itor d E e h T om ival r F r ette se Fest L 3 n nri o i o h o s 4 M stival Fa orn o D e 6 F nder van a o 8 S ctric Zo g le 12 E ok N Slin o H 4 1 ad ID o l C n 16 Dow rhan e h 17 T hmut O t Mix a M ou lity k i r 0 b o 2 a ain e W reen: t h s T u S G & 22 o s l G o iva t G s e 4 2 ic F s u M
OM R F R E LETT THE
R O T I ED
OUR STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Beas PUBLISHER Wid Bastian Genius Media Inc.
This month in Raver Magazine we put you front and center of some of the top producers from all over the world. Exclusive interviews with Sander Van Doorn and Hook n Sling are just a small taste of what this edition offers you. If you are looking to go into the jungle then look no further! We have exclusive coverage of Electric Zoo with some shots of Markus Schulz, Oliver Heldens and NYC party animals. Can’t forget about Moonrise and their fashion foward attendees! We hope that you dive deep with us as we take you into the hottest events on the rave scene. Enjoy it party people and we ask that you share your thoughts with us on our social media via @RaverMedia
Michael Beas
CEO of Raver Magazine
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Kristine Kennedy CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Stephanie Piedrahita LEAD VIDEOGRAPHER Bobby Ben-Gal
PHOTOGRAPHERS Wes Cunningham SENIOR WRITERS
Amberlynn Anderson
Charlotte Vosbeck STAFF WRITERS Sandra Santana Michelle Fetky
BACKSTAGE
WRITTEN BY CHARLOTTE VOSBECK
A
nother year has come and gone at Moonrise Festival, Baltimore and Washington DC’s flagship festival. Since 2014, Steez Promo and Club Glow have been successfully putting on Moonrise, each year getting a little more organized and a little bit better with production. This year they had around 40 acts per day with big names in the industry including Afrojack, Big Gigantic, Gramatik, Dillstradamus (Dillon Francis x Flosstradamus), Porter Robinson, Pretty Lights, and Migos. Moonrise had four stages this year: Stellar stage, Lunar stage, Solar Dance Tent, and Celestial Stage. They wildly improved the Stellar stage this year giving it a cool multi-tower structure. Unfortunately on Saturday festival-goers were a little bit disappointed when a batch of severe weather hit the area and we had to be evacuated from the venue for several hours. In my opinion, I think the staff handled the situation the best that they could have because fans were extremely rowdy and anxious to get back into the venue. Most people who stayed and waited out the storm were in the grand stands of the race course. A couple of highly anticipated acts had to be missed but once we got back into the venue everyone was dancing and enjoying their time again.
Moonrise kindly extended Saturday day passes to include Sunday because of the weather. That was an excellent move on their part. Some notable acts from day one include Gramatik and Zeds Dead who both performed on the Lunar Stage. RL Grime dropped some filth while he was in the Solar Dance Tent. This was the place for the Moonrise fans that wanted to hear some heavy bass and trap music. The second day at Moonrise was definitely my favorite. Everyone’s energy was at an all time high and the weather forecast showed no signs of another storm. Fans trenched through the mud all day to see some of their favorite artists. Jai Wolf and Porter Robinson created a magical moment for everyone watching their respective sets. Porter Robinson played his Worlds set but with some new and improved twists and surprises. I think most people would agree when I say that Dillstradamus blew everyone out of the water. The set was unique and fun and an amazing way to end the weekend at the Stellar stage. Overall we didn’t let a little rain keep us down and the moon still rose over Pimlico Race Course to create another special festival experience. They provided excellent hospitality, food vendors, merchandise and memorabilia. I’m looking forward to see what 2018 holds for Moonrise Festival.
