at Glastonbury is so important – it allows Greenpeace a way of communicating their positive message to people through real practical services and a positive atmosphere. For example solar-assisted showers and organic café soothe the body, while the climbing wall and skateboard arena exercise it. People make new friends if they visit Soulmates, run in conjunction with The Guardian, or find serenity and perhaps enlightenment when they relax in our organic gardens. And when it's all over, Glastonbury Festival makes an important financial contribution to keep us in action around the world. Last year we received more than £200,000. Greenpeace also produces materials aimed at festival-goers, encouraging them to clean up their act in matters relating to both litter and toilet habits.
The Greenpeace field is there for you - morning, noon and night. Here's a taste of what has been run in the past:
Cafe Tango
Organic, vegetarian, GM-free nosh; 24hr lounging, and Addictive TV every night
Wake up to Yoga
Bright and early, every morning
Hot solar-assisted showers
Who could say no?
Greenpeace climbing rig
Showed you the high spots
Greenpeace skateboard ramp
A festival favourite
Soulmates
Did you meet your match ?
The Enchanted Garden
If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of... a comfy place to sit. Tucked away by the showers near the climbing wall is something that must be seen (or sat in) to be believed. This is the Enchanted Garden , a cleverly designed open air chill out area crafted from eco sound timber (naturally) and currently awaiting your seated pleasure. The space is best described as a cluster of different 'rooms' arranged in the shape of a flower, each with it's own style and 'chill factor', It's possible you might doze off briefly in the circular communal rope hammock in the center, which easily fits about 10 and is such a snug you may seriously consider taking a sleeping bag in there with you. So there you have it. An area that is as comfortable as it is attractive, choose your chill level and dive in. Now budge up in that hammock, there's room for another in there.
The Greenpeace field at Glastonbury will be blowing both hot and cold over climate change. Hungry guests can get a good organic meal at Café Tango, then cool down without damaging the planet with a nice carbon neutral shower - using hot water produced by solar and biomass energy. Then get hot all over again by making new friends in the 'Soulmates' carbon dating venue run in conjunction with The Guardian or try out a few tricks on the new skate ramp, a showcase for FSC certified timber. Then finally, go back to the future in the Techno Dome, which takes you on a carbon trail to find new ways to save the planet. "We have to start reducing carbon dioxide emissions immediately and begin to phase out fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy," says Bob Wilson of Greenpeace. "Oil companies, instead of spending money exploring for more dinosaur fuels, must begin to invest in the future - clean, sustainable energy and a huge investment in energy efficiency. We need more efficient cars, fewer flights, and better and cheaper trains. None of this will happen unless we make our leaders feel the heat."
Since the last
Taking action is what Greenpeace is all about. The organisation was born back in 1971 when a clutch of brave individuals heard that President Nixon was about to explode a nuclear weapon in the skies off
Well, the US Navy stopped them before they got that far, but a movement was founded. Since then Greenpeace has been at the forefront of global campaigning to protect our environment, but there’s never been a challenge as great as climate change.
Lord May, the former President of the Royal Society, calls it the biggest thing to ever happen in human history. That means we’re living in scary times, but equally we’re lucky – we’re the people who can defeat global warming. It’s down to our generation.
We can all take action against this threat, be it scaling smokestacks or changing our lightbulbs. The Greenpeace field is where you find out what’s happening and what you can do. Change won’t happen unless we all take action. The last generation gave us this problem, the next generation will be too late to stop it. It’s down to us.