Transition Newspaper 001

FACILITATING A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

JANUARY 2015

001

A compre h e n s i v e s t u d y into the i l l u s t r i o u s relation s h i p b e t w e e n capitali s m a n d c l i m a t e change.

Featuring a review of how transformational festivals could facilitate a system restructure.

TRANSITION

02

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Our planet is currently facing monumental changes which are undeniably a consequence of human influence. Since the start of the industrial revolution humans have unremittingly polluted and mindlessly used non-renewable resources. Consequently, humanity has been left with a choice, build towards a sustainable future, or keep consuming towards the destruction of the planet.

ONLINE VERSION AVAILABLE FROM - http://issuu.com/ jordanharrisonreader/docs/wwf_ lpr2014_low_res/1

Currently, humanity would need the regenerative capacity of 1.5 earths to continue providing the ecological resources and services used annually.

The content of this paper looks to address environmental issues currently faced by humanity, outlining the problems existing within society and offering insights into the movements currently building towards a sustainable future. Initially, to help readers understand the context of what is later discussed, the paper will specifically outline and analyse the source of the environmental problems currently plaguing the earth.

By defining the source of the problems it is subsequently easier to identify the solutions and support the ideas needed to facilitate them.

Once the problem source has been identified, the publication subsequently reviews the movements’ currently supporting and disseminating philosophies key to creating a positive future. With a specific focus on the transformational festival movement, the publication will review the intrinsic values, activities and sustainable technologies key to creating the positive atmospheres characteristic of transformational events.

It is identified that the philosophies and approach to existence practiced at such festivals help to create temporary environments that illustrate how a future society, focused on environmental sustainability and the wellbeing of its inhabitants, could essentially function.

The final chapter establishes the importance of the need for a social revolution and global transition towards complete sustainability, specifically aiming to establish how such a transformation can be attained. Building on information presented in the previous section, the paper reviews the significance of transformational events to this global transition, reviewing the application of their sustainable technologies and values to permanent settlements. The chapter concludes by looking to the future, studying how the movement is starting to form networks, expand, and how ultimately, change is already underway.

The aim of this publication is to help raise awareness of the transformational movement, supporting free cultural space communities and their significance to the global transformation. Essentially, by disseminating such information, the paper itself becomes a tool for change and actively contributes to strengthening the transformational movement.

To ensure that the paper adheres to the sustainable philosophies discussed it has been printed in a limited run, using newsprint made from postconsumer waste using vegetable based inks. For those unable to get a copy of the publication, or wanting to distribute the information featured, an online version is available by following the opposing link.

AN URGENT PLEA

On September the 15th 2014, one hundred and sixty of the world’s leading environmental scientists published an urgent plea begging the most influential foundations and philanthropists to help and save the planet by investing in the future.

03

‘An Appeal to the world’s foundations and philanthropists by the world’s environmental prize winners; Aghast the world is heading for a 4 to 6 degree Celsius of global warming, given current policies of burning coal, oil and gas; Terrified that we will lose our ability to feed ourselves, run out of portable water, increase scope for war and cause the very fabric of civilisation to crash as a consequence of climate change that global overheating will bring about; Devastated that our governments have not succeeded yet in slowing, much less stopping, the flow of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, in the full knowledge of these risks, despite a quarter century of trying; Aware that the UN Climate Summit in Paris in December 2015 may be the last chance to agree a treaty capable of saving civilisation; Believing that the world’s philanthropic foundations, given the scale of their endowments, hold the power to trigger a survival reflex in society, so greatly helping those negotiating the climate treaty; Recognising that all the good work of philanthropy, in all their varied forms, will be devalued or even destroyed in a world en route to six degrees of global warming or more, and that endowments that could have saved the day will end up as effectively as stranded assets; We, 160 winners of the world’s environmental prizes, call on foundations and philanthropists deploy their endowments urgently in the effort to save civilisation.’