PHOTOS BY aLIVE COVERAGE
Mesh All Day Every Day One of the biggest festival trends that is hitting the country by storm this season is mesh. Mesh socks, leggings, tops, and hats, if it has holes we love it. Mesh under holed jeans is huge at the moment, but for festivals the less clothes the better the vibes. Moonrise was full of cute ravers throwing mesh leggings under a pair of form fitting shorts or a jean skirt. Feeling colorful? Several Moonrise attendees went with bright pink, yellow or blue mesh, keeping those classic rave colors in check! Whatever way you spin it, mesh is the perfect way to transition from summer style to fall fashion, providing a “cool� way to show off your personality.
Braids: Cute Yet Effective Braids have made their return over the past few months, but festie peeps knew how to keep those trends fresh and flawless for Moonrise. Girls and guys alike were donning colorful hair sprays to coat adorable French braids. Give this an all over glitter spray and your hair will be ready to go for hours of dancing! A festival favorite is the double halfup half-down French braid style that stops at the crown of the head and opens up with beautiful waves down the rest of the back. Another way to accessorize your braids is with glitter down the middle part. Colorful braids were all the rage at Moonrise this year, and are only getting more popular in the music realm.
Magnificent Merch Porter Robinson threw down and proved to be one of the best sets of Moonrise weekend. His fans flocked from all over the country and showed out their best PR gear. Those pastel blues and purples have become a staple of the talented musician, and made for the most beautiful fashion statements. One of the best parts of Porter fashion is the accessories, from beautiful flags and totems to those adorable emoji necklaces and snap backs. Porter Robinson proved the reason once again for his incredible following, and the individuality put into each fan’s get-up was amazing.
Overall Moonrise was a perfect place to express one’s top of the line festival fashion. The better the lineup, the better the crowd, the better representation of fan loyalty through dress. Make sure to check out some of our best fashion photos of the weekend, and keep up with Raver Magazine as we highlight the best festival fashion up to date.
INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL BEAS COVER PHOTO BY OOF VERSCUREN EDITORIAL PHOTOS BY TOM DOMS & JOSE ‘JOO’ MURGA You’re one of the most successful producers in the industry. Can you speak of any challenges you have had to overcome to achieve all that you have thus far? SANDER van DOORN: It really started when I made the decision to fully devote myself to music production, moving it from a hobby to a job. That was a big transition. I had another family job at the time, but I felt that music was something truly important to me. I had never learned to play a music instrument but I knew that I had to do something with it. So I taught myself how to produce music and then I had to decide to stop taking my college courses. I wanted to do something by myself outside of the family business. I never wanted the path of life laid out for me. I told myself that if I didn’t make the move to this industry that I would regret it for the rest of my life. So what was the next step after telling your family you had made this decision? SvD: Well at first they were concerned because they don’t know the music industry so they would not be able to help me. But I wanted to give it a try for a year and see what happened. That was one of the reasons why I really wanted to do this – because I wanted to do something on my own.
They knew that by me making that decision that this was going to be something very serious. I started producing tracks with Spinnin’ Records. I sent them a lot of tracks and we worked on a lot of remixes at first. Then we moved to singles and they encouraged me to grow and move into other sounds. So we started doing some techy stuff and more progressive tracks. I started to find myself a little bit in the middle of the two genres, so I started to produce more and more in that style. The tracks got a lot of recognition and by then I had started to DJ a bit in some clubs. My first festival was Global Gathering and I played on a tiny stage. After my set I walked over to the main stage and Tiesto was playing and he actually dropped one of my bootlegs, Message In A Bottle, during his set. Everybody was just going crazy and I just thought “wow – I know for certain I have made the right decision now.” What did Dad have to say to that? SvD: I don’t think he really followed me much the first few years because I was just busy doing my own thing producing tracks. But back in the day it was common to be paid in cash by the promoters for your work. I did all my own bookings and well, I took a lot of cash home. I was a good producer but a very bad accountant.
