More famous than the town

Those Green Fields of Glastonbury ... Could the Festival’s legacy create something special in Glastonbury?
I am wondering if Glastonbury Festival isn’t now more famous than Glastonbury itself!
Well, you might think so after another ‘wall to wall’ weekend of BBC coverage, and thousands upon thousands of fans coming not to the town but to ‘Glastonbury.’ Media coverage rivals Wimbledon and BBC had nearly as many staff at Glastonbury as the Beijing Olympics.
At this time of year when people say “the festival,” you know they can only mean Glastonbury Festival, and if you are coming to Somerset in late June, to go to the Festival, then the place called Glastonbury can only mean – ‘the Festival.’ Simples!
If you look worn out and sunburnt people ask: “Have you been to Glastonbury?” Or, “What was Glastonbury like?” Such questions can only refer to the Festival! All roads lead to Glastonbury, unless you are leaving the Festival, and all of Glastonbury – just about – is at ‘Glastonbury.’
This occurrence will always be such, so long as there is a Festival. As tens of thousands of festival goers come to Glastonbury – or rather they go around Glastonbury to get to the Festival – the town has to take a back seat. I should add here that if you live in Pilton you might be one of those who still call it the “Pilton Pop Festival,” perhaps to save confusion, or just because that was how it became known in the early years. And isn’t it odd that Shepton Mallet might be half the distance to the Festival than Glastonbury is, but taking its name never quite inspired the same elegant conjugation as Glastonbury did.
So, we are thankful that Glastonbury was chosen but at the same time we don’t want to be forgotten altogether each June when the Festival moves Glastonbury 8 miles away.
Now, try this... stop and ask someone in Glastonbury “where are the Green Fields?” Their reply will be either they don’t know what you mean or they’ll direct you to the nearest grass park. Do the same at the Festival and almost everyone will know what you mean, even if they have no idea where to find them! They are famous among the festival fraternity and their successful history has probably been the inspiration for many other green festivals and events around the country.
Why am I writing about this name connection and confusion about fields?
It’s because I would like to propose and see something of the famous Festival Green Fields coming here to Glastonbury – permanently.
It strikes me that it’s high time that both major attractions shared something in common over each other’s ‘green’ success. Something that would initiate a new, more equal, relationship and bring something different to what the Extravaganza can provide between the Festival and its name sake.
What I am thinking of might be a way of working together. It could also be a solid structure, or a piece of art that communicates the ethos by which those Green Fields are best known or what they symbolise – Love our world and care for it.
Before I explain more about this, let’s just take a look over those Festival Green Fields and what they have been doing for the Festival and the local area, over the years.
Some people go to Glastonbury – the Festival – just to be part of the Green Fields and dislike the very thought of ‘Babylon,’ as it is called, which for the majority is the heart of the Festival with its noise, hustle and bustle, main stages and fast food markets. The old railway line marks the subtle change and going uphill to the stone circle you can feel a definite alternative pace, a more relaxed tempo and altogether a more tranquil mood. This is what I call an emotive and could be the first consideration or motivation in whatever might be designed or created for Glastonbury – ‘establish a feeling of peace and relaxation.’
According to the Festival map, the Green Fields take up five or six actual fields, if you include either the Greenpeace dedicated field (just below or north of the old railway line), or the Stone Circle field, the latter being more of a ‘chill-out’ zone than anywhere to find out about green issues. The main focus for sustainability, ‘green issues’ and everything eco under the (renewable/alternative energy) sun is the Green Futures field and its opposite neighbour – Croissant Neuf, which contains some green type stalls and power from solar energy.
Further south, going uphill, are the Healing and Craft fields. They also take on the mantra of being as eco-friendly as possible.
The Green Fields occupy what is now an increasingly smaller area across the whole site as the rest of the Festival has expanded. However, more of the whole Festival is now influenced by the need for sustainable environmental practice over such issues as recycling waste, renewable energy use, water and the whole issue of Fairtrade or ethical purchasing. The Festival even has its own Ethical Trader Award and now a Sustainability Coordinator, so the influence is running through the Festival’s veins and this can only be good for everyone as well as the environment.
It’s because the Festival and its Green Fields have probably, I believe, largely influenced the town of Glastonbury to the extent that today residents in the town are far more aware of green issues as a consequence, that these links should be more stated, even celebrated.
Sustainability, eco-consciousness and renewable energy have been a way of thinking for many Glastonbury people – both new settlers and the born and bred here – for a long time. Both Glastonbury Festival and the Big Green Gathering maintain offices in town, as do other green and eco inspired businesses. You could say the town has been ‘thinking green’ for 20 years or more, since the early 1990s, which equals the length of time the Festival’s campaigns and the inspiration the Green Fields have been having on the town.
