Christopher BarrettFrom extended working hours to creating fit-for-purpose event sites, A Greener Future CEO and co-founder of Grid Faeries Claire O’Neill outlines the urgent steps that need to be taken by the events industry to not only cope better with extreme weather but play a role in helping to prevent its frequency.
We’ve seen near relentless extreme heat this summer. That has made producing, and attending, events more challenging than ever. With extreme weather conditions predicted to become increasingly frequent, what can event organisers do to mitigate the impact?
“The heat has landed and we’re going to have to deal with it. A lot of the solutions mean taking more time, which is something that in our current business models isn’t budgeted for.
“For instance, if we’re finding that during the build we need to have extra time as a contingency because of a potential big storm or extreme heat, that’s going to stop us from being able to build at the speed we did previously. We need to think about how we’re going to afford to do that.
“There is also the consideration around how long the licences allow us to build on sites. There could be a period during the hottest part of the day during which it’s no longer possible to work. Are we going to be allowed to have later working hours? In many cases we’re not allowed to keep on working in the evening because of the noise. So that is something we need to reconsider. Can we work with the landowners to make that a possibility?”
Claire O’Neill
Does this mean event operators will need to look for alternative sites or invest in making changes to current ones?
“We’ve talked a lot about the need to have more fit for purpose event sites. I think this is becoming more apparent now with the extreme weather. We need to have sites that are set up for people to gather en masse in a changing climate. If we’re building sites they should have access to the grid so we don’t need to truck in generators, and we don’t need to burn fuel; which then creates more heat on site, air pollution and more global warming. We need to create sites that have the electricity available, and that will reduce the length of the build that’s needed because you’re putting cables around rather than having to drop generators everywhere.
As an events industry we create energy wherever we go because we bring people to a space. If you walk around some of the parks in our country there might be a spattering of trees but then there’s big open spaces that are all mown and provide little shade. We don’t have very many places where we can go to get cool, so can we as the events industry bring that energy to a location and help channel it to help reduce the impacts of climate change by planting trees and boosting biodiversity? It’s about making adaptations that will help cool us down and help cool the planet down as well.
“It’s about making adaptations that will help cool us down and help cool the planet down as well.”
It’s really important to make sure that we don’t decouple the solutions that we have for adapting to the situation we now find ourselves in, from the strategy that we need to prevent the situation getting worse. That means looking at how can we create cool, safe, spaces that are going to enhance biodiversity and cool down our streets instead of exacerbated the situation by burning more fuel to stay cool.
We need to be using events to make the solutions that are much bigger than the event industry itself. We won’t be able to continue if the weather keeps getting worse. So, are we going to just keep on doing what we’ve always done with slight adjustments until it eventually becomes untenable or are we going to use the amazing skills that we have within the events industry to be a part of the solution?
So what are the immediate steps event operators can take to help improve the situation for all involved, not least the audience.
A lot festivals I have been to in hotter European countries have had mist sprinkler systems around their stages that mist the crowd and help suppress the dust at the same time. These systems are a really good way of keeping people cool but also making sure that the site doesn’t become a dust bowl, which is something that we’ve seen happen in the UK.
Access to drinking water is something that’s essential. Selling more plastic water bottles is probably necessary at the moment because the events might not have the infrastructure or the cultural shift for people to be able to do refills, but we need to remember that that is contributing to the problem because plastic bottles are also fossil fuels, and this is the thing that we need to be eradicating. In the long term, lots of cheap bottled water or free bottled water isn’t going to be a good solution for making things better.
We need to immediately get realistic about the food that we’re providing, because one of the things that’s massively exacerbating problems with water shortages, which are going to get more apparent as the temperatures change, is our industrial animal agriculture. We’re deforesting to produce those kinds of meats and to support that industry. At the same time, we are killing wildlife to allow the crops to feed those animals.
So, if we’re going to continue to keep selling beef burgers, having diesel generators, and trucking in huge amounts of kit, then we’re just going to keep on pouring fuel on the fire.