So I had all this foreign currency and I put it in a shoebox in my closet. One day my dad came over and asked how my music career was working out. He asked how I did my accounting so I showed him the shoebox with all the currency of about three years of shows in it. He took it to the bank and it turns out they couldn’t exchange all of it at once because it was too much. So my brother stepped in and offered to do my accounting work from then on and he still does my accounting today. When I showed my dad that shoebox he was actually really proud because he realized I was doing something that was actually going somewhere. Speaking of going somewhere, talk to us about Purple Haze. SvD: Purple Haze is actually one of the alter-egos I started out with when I first began producing. I started out releasing tracks under Sam Sharp and then Sander van Doorn, producing some trance tracks. But I felt I needed something deeper, more moody, but still very euphoric and driven. The name Purple Haze really just made sense with this type of music that I was producing. It was really a sound that suits me right now that I could go all out with. About a year and a half ago I finished the track Neiloj and then one after another, all of a sudden I had ten tracks under Purple Haze. After that I made the decision that I needed to do something with this because I really felt like this was opening a new door for me. I wanted to turn it into a live show unlike other I have done before.
Can you describe the environment you envisioned for the Purple Haze live shows? SvD: I wanted to take a whole team with me that was going to create the whole show. These days it’s very important to have the sound right but also create the whole show around it in a way that it really translates to the crowd. I started working with a VJ and started to throw ideas to him about my own image of the tracks and asked him to make that happen visually. We really knew what we wanted to create. The reception for the live shows was great and the energy was so good. The community sense of trance fans is absolutely amazing. They know their music and they really support the artists. They really like to go on a musical trip and for me, that is why I decided that Purple Haze is going to be all about big arena shows where it’s going to be all out with the lighting and production work. It seems like a lot of producers in the industry are branching out in their creativity these days and exploring different genres. Where do you see the industry as a whole going in the future? SvD: Well obviously be it one year or four or five, there is still that EDM bubble that everyone is trying to define. All of a sudden the bubble will burst a little bit and I think that’s a really good thing because this industry is all about producing what everybody produces and trying to make it all a little better. It’s about going back to the roots and the dance music industry has already existed for 30 years now and it comes from a certain direction.
“I NEVER WANTED LAID OUT
D THE PATH OF LIFE T FOR ME.” It’s about the underground scene that actually got overlooked a bit in the last couple of years. If something gets too commercial, more people are going to look to go back to a more underground vibe. Over the next few years, I think people are really going to look for quality music because they’re going to find themselves at festivals listening to the same music over and over and they are going to search for the artist that they really like. I think that certain music streaming services are creating a problem for some producers because people want to be a part of a certain playlist on them, but then you have a record company who will tell you that they can get you there but with a shortened version of your track. But with these certain types of tracks, you need to be able to tell a story, and you can’t do that with a 4 minute version. But then you run into the problem that the longer tracks aren’t added to the playlists in the end. We as an industry needs to step away from just producing to make money on a track and look at the tracks that we produce as a part of our identity as artists. Outside of Purple Haze, do you have a past project that you’re most proud of? SvD: Riff was something I was really proud of. And also hearing Tiesto play my bootleg of Message In A Bottle at my first festival, Global Gatherings, was a really proud moment for me. I’m also really thrilled on making the decision to make something great out of the Purple Haze thing right now. Neiloj is a track on the new album that I’m really excited about – it is actually the spelling of my wife’s name backwards.
BACKSTAGE
T
ens of thousands of animals converged onto Randall’s Island over Labor Day weekend to celebrate their love of dance music underneath the famed New York City skyline. This year, we experienced beautiful weather, as well as total downpours; the famed plush blanket of green grass, as well as mud puddles galore. No matter what though, we found the beauty in it all and gathered with new friends and old to dance all day and night. We even saw a select few brushing up on their puddle jumping skills!
Each year this festival just gets better and better. One change this year that we greatly enjoyed was the demise of “EZOO Bucks”. The festival is cashless, which is something we always loved (less things to stuff into your pockets!), but the former island currency was just plain confusing. This year everything was in dollar amounts so it made adding money onto your bracelet very simple because you were able to guesstimate a lot better for how much you thought you would spend at the festival. We’re here for the music, not for the math games!