04

CAPITALISM & CLIMATE CHANGE

CAPITALISM & CLIMATE CHANGE

CAPITALISM & CLIMATE CHANGE

he earth simply cannot sustain our current mode of existence. We live unsustainably, taking first and thinking later, or not thinking at all. Living our current lifestyles, driven by materialism and capitalist focused consumption, humanity would need the regenerative capacity of 1.5 earths to continue providing the ecological resources and services used annually. To put it simply, we are using the planets resources faster than we can replenish them while simultaneously polluting the atmosphere on a global scale. As a result of this environmental abuse, we are very close to reaching a series of critical tipping points, where the level of carbon in the atmosphere would become so high it would irreversibly change the living conditions on earth. For many obvious reasons, we simply cannot let this happen.

One reaction to the current environmental situation is the concept of a sustainable society, which is a civilisation model that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. By hypothetically applying this definition to human civilisation, we are able to outline an understanding of how a modern sustainable society would function. Firstly, from a systematic perspective, the society would embody procedures to ensure that the systems responsible for causing exponential growth in capital and populous were re-envisioned. For example, the rates of births and deaths would be equal, the use of renewable resources would not surpass their rates of regeneration, the usage of non-renewable resources would not exceed the sustainable alternatives and, the level of emissions would be harshly regulated to ensure they never reach potentially harmful levels.

Unfortunately, our modern society is far from achieving anything on this scale, despite the current investment by governments in developed countries in sustainable energy schemes.

It is well known that governments in modern society are engaging with schemes and technologies with the aim of combating the damaging effects of climate change and moving towards a more sustainable society. One of the most impressive examples of this engagement with such technologies is Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ scheme, the fast spreading transition to green, renewable energy that is sweeping the country.

Results from Germany’s engagement with the scheme are positive, and statistics show that renewable energy provided nearly 25 percent of Germany’s electricity in 2013. However, despite government involvement with such programmes increasing worldwide, the impending threat climate change poses continues to grow irrespectively.

Preliminary data shows that in 2013, global carbon dioxide levels were 61 percent higher than they were in 1990.

To understand why there has been such little impact made by the current schemes and programmes

05

governments are engaging with to combat climate change, it is important to review the specific details, such as the overall aims and goals of the programmes, the actions applied to achieve said goals and the dominant societal philosophies the schemes adhere to.

The inherent qualities that drive capitalism to flourish in modern society clearly contradict the notions required to start reversing the negative effects of climate change. The system requires the continual production, sale and consumption of commodities and services, which are often produced by a working class for the capitalist elite in return for a wage. Moreover, the products produced are then sold by the capitalist for a profit that pays for both labour and materials while generating a beneficial return, a process that Karl Marx referrers to as the ‘capitalist mode of production’.

The ‘capitalist class’ is a definition that is used to referrer to the small number of elite capitalists that have exploited the mechanisms of this system to accumulate vast fortunes. In modern society, it is this class of elites control the bulk of the world’s economic capital and power, leaving the rest of society stuck in a slave-like work to live mode of existence that promotes inequality at every turn. Additionally, it is also the economic elite who are predominantly responsible for the drastic rise in greenhouse gases and the consequent environmental disaster we are facing today. Not only do they own and sustain the corporations and businesses responsible for the pollutants emitted into the atmosphere, they also relinquish the responsibility of resolving the problems, leaving it to the rest of the world to find the solutions. Oil and gas corporations remain some of the most profitable corporations in history. Moreover, these companies gained their vast fortunes, two main reasons, firstly, the resources they extract are highly valuable and currently used to power most

06

Not only are the capitalist elite primarily responsible for climate change, they actually have vested interests in sustaining the very system that will eventually destroy the planet if left unchanged.

CAPITALISM & CLIMATE CHANGE

of civilisation, and secondly because they have dumped the cost of cleaning up their mess onto regular people around the world.

