Artists for the Earth
Rocking Out with Planet Earth
October 25, 2025
From Sting’s buzzing jazz and reggae-infused tracks to Chappell Roan’s theatrical dance-pop, music pulses through the backdrop of our daily lives. The music streaming industry’s revenue sits at a whopping $17.5 billion, with over 600 million people subscribed to a music streaming service. And with Taylor Swift’s latest album playing in the grocery store, Doechii dropping stunning verses during her tiny desk concert, and sound bites from a wide array of underground artists capturing millions on platforms like TikTok, it’s no wonder people can’t get enough of their favorite musicians and groups.
The highlight of a listener’s music experience is often seeing their favorite artist in concert. Music festivals draw millions of fun-loving fans and artists every year, bursting with a wide array of colorful cultural experiences, exclusive merchandise, and head banging music.
How do Music Festivals Impact the Environment?
With so many music-lovers and fans crowding in to catch a glimpse of their idols, festivals have their work cut out for them balancing the energy consumption and waste production they incur. From single-wear, themed concert outfits to leftover plastic tents and tossed out merchandise, concerts and festivals generate solid and chemical waste in excess.
For one, all that lovely glitter adorning festival-goer faces and outfits often ends up washing out into bodies of water like rivers and lakes. As a kind of microplastic, glitter does not break down and winds up polluting our natural water ways and being consumed by fish, birds and other animals.
Flimsy plastic festival tents are another issue. They are often made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a toxic chemical pollutant resistant to breakdown. In 2022 in the UK, on average nearly 80% of festival goers left tents behind, and these tents are almost impossible to recycle.
Emissions from transportation add to these issues. Besides the hoards of fans driving or flying out to concerts, private aviation and long-haul trucking rack up CO2 emissions in the blink of an eye. A Greener Festival report notes that transportation emissions account for between 35% and 94% of festival goers’ total carbon emissions.
To tackle these problems, many festivals and artists around the world are fighting for change, collaborating with waste management companies, updating stadium policies, and promoting educational outreach to inform attendees of their environmental impacts and recommended best practices. Let’s take a moment to shout-out some of these festivals striving towards change.
Calling all Shambhalans
The Canadian EDM festival Shambhala advocates for a “leave no trace” approach. Weaving their various stages into the landscape, Shambhala fuses nature with music, aiming to capture audiences not only with their impressive artist line-ups but also with the stunning wilderness vistas. They hope to follow in the footsteps of the Sylix, Sinixt, and Ktunaxa nations, honoring the land and water and protecting it for years to come.
In 2024, Shambhala raised £147,758 for community and environmental initiatives. With their eco-travel plan, they helped over a third of attendees arrive on low-impact transportation including coach and rail. In terms of food, the festival composted 10 tonnes of waste, pioneered crew food with 47% organic produce — the majority of which was sourced within 200 miles of the venue, and offered meals with an average of 0.45 kg CO2 per plate. For reference, the average carbon emissions of a concert meal in the UK is 2 kg CO2 per plate.
Increasingly we are seeing the world of entertainment step up and take more accountability with the greenhouse gas emissions they contribute to the use of other resources. So now we are seeing music festivals powered by solar, plastic free festivals, composting toilets and vegan food is on offer. All vitally important developments.
Tom Cosgrove, Chief Creative and Content Officer, EARTHDAY.ORG
Lightning in a Bottle
The U.S.-based Lightning in a Bottle festival takes “leave no trace” a step further. Adopting the slogan “leave a positive trace,” they encourage attendees to take care of their own waste, respect the land, and avoid littering. They opt for sustainable energy, including LED and solar lights for stage lighting. They avoid single-use plastic water bottles by providing free water. Attendees are asked to avoid trampling plants off the beaten path and not to disturb wildlife as a part of their push to honor the land.
DGTL Festival
The Netherlands boast one of the most sustainable music festivals in the world: DGTL Festival. Since 2022, DGTL has managed to be 100% fossil fuel free, committed to retackling the energy problem each year and avoiding harmful emissions. They explored solar, hydro, hydrogen, and even sound waves as potential sources of renewable energy.
In addition to energy, DGTL offers no-waste, safe water, and entirely plant-based food. Artists flying in have their planes’ fuel replaced with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), a kind of biofuel made up of plant and animal materials. Machinery used on-site is all low emission or zero emission. Hard cups have been introduced to replace single-use and one-time-physical-tokens have been swapped for cashless card payments.
Fans for Change
There are plenty of things fans can do to mitigate environmental impacts. If possible, consider taking public transportation, carpooling, riding a bike, or walking to your festival or concert venue. Explore your local thrift store for your next niche concert outfit rather than buying from fast-fashion brands. Consider using biodegradable glitter or bringing a reusable water bottle to avoid microplastic pollution. We all have a responsibility to our planet and some of the smallest steps, if done collectively, can have a positive impact.
So, the next time you’re reloading Ticket Master eight times in a minute for that golden ticket to your favorite artist, remember to tread lightly on the land and respect the water. Rocking out on Earth means dancing in tune with our planet’s rhythms too.
Read more about the creative side of environmentalism in our articles featuring Artists for the Earth. Make sure to sign up for our email list to get news and research delivered to your inbox on Saturdays.
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