We loved the stages this year and how they really incorporated New York City into the designs. The hospitality was top notch – always full of friendly faces happy to help. EZoo has some of the best choices we’ve seen for food vendors and this year did not disappoint at all. Although we admittedly did not venture farther than our beloved Big Mozz, there truly was something for everybody to enjoy. And the talent? We heard repeatedly from festivalgoers throughout the three days that this was simply the best lineup the festival had ever had.
We just have to agree with everyone on that! One by one the animals retreated off the island at the end of the 2017 installment of EZoo, bringing with them many memories made on the island during the weekend, as well as some muddy shoes that would likely need some cleaning. One thing is for certain – we can’t wait until Electric Zoo opens its doors to us all again! We’ll see all you animals in 2018! Stay wild! WRITTEN BY KRISTINE KENNEDY PHOTOS BY MICHAEL BEAS
Very talented producers like yourself, Flume and MarLo have come out from Australia. What’s the dance music vibe and scene like? Festivals are such a big thing in Australia in the summer, it’s actually a real culture. Australians love being outdoors. I feel like growing up in a certain area and listening to some of my favorite artists from Australia...I don’t know, you get exposed to it early on. Know that I think of it, it’s probably no different than anywhere else but I suppose also I personally feel like I have to prove myself. Australians would be like “Oh, we’re not part of the scene. We’re on an islands miles away, fucking fourteen hours away” and now I’m even further away here in New York. So, I feel like we need to make a little more noise. One of my big and early motivations was to get my music out there and get heard. When you’re farther away, you fight a little bit harder.
All the weekend shows I have are less stressful too. Let’s say one night I’m playing in Dallas and the next in San Fran, it’s more spaced out. Although, I was in Asia just last week for this one show. I was there for two nights, Aussies love Bali. It felt like I had gone back home to Australia, a lot of Aussies came out! You have a new track out, what was the inspiration and process behind ‘Arms Around Me’? I didn’t write the vocals to be honest with you, it was Digital Farm Animals who I collaborated it. Hearing the vocals, I just put my own twist on it. It was around the time I was working on ‘Love On Me’, sent it to Galantis and there’s where it all took off. ‘Arms Around Me’ was kind of the same process except this came about as more of a collaboration. So, I suppose I wanted to give it a feel good, festival vibe.
Walk me through a day in your life. How were the last 24 hours like for you?
I was checking out your social media, you have an awesome dog. Do they let you travel with your pet?
Well in the last 24 hours, I was on a plane from Los Angeles into Austin, Texas to play a show then came to New York. These last 24 hours are not my typical 24 hours since it was back to back performances. I was really nervous to play my records today, I was concerned about whether people were going to like it. A lot of artists don’t really admit it but I genuinely care to a point. I want it to sound good, I want people to like it.
No, I wish. I should really try to get him some service dog papers. Well, if I did get him certified as a service dog, I wouldn’t take it for weekend trips like this. Unless, it’s shows in California...I just throw him back of the car and drive down to San Diego. [Would you get him a Hook N Sling t-shirt?] Actually, if you look back far enough on my social media, there’s a picture of him wearing my friend’s Ana Lunoe’s t-shirt. She was dog sitting him for a weekend, was dressing him up in all her merch and sent it to me. It was hilarious, definitely got to do that again.
I put it in a lot of hours just preparing for my set in Austin and also working on a new remix. I was really working on that remix so I could play it the next time but it didn’t happen. It sucked but I put it aside and decided to work on other edits. Finished by set at 1AM, I was in a car by 4AM out of the airport and to my hotel room to work. In general, I’m getting to a point where I feel comfortable with my music and traveling. That’s like 1 in 20 or 30 days in the year for me.