Not only are the capitalist elite primarily responsible for climate change, they actually have vested interests in sustaining the very system that will eventually destroy the planet if the situation is left unchanged. However, If society became cohesive in their efforts to resolve the climate situation and there was a move towards a completely sustainable society, companies that embodied unsustainable aspects would be actively avoided and dismantled. The transition into this sustainable society fundamentally conflicts with the idea of deregulated capitalism and as a result, people owning such businesses would be subject to huge financial losses, an unfathomable idea in the mind of a commerce driven capitalist.

As a reaction to the idea of this potential loss, corporate giants have been actively investing in conferences and organisations specifically devoted to denying the causes of climate change. Often, information presented at such events actively disputes the irreputable amount of scientific data evidencing the fact that human activity is responsible for warming the planet. An example of such an organisation is the ‘Heartland Institute’, an establishment that are responsible for arranging international climate conferences attended by many of the large corporate denialists. Although most of the people in attendance at the Heartlands conferences are not environmental scientists they have no problem rejecting established scientific consensuses in favour of information more suited to their capitalist philosophies.

Falsified information published by corporate influenced institutions like the Heartland Institute undoubtedly effects the perception of people who deny climate change because of the threat that it poses to the modern way of life.

With the danger of a full scale climate disaster looming in the near future there are

active efforts to expose such misinformation created by denialist organisations.

In fact, in a recent article published by ‘The Economist’ in 2012, the Heartland institution was identified as ‘the world’s most prominent think-tank promoting scepticism about manmade climate change’. Although identifying such denialist propaganda is only a relatively small victory for the movement combating climate change, it identifies the bigger problems in society that need to be cohesively addressed if we are to resolve the variety of environmental issues currently faced.

One way we can identify the capitalist system as the main contributor to the global rise in harmful carbon emissions is by reviewing statistics reviewing the levels of greenhouse gases recorded in the atmosphere during the 2009 world financial crisis. As a part of ‘globalisation’, huge emerging industrial producers such as China were integrated into the world’s economic markets, which consequently ramped up emissions from their initial average rise of ‘1 percent’ per year in the 1990’s to an increased annual rate of ‘3.4 percent’ in the 2000’s. The increased rate of growth continues to this day, interrupted only briefly in 2009 by the world financial. The momentary dip in the level of emissions produced indicates that during the economic crash, which was responsible negatively affecting businesses across the globe, industrial production was affected so badly companies produced fewer commodities and subsequently created fewer emissions. The fact that there is a clear coloration between the economic crisis, a fall in industrial production and the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere acts is an undeniable indicator that means of capital production is largely responsible for the damaging levels of greenhouse gases produced.

Despite a clear clash of values between the current capitalist system and the sustainable society proposed as an alternative, there have

CAPITALISM & CLIMATE CHANGE

been attempts made to try and find some middle ground. A shining example of this is Al Gore’s film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, which was released to the public in 2006 and resulted in Gore being awarded with The Nobel Peace Prize 2007. The movie was beneficial to the movement aiming to combat the effects of climate change on the basis that it promoted information highlighting important climate issues to a large, public audience. Providing this exposure and underlining some of the issues was constructive, as, due to the films large promotional platform it was able to expose the seriousness of the climate problem to people who may not have previously understood or acknowledged it. However, the solutions offered in the film were far from revolutionary and failed to address any of the major problems responsible for global warming, encouraging ‘winwin’ solutions that benefit both the capitalist and environmentalist. Instead of addressing the root causes of the problem, identified in the previous chapter, solutions in the film instead propose profitable resolutions that could only ever exist within the confines of a capitalist system. The very same system responsible for the negative condition of the planet today. Solutions proposed in Gore’s film suggest that to solve the current environmental issues we simply need to exercise our consumer power, not by consuming less but by changing the products and services we support.

07

Increasing Emissions Emissions went up from their initial average rise of ‘1 percent’ per year in the 1990’s to an increased annual rate of ‘3.4 percent’ in the 2000’s.