The Festival’s Green Fields have probably been an encouragement for residents in Pilton too, who formed the Pilton Green Group. Shepton Mallet’s interest in forming a sustainability movement has in all probability roots back to Glastonbury Festival. The Green Fields must also have done much good for many other Somerset and UK groups, green events and individual campaigners, one way or another.
Perhaps one of the Green Field’s most acclaimed successes was to give birth to the Big Green Gathering in 1994. This festival, now in Somerset on the Mendips, attracts about 20, 000 fans, and has found its own fame as the most eco-friendly event of its size.
In my brief visit to the Glastonbury Festival Green Fields this year, I was again struck by how much effort had been made. Here were small voluntary groups who had put on good displays and were engaging with ordinary people. I was stopped twice by smiling faces and young people wanting to show me something of interest. This is such an important element of any approach if the ‘Glastonbury Green’s’ hope to engage with the ‘Glastonbury Babylonians,’ who might then go away with a new environmentally friendly attitude. Here is my second emotive – ‘create interest, influence and connections.’
As with the whole Festival – the Green Fields have changed. They are not the “hippy” commune they were years ago. Not only has the world changed its attitude to environmental issues, because of the wide spread effects of climate change, but the organisations have become more proficient in their campaigning methods and knowledge base. Of course the ‘flamboyance’ that is Glastonbury was there too and why not – after all this is a fun festival – but as soon as you did engage and listen to what was being said it was clear people knew the facts and were passionate about explaining them.
Today we are all seeking the truth and any so called ‘green-wash’ or half-baked eco ideas simply won’t pass the test. We want to hear from experts or people who know their subject and put forward a convincing argument. Glastonbury Festival has this covered and puts on an impressive list of guest speakers. In the programme lists for this year’s Green Fields you might have been lucky enough to hear: Tony Benn; Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP; Brigit Strawbridge; Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg MP; Vince Cable MP; Michael Eavis and Justin Rowlatt, to name just a few.
My suggestion or plea at this point is to ask the Green Fields to spread their messages and communications far and wide. In the age of podcasts, You Tube, on-line networking and other multi-media forms simultaneous broadcasting, reporting, and linking up with places and people around the world can be done with powerful effects. The Programme says you can find their information at www.myspace.com/greenfieldsinfo
It is still the case that in all the massive national and international broadcast television, radio and web media coming from Glastonbury, only a fraction is devoted to the Green Fields (about three minutes on BBC2 TV) and the messages and campaigners who can be found there. Some might say Green Field people like the anonymity that their quiet ‘green grass field world’ devoid of mud, provides. Others will be sceptical about how much media technology can change things. I think they could be missing a trick if they don’t do more in this direction and look at what the results show.
Will we see films of the Glastonbury Green Field speakers on the Green TV web site? I don’t know, but I think you should be able to. Like the rest of Glastonbury, media interest depends upon who’s there and major stars of stage and screen will attract more coverage. Content coming from those debates and discussions can be web-cast in various ways to audiences around the world. Put simply, the more informed we all are the more chance we have of working together to solve the problems. As the Festival message this year said: “We’re in it together” – with Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid all “working together for a cleaner, greener, fairer Glastonbury.”
As with all other popular aspects of the Festival, I also think the Green Fields people could be doing more throughout the year.
Yes, it’s true this Festival is physically here for under one week out of 52, in more years than not, but the audience who desperately want to come to it each year exist all the time. They hardly change their dedication with the years either, as once hooked on Glastonbury in your youth you want to just keep on coming back, time and time again... as many do, but others find it impossible for one reason or another. They represent a market and audience with specific interests who could be engaged with news, views, ideas, and even appeals for their support.
This image that – Loving Glastonbury, then Love the World – has created goes far and wide. We don’t often see the extent of the international interest in Glastonbury, but it is worldwide.
Like me, you might know people who even wear their ‘Glasto’ wrist bands all year round or never remove their Glastonbury car window stickers – there’s something at work here too, and I don’t think it’s about people being lazy! A strong bond does exist with the fans here and opportunities to strengthen and widen that link would, I am sure, be welcomed. Here is my third emotive – ‘join hearts and minds create physical forms that symbolise dedication and unity towards a fairer and greener world.’
I imagine the Festival’s Sustainability Coordinator will recognise how linking some initiatives started at the Festival could be advantageously taken up here in Glastonbury – and vice versa. This link needs to be fostered and could bear fruit in a short while. There are two Glastonbury open green parks which traffic passes by on the way to the Festival and which, I suppose without too much effort, might host some statuesque symbols of a united Glastonbury and Festival... both working for a more sustainable, fairer and greener world.
Symbols of this stronger alliance might first come in the form of special eco sculpture – made at the Festival and gifted to the town’s parks and open spaces. The theme would be creating sustainability through working together. They could reflect the elements or ‘emotives’ I have mentioned earlier.