What’s next for you? I just did a remix for Halsey for her new single ‘Mad In Love’. Then, the next few months there will be some more originals. I’ve been working on a whole lot of stuff over the last 6 months but they will be out by the end of the year.
INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL BEAS So you’ve got a new track out that we love called “Believer” with Ceelo Green. Whose idea was it to turn the video into a cartoon? CID: We were tossing around a few ideas and the song is very upbeat and positive so that was one of the themes that my team and the Big Beat team had. We just went with it and it ended up being such a cool process going back and forth with the designers for the way the characters should look. In the end, we’re all really happy with how it came out. What’s the history behind how this track came about? CID: Lately I’ve been writing a lot with different songwriters.
This track, though, was one that the record label showed me. Originally, it was not a house record at all and I took it and put a soulful house spin on it. We worked with it for a while and now it’s an awesome experience to finally see it come out and see peoples’ reactions to it. From Spain to New York City – your current hometown crowd – how was it playing in front of them at Electric Zoo? CID: Oh it was crazy! Electric Zoo was the first festival I ever went to as a fan back in 2010 and I just remember really enjoying it so much. To be able to experience it now as an artist is really special. I remember looking back a couple of months ago at some pictures of mine and found
a selfie of myself with the stage behind me. I zoomed in and it was Kaskade playing. It all came full circle that back then I didn’t know him at all and to see the progression up to today is just awesome. You work with so many talented artists these days. If you had to pick one for a future project, who would it be? CID: Kaskade has just shown me so much love – I would really love to do something else with him. My next single is actually going out on Don Diablo’s label, Hexagon, which I’m really excited about. We’ve started working with a couple of ideas that hopefully we’ll be able to put out to the fans soon.
You’re a Grammy Award winner [for production with Cedric Gervais’ remix of “Summertime Sadness”]. What’s next to tackle in this industry? CID: I use my success as benchmarks for my progress. This year I played the 2pm set time on Main Stage at Electric Zoo. Next year I’m hoping for a set time later in the day. I really want to start building as an artist with the fans, put out a lot more music, really grow and be able to sell out my own shows. That’s where I want to go.
Snails & NGHTMRE - Only Want U (feat. Akylla) This track is a heavy as you would expect a collab between Snails and NGHTMRE would be. Snails’ brash, grimey sound compliments NGHTMRE’s melodic influence resulting in a beautiful marriage of two signature styles. The range from deep, thrusting drops to moldic chords insane, showing the mastery these two artits have in their fields. The vocals from Akylla wrap up the song in a nice velvety package. This track is a solid example of how merging elements from different genres could be the next big thing in dance music. “Only Want U” is the second release off Snails’ debut album The Shell. To coincide with the album, Snails will embark on his massive ‘The Shell’ global tour, which just announced three additional dates in Los Angeles, Orange County and Las Vegas.
WRITTEN BY STEPHANIE PIEDRAHITA
Triarchy Ft. Rosette Someone To Love Triarchy continues to pull at your heart strings one by one as you continue to listen to this song because the lyrics are so profound and relatable to love in the 21st century. The one lesson that you can learn from this song is that although we all need someone, we need to learn not to settle for anything less than we deserve. Listen to this song when you are happy or sad because it will find a way to lift your spirits. I love the fact that the song is so melodic and pure to the soul. Rosette is the singer that is heard in this amazing track. Her voice is so soft and soothing that she is capable of taking you on a journey.