Annual rate of emissions in 2000’s

Gore’s proposal suggests that the current capitalist system should be kept in place, with resource consumption and the production of pollutants continuing, only in a more mindful fashion. The proposed solution is capitalist in its sincerest nature, does not address any the problem sources previously mentioned and consequently does little to actually lower emissions. In fact, if we consider that it is the mechanisms of the capitalist system that are primarily responsible for climate change, by suggesting that capitalism continues as the dominant economic system in modern society, Al Gore’s solution is in fact only perpetuating the problem. Less of something bad is not necessarily good, so reducing impact is not good enough what we really need to do is invert impact.

The inherent nature of the modern capitalist system completely contradicts the values and actions of movements endeavouring to combat the negative effects of climate change. The two cannot simply coexist. Therefore, as long as the system of capitalism is our dominant economic model the various problems outlined in this chapter will continue to exist, ever increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and actively contributing to the severity of the on-going climate issue. With the intrinsic mechanisms of the capitalist system identified as the problem, the solution becomes much clearer, to solve our current problems we must engage with a complete social transformation, an alteration that will move us away from the consumption driven capitalist mode of living to a more unified and sustainable way of life.

It is possible to achieve a zero carbon world, where our world economies are powered with 100% renewable energy produced by sustainable technologies. However, to achieve this requires huge sacrifices made by both the general global populous and the elite capitalist class currently sitting atop the economic pyramid.

Data shows that in 2013, global carbon dioxide levels were 61 percent higher than they were in 1990.

08

TRANSFORMATIONAL FESTIVALS

TRANSFORMATIONAL FESTIVALS:

Beacons of sanity IN an insane world

TRANSFORMATIONAL FESTIVALS

ne way we can assess the viability of the proposed social transformation and supporting sustainable society is by reviewing and analysing communities that are already successfully practice the philosophies fundamental to overcoming climate change.

From international communes, eco-villages, sustainable music festivals to small urban living co-ops, there are many community variations that embody similar philosophies that aim to connect communities to the Earth in a way that ensures the well-being of all life-forms into the indefinite future. Not only do such movements allow people to learn how to live sustainably, but, in reference to the larger events and communities, actually allow people to fundamentally practice how the mechanisms of a transformed society could work.

Almost all of the individual movements practicing such culturally sustainable philosophies, whether they are permanent or temporary initiatives, can be identified under the ‘Free Cultural Space’ classification. There are many varying forms societies categorised as free cultural spaces can take, from squatter and hacker communities to radio pirates, eco-villages, alternative festivals, (semi) nomadic groups communes.

However, the defining aspects of such communities that identify themselves under the ‘FCS’ classification lie with their shared values and the pursuit of creative and alternative modes of living.

Such communities exist outside of the restrictive nature of mainstream capitalist culture creating free environments that allow people to peruse low-impact autonomous modes of living.

One of the FSC communities

09

specifically focused on promoting sustainability and personal growth is the developing movement of ‘Transformational Festivals’, an evolutionary culture that has been evolving for over fifteen years. The phrase ‘Transformational Festival’ is a new term that was only recently created as a definition to identify an emerging cultural phenomenon of revolutionary music festivals. The usage of the word ‘Transformational’ within the definition relates directly to the philosophical foundations espoused at events. Encompassing many of the values shared by free cultural spaces, transformational festivals have a predominant focus on helping attendants positively develop and the transformation of mainstream culture toward sustainability, a significant philosophy in an unsustainable world dominated by powerful corporations.

transformational festivals have a predominant focus on helping attendants positively develop and the transformation of mainstream culture toward sustainability.

Events that are defined under the transformational festival label have a prevalent focus on community building and sustainability.