In another move a free emailed newsletter for those who want to receive it would be something that keeps people engaged all year round with what is being planned next, what “Green Fielders” can do at home and work for the planet. The many ‘good causes’ endorsed by the Festival could include their links and news... and the connections would surely grow much further than that.
Emailed newsletters are popular everywhere. They build on the ‘brand image’ by stimulating interest, creating a link or loyalty and reinforcing the messages. It’s lovely to have the printed souvenir programme and guide, which this year was priced at £10 and ran to 82 pages. I am only now reading what I missed! A dedicated e-news would certainly have been something I would have signed up for.
Back at the Festival, perhaps one on-site innovation could be the development of a small alternative technology centre in the heart of ‘Babylon’ - the main market area. Its purpose would be to inspire and highlight what everyone can do with technological solutions, including a display of green electric cars, bikes and quads. Some readers might see the link to Glastonbury’s future here.
We need to look to the future and predicting what life will be like in say 10, 20 or 30 years time is a valuable exercise. If we predict that in just 10 years from now electric cars will be common place and festivals will have electric powered buggies, transport quads and vans (recharged by renewable energy) then how can we bring that vision forward and begin the new green age of transport at next year’s Glastonbury or the year after?
The Glastonbury Festival has a powerful voice and does do a power of good around Somerset. It brings in much needed work and incomes for thousands of people and businesses as well as giving many of us something to look forward to and feel so proud to be a part of. Moving up the scale to actually creating demand and funding the arrival of eco technology and new business is the future.
This is where I believe Glastonbury town can play its part, involving its residential environmentalists and strong ties to the Festival. Working partnerships with sponsorship from the commercial sector and government funding could see new green technology businesses benefit from the cooperation that grows between the Festival and Glastonbury.
Sometime in the future I hope we can show the Festival an eco-friendly Green Heart on Glastonbury Tor. The Tor is our most significant icon – which can be seen and filmed clearly from the Festival and the Festival can be seen from the Tor. It is a link and a way of displaying a message – in an intelligent, artistic and meaningful way. Arrangements were begun two years ago to do this, but we also need to make sure the Festival is fully supportive in order to maximise the impact and the message conveyed, nationally and internationally.
For a long time people hoped to see Glastonbury’s own permanent green technology and Eco Village business park. The Morlands was to be the focus, but plans failed. It’s true that the Town Plan did adopt the idea of creating a centre for demonstrating sustainable environmental practice and home energy alternatives at the Morlands, but the South West Regional Development Agency took a different view, in the end, to what they thought would be successful there.
This concept is still as relevant today, if not more so, as it was six years ago, when I first began discussing it with SWRDA. The one area which is still holding back this project is the need for financing some important next moves, finding a new location and enabling all the links and developments to be put in place. Linking hands with the Festival and working together could make this happen sooner, rather than later. Joining all our hands together in a great South and West circle with those from Eden and CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales) would be a very powerful union.
Ancient Glastonbury made today’s town famous for its history. Throughout the world today, people with spiritual, religious and philosophical interests make links with Glastonbury – regarding the town with much interest. UK and overseas visitors come to Glastonbury as a destination for cultural, historic and even mystic reasons because of its place in history. Now the Glastonbury Festival adds another, contemporary, dimension having undoubtedly attracted many people over the years to establish businesses here in town and encouraged green or environmental campaigning in this part of Somerset more than in any other area of the county.
Glastonbury is therefore attracting a new UK and international following because of the Festival and the environmental campaigning that has come from the Festival.
These national and international visitors come to the town all year round and a permanent connection with the Festival – exhibiting green and environmental themes – would make positive gains, even giving the Festival a platform to interpret its messages over 52 weeks of the year.
We are all in this environmental emergency together, and there isn’t much time to lose. Any advantage we can use to succeed in reconnecting people with the need to protect, conserve and sustain our fragile world is worth taking. My fourth and last emotive – ‘inspire, empower, and release the spirit for good in the world.
Together we have that powerful spirit and, incredibly, the country if not the world listens to Glastonbury!
Glastonbury the Festival and Glastonbury the town and community can and should work in partnership. In so doing the ordinary Festival fans will come here knowing they have each been responsible for making something very significant happen in a very special place.
Paul Lund
Founder,
The Sustainable Environment Company CIC (Not for private profit company, founded in Glastonbury 2006)
2nd July 2009


Those Green Fields of Glastonbury ... Could the Festival’s legacy create something special in Glastonbury?

Emotive Aims – Social and Environmental Motivations
1. Establish a feeling of peace and relaxation
2. Create interest, influence and connections
3. Join hearts and minds, create physical forms that symbolise dedication and unity towards a fairer and greener world
4. Inspire, empower, and release the spirit for good in the world

RPL.2nd July 2009