WRITTEN BY SANDRA SANTANA
Adventure Club - Gold Ft. Yuna (BONNIE X CLYDE Remix)
Most electronic artists take on the challenge of re-working a fan favorite track knowing there’s a 50/50 chance that it will not be received well, especially if it’s an original like ‘Gold’ by Adventure Club which is easily considered a classic within the rave community. However, Bonnie x Clyde nailed their rendition of ‘Gold’ bringing a fresh, equally intoxicating quality to the already popular track. This track is not a cover, but rather an ode to music that created a foundation for a new wave of artists who are fearless when it comes to showcasing their unique styles while celebrating the sounds that have influenced it. Bonnie’s vocals were earthy yet light as she sings verses that we can’t help but join in on (you know you sang along, don’t front). To be able to match rhythmically to Yuna, the vocalist of the original track, is not a small feat but she floats through it with such ease. The snares, delicate trap elements and vocal adjustments makes it a well rounded track we have no doubt will be played during the remainder of festival season and the next.
WRITTEN BY STEPHANIE PIEDRAHITA
Felix Cartal - Hold Tight In a world where adversity and diversity constantly threaten to tear us apart, dance music culture has always provided a safe haven of unity. Felix Cartal emulates this feeling in his new release “Hold Tight,” the B-side track to his recent hit “Get What You Give.” Though the track only possesses one lyrical sampling—its namesake “Hold Tight”—it conveys an emotionally powerful message through its euphoric and yet wistful melodies. It’s a song for the tough times, when everyone needs to know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel; it’s a song for the good times, too, when it seems as though life couldn’t possibly be better.
WRITTEN BY MICHELLE FETKY
INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL BEAS
Mahmut Orhan’s fresh combination of soulful deep house, groovy indie dance, and worldly elements from his own cultural experiences has landed him solidly amongst today’s most promising dance music artists. With the 2016 release of his hit track “Feel (feat. Sena Sener),” Orhan amassed 160 million combined streams on YouTube and Spotify; received top-20 honors in both iTunes’ Dance and Global in close to two dozen countries; reached the #1 track in iTunes’ Dance and Main Charts in 11 countries and 5 territories respectively; and rose to #25 Worldwide on Shazam—and that’s all for one song in his growing catalog of inspired work. Orhan’s iconic sound is rooting itself deeply inside the conscious of the collective dance music community, and its momentum isn’t showing signs of slowing down.
How was it like growing up in Bursa? Is there a massive dance music scene in Turkey? Growing up in Bursa was amazing for me because I was with my family and I met lots of my friends in Bursa. They have always supported my success. Bursa is a beautiful city, Bursa Uludağ is the capital place of winter tourism in Turkey. What attracted you to deep house and nu disco? When did you decide you wanted to have a career in music? When I was 17, I worked at a voice sound company in Bursa. Then I started to have curiosity about DJing and producing, and started to learn more about both. I followed this career because I love this job. I wanted to make deep house and nu disco because these genres also reflect my mood. You worked or currently work as a music director for a club in Istanbul called Chilai. How do you manage to balance time with your music and your other responsibilities in between gigs? Do you feel working in the industry helped better prepare you for life as a DJ? Absolutely. In that period, I learned lots of things and I worked actively in the industry. I have lots of good friends to thank for helping me with this opportunity. You always look like you’re having a great time, a big smile on your face, while you’re performing! What kind of reaction do you like seeing from a crowd? Do you have a favorite event or venue that you’ve played at? I am smiling because I really like this job and I am really enjoy myself when playing. I’m preparing myself for facing audiences with a high level of energy, as I like places and events that have energetic audiences. Where do you hope to be in the next five years? I hope to perform lots of the biggest and most famous festivals. I want to create a positive impact in all of the viewers’ minds.