However, due to the diverse range of festival influences and the free, autonomous environment that is subsequently created, an assortment of other beliefs also influence the core set of values that are promoted. As well as the central emphasis on sustainability, transformational festivals promote an ethical outlook that encourages positive growth within the individual participant, enabling them to personally transform by providing comfortable environments that support the liberation of the body, mind and spirit. The development of the individual is one of the founding ideas of the movement and so, the core value system also encompasses a range of principles relevant to the individual.

The ability to access the increased states of consciousness that allows festival participants to personally transform relies on the individual’s ability to experience the core values listed within a comfortable,

10

relaxing environment. Unlike most mainstream festivals that are solely focused on partying, most contemporary transformational festivals offer a range of intellectually engaging courses and activities such as; classes, seminars, installation and visionary art, drum circles, ceremonies, performances, eco-villages, deep participation, and radical inclusion. By engaging with such practices attendants are able to liberate themselves from the multiple oppressions experienced on a daily basis within contemporary capitalist culture. Such dissatisfying conditions are created within modern society through the countless regulations, moral standards, legal codes and rules of property that people are required to adhere to.

However, transformational events provide an alternative to this, allowing people are able to explore unconventional ways of existence.

Through a combination of the values previously discussed and engagement with the various healing classes and ceremonies on offer, attendants of transformational events are able to feel unconditionally accepted and part of a large, cohesive community. Often, a combination of the constraints of a work focused lifestyle, the over commercialization of public spaces and heavy, law enforced societal restrictions within our mainstream culture help to create dehumanising environments which leave people feeling alienated and alone. It is here that we can identify the importance of the value systems embodied at transformational events, as they provide an atmosphere for transcending such societal constraints and can facilitate profound individual and societal change. Moreover, in creating atmospheres that enable participant transformation and the identification of the negative aspects of modern society, transformational festivals become countercultural hubs where beliefs contradictory to the current capitalist ideology can be established and spread.

As a result of the offerings attendants engage with while at transformational events, participants are not only able to develop personally, but discover how they can positively impact the world

TRANSFORMATIONAL FESTIVALS

outside of the temporary festival environment. The concept, which has been defined as ‘modelling’, describes the varying ways in which festival participants are bringing the values and revelations gained at transformational festivals back into their communities.

The same combination of the positive festival elements that make transformational events such effective atmospheres for facilitating personal change, are the same elements responsible for inspiring community focused work aimed at benefiting the less fortunate members of modern capitalist society.

Often, the projects created by members of the movement see festival-goers engaging with schemes that enrich the local community. One programme involved with such beneficial work is ‘1st Saturdays’, a non-profit organisation based in San Diego. The volunteer based initiative aims to help homeless people in the surrounding area by providing them with ‘care packages’ consisting of clothes, supplies, personal items, food and drink, which are collected throughout the month and distributed on the first Saturday of the following month. Unlike similar schemes

that exist, the prevalence of the values practiced at transformational festivals is a dominant aspect of the programme, evidencing the importance and impact of the philosophies and values intrinsic to the movement.

Understanding that the current mode of existence embodied throughout most of the modern world is flawed, unsustainable and undoubtedly leading to the destruction of contemporary society and the natural environment, most transformational festivals have adopted a predominant focus on sustainability. Sharing a similar ecological ideology to eco-village communities, where the interests of the community and environment are combined. To achieve this, transformational festivals around the globe actively incorporate a range of innovative environmentally focused principles to ensure that the impact of the event is kept to a minimum. From the ‘leave-no-trace’ ethos promoted at events such as ‘Burning Man’ in the Black Rock Desert in America to the revolutionary, permaculture

TRANSFORMATIONAL FESTIVALS

11

An environmentally conscious event is a way to offer a concrete example that it is possible to live on this Planet in respect of Mother Earth and of one another. based environmental programme practiced at ‘Boom Festival’ in Portugal. Such festivals have a leading role in changing the ways of using materials, recycling, food, beverage and waste control. As a result, when referring to platforms that promote the importance of environmental sustainability to a global audience, transformational festivals have a huge impact and are truly leading the way.

