Our Green Initiatives

IT'S EASY BEING GREEN AT THE ATLANTIC JAZZ FESTIVAL

HALIFAX -- Organizers of the TD Canada Trust Atlantic Jazz Festival have been taking great strides to green Halifax's largest summer music festival - this year taking place from July 10 - July 18. From accommodating cyclists onsite, offering locally sourced organic food options to encouraging festival goes to give up the bottle (-ed water) the Atlantic Jazz Festival looks to it's grassroots beginnings as a tiny single afternoon event to inspire the many ways it can make a bigger community impact with a smaller environmental footprint.

Last year the festival reduced it's massive program to a tiny fold out pocket guide, reducing the amount of paper printed and distributed by 5000 kg. This year the event was able to continue the trend by printing their smaller guide, and posters and post cards on FSC certified post recycled paper. The spirit of ingenuity and spontaneity that so characterizes the jazz festival was evidenced at it's June press conference where the mountains of previously printed info was distributed on a single disc and inserted into recycled jazz albums donated by Re-Cover Journals. The Coast's editor Sue Carter  Flinn to write: "Jazzfest also gets props for the best media packages of the year: each one came slid into a used jazz record sleeve. Hello Cleo Laine."

"One part of our green strategy is to measure the full carbon footprint of the festival, to see just how big an impact an urban festival such as ours really has." says Executive Director, Sarah Watling" We are going to be looking at everything, from fuel efficiency for our ground transport, the carbon footprint of miles traveled by air (artists) and then the offset options that work with what we stand for." "The other part comes in thinking about the details, the little things that can have a collectively big impact by reminding festival goers what it was like when there wasn't a disposable one of everything, by making as many consumable items reusable, and if possible, memorable."  

Initiatives for this year include continuing to print less, adopt more web based and viral means for communication and promotion and what printing we do is on more responsibly harvested and recycled papers. Volunteers, musicians and audiences alike will all be encouraged to bring their own water bottles and use the water stations provided for them onsite in order to reduce the reliance on single serve water bottles. Youngsters who can't wait to make their mark on the Festival Monster Mural will be doing so on a reusable and wipeable pallette.

Our sponsors and partners are also on board. Kent Building Supplies have been with us for years providing attractive multiple waste streaming bins. Garrison Brewing Company, award winning local microbrewery, has switched their plastic cups to biodegradable cups (made from corn), and JazzFest will be selling reusable souvenir beer glasses that can be reused. Home made organic ice creams, vegetarian and free range chicken and beef burritos will be supplied by Dee Dee (from Peggy's Cove) to lunchers and evening concert goers at the festival tent, who can also munch or dine on the over 10 variations of home cooked gourmet pizzas prepared by new Quinpool based pizzeria, Bramoso.

Festival goers are encouraged to ride their bikes to the festival and lock them up securely at the festival bike carral, provided by TD Canada Trust, and volunteers are encouraged to park and ride on Metro Transit; volunteers ride free with their festival pass. CarShareHFX is a wonderful new shared transportation alternative, and the Atlantic Jazz Festival is pleased to offer JazzEast membership perks to members, and tickets and other benefits to those who take up a CarShareHFX membership at the Festival.

Our partners and friends in the community, the Ecology Action Centre will be be onsite once again to provide comprehensive information about environmental issues and initiatives ongoing in Halifax and Nova Scotia!

The Atlantic Jazz Festival runs from July 10 to July 18. For   tickets, schedules and
everything jazzfest related visited www.atlanticjazzfestival.ca.

For more information contact:

Greg Guy
Publicist
Atlantic Jazz Festival
902-425-3348
902-456-9244 (cell)