Camel P Cola (O hat & Elder brook riginal M ix) Nacca r This is ati House (Origina l Mix) Marka kis & M D.A.N.C a .E. (Orig kito inal Mix ) Martin S o lvei All Star s (Apex g ft Alma ape Rem ix) Diego Brogg i Runnin g (The o & Castam Cube G a uys Mix n ) Alex K e Club M nji - ‘Cause It ix) ’s Cool (Origina l Clapto ne - Th (Darius Syrossia e Music Got M n Remix e ) Cristia n In Da K Farigu & D B lub (Or iginal M LS ix) Tom & ft Jutt Hills x Leand y (Club M Ranx - Gon ro Da Silva na Live ix) My Life Victor P (Origina orfidio - Do n’t Give l Mix) It Up Jude & Clande Frank, Adria stino (O n riginal M Buono ix) Nicola F a s ano La Cum bia de la & Paul Jock ey Barra Dimi-N (BartBa uendo - Sois ker Rem Italien ix) Daniel e (Origina Pace - Mas ai Vood l Mix) oo Robbi e - All We Rivera & Ky -M Need Is Remix) Love (Ju ani Marley de & Fr ank
W
e all know the freedom of stepping into a new world while walking into a festival. When all is said and done, the weekend comes to a close, and it’s back to reality. Most of us take home wonderful memories but then forget grounds we called home for 4-5 days... and the trash that was left behind. Music festivals are becoming an environmental hazard and we need to come together as a community and keep these spaces clean. Without giving the area the respect it deserves, attendees and event organizers run the risk of not being able to come back the following year due to irreversible or a substantial amount of environmental damage.
So, how can we personally practice and maintain sustainability at events? We can do minor things such as cleaning after someone else who has littered and picking up your own trash. These small actions can lead to not only a better festival environment, but a healthier environment overall for locals and wildlife. I recently watched a video from a blog called Zinc and it stated that 80% of a festival’s carbon footprint comes from travel alone. A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide and the other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person or group. So basically, if you can use public transportation or ride share, by all means do it.
Plastic waste (water bottles) are also a huge issue that could cut out extra time from having to clean up; investing in a reusable water bottle or a water pack not only comes in handy but it reduces waste as well. There was a sign posted in Electric Forest that read “Every minute 1 million plastic cups end up in landfills and oceans. Reuse, refuse, rethink.” Keep in mind most of this kind of waste can’t be recycled because only certain types of plastic bottles are allowed by municipalities. Last, but probably the most important issue on sustainability, are those cigarette butts! Being a smoker myself (yes, I know it’s disgusting) I know how easy it is to get caught up in a moment and carelessly toss a simple butt on the ground. Cigarette litter is revolting and can result in social discouragement that can prevent change in our economy. We all might want to see also who’s in charge of the event and check to see if they are also doing their part by providing resources and guidelines for attendees! Little things like giving out garbage bags upon entry, reinforcing good behavior such as giving out prizes and free food for trash pick up are good ways to start. I recently read on DisneyDining.com that Walt Disney himself had people watched and calculated how many steps they took before they needed a trash can. On average it took a person about 30 steps to finish their meal and use a trash can. Maybe small steps like a trash can every 30 feet could make a dent in what we all want; not to mention being in a clean environment promote overall wellness.
At Electric Forest, they had the ever so popular “PRIIIIIZE CART!” which was a golf cart that came around handing out trash bags to people in hopes they would clean up after themselves in order to get prizes, meal tickets, and even tickets to next years event. I feel this tradition should be carried on into other festivals and that sustainability and clean up efforts shouldn’t be limited to beautiful camping festivals like Electric Forest. Counteracting unavoidable C02 emissions is an immediate way to take responsibility of your own personal contribution to the carbon footprint we all leave behind when we travel to these festivals. C02 is a naturally occurring gas that is emitted at great levels by human activity and is one of the several greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, trapping the sun’s energy as it strikes the earth, warming the atmosphere. An increase in C02 can increase temperature further, causing changes in weather patterns. How does driving affect the environment? Cars consume a lot of energy before they ever make it to the open road, most of an automobile’s environmental impact (80-90%) will be due to fuel consumption and emissions of air pollution and greenhouse gases that climate scientists say they are driving global warming. What can we do to help? Rideshares! Either taking a bus or riding with someone else can reduce your carbon footprint and even helps you save money! Whether it’s the grounds at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, or the beautiful Double JJ Ranch, we need to do our part to protect these sites so we can keep dancing together.