One festival that is currently pioneering sustainability with their innovative environmental programme is Boom Festival, a Portuguese event born in 1997. Throughout the seventeen year lifespan of Boom, the team behind the festival have developed a number of pioneering technologies aimed at providing sustainable solutions to the environmental problems faced by large scale festivals, some of which include; compost toilets, water treatment facilities with plants, vegetable oil for generators, solar and wind energy supply, regeneration of soils, reforestation… recycling, reusing materials and bioconstruction techniques. It is this commitment to investing in sustainable technologies and solutions that is undoubtedly why the event has won a selection of prestigious awards such as the ‘Outstanding Greener Festival Award in 2012, 2010 and 2008’.

And as a consequence, is why the event is an appropriate focus for research and analysis looking to review the impact, success and growth points of an innovative transformational festival environmental programme.

The varying facets of Boom’s pioneering approach to event sustainability can be categorised into seven main sections; food, water, energy, waste control construction, transport and environmental regeneration. Boom is completely free from corporate influence, and so their environmental program is entirely funded by the revenue made from ticket sales. The forward thinking strategies represented at the festival have been developed over a number of years in collaboration between the Boom Festival team and ‘Ecocentro IPEC’, a non-governmental, non-profit organization based in Brazil who use permaculture and bio-construction techniques to provide sustainable solutions to problems encountered in society. The institute was founded in 1998 with the purpose of establishing appropriate solutions to problems in society and promoting the viability of a sustainable culture.

One of the most reputable strategies currently supported

by Boom Festival is the composting toilets, which have been a part of the event since the 2006 edition of the festival. Initially, Boom was a primary user of the standard chemical toilets that are common at most mainstream festivals. However, toilets that utilise chemicals throughout the process of waste management have a range of harmful attributes that can negatively impact the environment.

To achieve the high level of event sustainability desired the Boom team needed to overcome the ecological problems posed by the use of chemical toilets. Therefore, they decided to develop a composting toilet system specifically suited to the varying attributes of the festival environment. After years of investigation and development with the support of a range of researchers and scientists, including the Ecocentro IPEC institute, Boom developed a unique composting toilet system for festivals.

The outcome of the efforts in developing the technology paid off, as the composting toilets use no chemicals, avoid pollution, isolate pathogens, reduce the transportation of waste, use no water and create bio-fertiliser. And so, by investing in and developing the sustainable technology, Boom were able to solve the problems posed by chemical toilets consequently reducing the festivals environmental impact and helping to drastically lower the amount of CO² that is emitted into the atmosphere.

Results show that the compost

12

TRANSFORMATIONAL FESTIVALS

toilets at Boom Festival achieved a CO² reduction of 5 tons in 2012.

The results from this year’s edition of Boom festival were collected and analysed

by Students of Environmental Engineering at Instituto Superior Technico and the University of Lisboa.

Researchers studying the festival were able to define that in 2014, ‘253m³ of solid waste’ and ‘156,000 litres of liquid fertiliser’ was produced. Without the composting toilets this vast amount of harmful waste would have been spewed back into the natural environment. However, due to the natural composting process harmful human waste is refined into useable organic fertiliser; which, in around one year will be suitable for usage on the Boom gardens and within local agricultural processes. An additional benefit consequently created by using the composting toilet system over its chemical counterpart is the amount of water that was saved. As the composting toilets require no water consumption to function the system avoided the usage ‘249,464 litres of water’.

Another innovative aspect of the Festivals environmental program is the water recycling system that is used to clean all of the waste water that is produced throughout the festivals duration. During the event, waste or ‘grey’ water is produced by the various onsite facilities such as the on site restaurants, bars and showers.

In most conventional festivals, this grey water would usually be temporarily stored in large plastic or metal containers before bring transported to a local sewage works from where it would be properly disposed of. However, for a festival aiming to represent sustainable practices, for obvious reasons, disposing of excess grey water using this method is not a viable way for Boom to operate.

