Farmer Eavis Gets Green Award

Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis received a Green World Award at the MIDEM international music market in Cannes, which ran Jan. 18-21.

The award, which was presented the second day of this year’s gathering, recognizes the event’s significant and long-standing commitment to preserving the environment.

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was founded in 1970 and has grown into a major event that attracts 137,500 music fans.

Eavis, who has lost count of the awards he and the festival have won and stores them “in a shed on the lawn,” also farms on the Glastonbury site and is mindful of not harming the land.

He and his team have developed an environmental strategy to reduce the event’s carbon footprint as much as possible and use its public profile to raise awareness on environmental issues.

The initiatives include waste recycling; using biofuels; sourcing power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind; employing Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood; distributing biodegradable disposable plates and cups, wooden cutlery and biodegradable tent pegs; organising schemes to promote car-sharing and collective means of transportation and organizing sanctuaries for local wildlife during the event.

The first Green World Awards, presented at MIDEM 2008, recognized the organisers of Live Earth, Denmark’s Roskilde Festival and Switzerland’s Paléo Nyon.

The British newspapers continue to speculate on who will headline Glastonbury 2009, although signs point to Blur and Bruce Springsteen being two of the headliners. The third slot could go to Coldplay.