in your surroundings.” Dougherty was happy to be in the good company of environmentally aware festival-goers.
Photo credit Zach Allott
Since year one, Otis’ management has improved its environmental awareness as well. Allott and Somers secured a partnership with Casella Waste Systems to get a 20-yard recycling dumpster on site this year, in addition to the other waste disposal methods already in place. Somers says that this year the waste output was “50/50, recycling to trash,” and sees a potential relationship with local farmers in the future for organic waste disposal and composting. While the clean-up effort Sunday morning has never been and likely will never be “fun,” it’s certainly taking less and less time each year.
“This year in about 36 hours we had the site clean and looking like nothing had ever happened,” Allott says. The ability to return the land to its prior state is indeed a strong metric for an environmentally successful music festival. For that title, Otis Mountain Get Down certainly has many other festivals beat.