Therefore, much like the situation with the composting toilets, the team behind Boom collaborated with Ecocentro IPEC to develop a natural way

to clean the waste water produced.

The technology that was developed to clean the grey water relies heavily on the biological systems freely created and made openly available

by Mother Nature. The system, which relies on the cleaning ability of water based flora, filters the waste water through a series of open garden beds, each of which is filled with the aquatic plants responsible the first stage of cleaning.

The water treatment system ‘is based on bioremediation and evapo-transpiration, which means that all waste water that circulates through the process must pass through a living filter before it is able to evaporate and complete its journey back to the earth. The pioneering process is truly inspiring as not only does it clean waste water using natural techniques that require almost no energy usage, but the various plants that are part of the treatment process grow and create their own habitat for sustaining life.

The student team responsible for analysing the effectiveness Booms sustainable technologies discovered that in the 2014 edition of the event, ‘4,292,000 litres of water were used in the showers and restaurants’. Furthermore, also ascertained was the fact that 100% of the grey water produced was treated by Booms innovative plant based water treatment system. As a result, the festival is able to return 4.292 million litres of water back to the environment in its natural state without the need of vehicles for transportation or the use of a sewage works to dispose of the waste. By simply investing in the natural cleaning system the event is consequently able to vastly reduce its environmental impact.

As well as the sustainable technologies specifically developed for the festival in collaboration between Ecocentro IPEC and the Boom festival team, there are also a range of existing technologies also utilised to help reduce the events environmental impact in areas outside of water and waste management. One such scheme the Boom team actively engage with is the ‘off-grid energy project’ created in the 2012 edition of the festival. The program utilises various sources of renewable energy such as solar panels, wind turbines and a solar powered irrigation system. Both the solar panels and wind turbines are used to power various aspects of the festival both during and outside of the festivals seven day duration. Moreover, the irrigation system is used to water the land used for the festival and the various permaculture gardens that have been created to produce vegetables and regenerate the environment.

Additional to the technologies reviewed; there are a range of other innovative environmental strategies in place at the festival that are not studied in this investigation. Further information on the broad range of technologies in place is available from the festival website.

- http://www.boomfestival.org/

MOVING FORWARDS

boom’s Environmental breakdown

13

In the 2014 edition of Boom festival ‘4,292,000 litres of water were used in the showers and by the restaurants’.

The composting toilet system at Boom removed the need to send solid waste to a chemical treatment plant consequently avoiding the emission of 5tons of C0².

The Sacred Fire and Healing Area production, Sacred Fire computers and appliances, Power for radio channels, Boom Offcies, Staff canteen, Staff workshops & Work zones.

As the composting toilets require no water consumption to function the system avoided the usage 249,464 litres of water.

The liminal village during the festivals duration, providing around 13,260 watts of power per hour.

14

Facilitating change

MOVING FORWARDS

MOVING FORWARDS

15

e are currently in the middle of an extraordinary point in the history of the human species.

The future of the planet and all of its inhabitants rests on the collective decisions made by the human race over the coming decades.

As previously identified, it is the mechanisms of the current capitalist economic system that have resulted in the deterioration of our ecological, social, economic, and political health. Through the exploitation of the biological, physical and socioeconomic resources available on the planet, capitalism has constricted our civilisations ability to live in harmony with the natural environment. If left unaddressed, the physical limitations of the planet will soon be reached, the results of which, as outlined in the first chapter of the paper, would end human existence as we know it.

The call for a civilizational leap is required, with deep social change resulting in a transformed worldview being the only viable outcome for a sustainable future. The task now is to articulate not just an alternative set of policy proposals but an alternative worldview to rival the one at the heart of the ecological crisis.

The factor undeniably responsible for the dire situations faced by humanity is undoubtedly the system of capitalism and the materialistic mind-set inherent to its unsuspecting followers.

Despite the existence of an unquestionable amount of evidence that is freely available and supports such a hypothesis, the global system irrefutably retains a strong grip over most of humanity.

To address and progress from such issues requires radical solutions on the social side of civilisation, as to rethink such influential systems humanity needs to create a social movement powerful and diverse enough to challenge the current balance of power. Fortunately, with the immergence of transformational festivals and other prominent

free cultural spaces, the social movement critical to overcoming the capitalist system has already been materialised. Moreover, through events such as Boom, that attracts a global audience from over 152 different countries, information critical to facilitating such a social force is being disseminated, consequently helping a response to gain traction.

As well as being powerful countercultural hubs, where ideas and information are actively disseminated, events such as Boom Festival also successfully integrate systems and values that can help to overcome many of the problems outlined within this investigation, be they environmental or social. The transitional mini societies are created for a short period of time, and yet transform a private, secluded area into an area for creativity, sustainability, egalitarianism and transformation. Some of the biggest issues currently faced by humanity are primarily environmental, created by capitalisms continual need for the consumption of resources combined with a complete disregard for the earth and its natural systems. To overcome such problems, prominent ecologists such as Gopal Dayaneni believe that we can start to rectify some of the damage caused by the capitalism through the ‘restoration and regeneration of living systems’. Environmentally focused events such as Boom, which actively practice the principles of permaculture, seamlessly integrate sustainable technologies that achieve just this, and so are already contributing to the renewal of the planet. In doing so, transformational events actively illustrate the achievability of incorporating similar technologies into wider society.

Some of the biggest issues currently faced by humanity are primarily environmental, created by capitalisms continual need for the consumption of resources combined with a complete disregard for the earth and its natural systems.

It could be argued that the sustainable systems in place at Boom Festival, despite their continued and overwhelming success, have little application to permanent mainstream communities due to the transitional use of the technologies and the varying scale to which they would be applied. However, by reviewing

16

Changing the system from within is difficult due to the fact that most politicians are too indoctrinated by the current system to support such a transition.

communities categorised under the free cultural space definition, we can identify that there are various groups already integrating such technologies in permanent living environments.

Undoubtedly, the communities currently setting the standard for this way of living are the ecovillage settlements that can be found around the world. Predominantly, such villages are environmentally focused with a founding aim to integrate the community with the environment, which ultimately forms an interconnected relationship between the two. The founders of Ecocentro IPEC, the organisation who spearhead the environmental program at Boom Festival, are responsible for the creation and upkeep of such a settlement, which stands as a testament as to what can be achieved when applying sustainable technologies to a permanent community environment. transition to a completely sustainable A society, where villages, towns and cities all integrate green technologies into their infrastructure is ultimately what needs to be achieved for humanity to progress into the future without self-destructing. However, such an idea can only be attained if the viewpoint is shared by humanity as a whole, as Changing the system from within is difficult due to the fact that most politicians are too indoctrinated by the current system to support such a transition.

Transformational festivals are undoubtedly one piece of the puzzle, spreading socially relevant ideas and illustrating how such a society can be achieved. However, for the movement to have any serious impact it needs to communicate these ideas to a larger audience, as only then will it have the power to make ‘governments and welfare

organisations… acknowledge that they no longer have the power to rule the world. A revelation that would allow the rest of humanity to start building the future we desire.

One way events such as Boom are currently progressing is by forming a global network among ‘free cultural spaces’, connecting communities and movements from across the world that share similar, countercultural ideologies.

Ultimately, by forming such networks, FCS’s can share ideas and start to facilitate strategies to advance the global shift towards decentralized, locally selfreliant communities. Moreover, by establishing systems of communication among such groups, FCS’s can themselves become a large unified movement, increasing their global impact and ability to change the principles of civilisation. Nobody is going to come and fix the problem, and so it is down to such movements to raise awareness of the problems, identify the solutions and form the social force needed to seize control and instigate a global transformation.