The desert is a wasteland, literally. Every year, thousands of attendees file into the Colorado Desert to see their favorite artists perform at one of the biggest music festivals in the world: Coachella.
Despite appearances and influencer accounts, Coachella is not in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization. The festival is held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, surrounded by country clubs and resorts. Manicured grass fields cover the event space, water is free (if you bring an empty, plastic bottle) and shuttles run throughout the valley (for a $140 fee).
This year, the festival welcomed about 125,000 people each day, as well as dozens of celebrities and influencers. Over 100 artists performed on six stages over two weekends.
With this many concert-goers flooding into the desert, they must leave something behind.
Concerns of the festival’s environmental impact are at an all time high. Massive Attack turned down a performance at Coachella, citing concerns for the festival’s environmental impact. Numerous studies list the staggering numbers of waste and emissions caused by attendees every year.
However, the festival does implement a sustainability plan, which attempts to mitigate the environmental impact. Included in this plan is “Carpoochella,” which encourages attendees to drive with four or more friends to the festival and decorate the car for a chance to win a prize, such as VIP for life, backstage passes and merchandise vouchers.
The festival also mitigates food waste by donating, composting or recycling leftovers. The grass is watered by non-potable water and a “comprehensive waste diversion strategy” attempts to limit waste.
However, despite the festival’s extensive sustainability efforts, outside influences remain uncontrollable.
Every year, Coachella generates around 1,600 tons of waste, of which, only about 20% is recycled. It would take 1,777 people a year to produce this much waste.
Apart from the music, Coachella may be best known for its campy, eccentric outfits, most of which are only worn once and then forgotten or trashed. Fast fashion is the unfavorable reality of festivals.
A 2019 study estimates that, every year, 7.5 million outfits are worn for music festivals and then never used again. These single-use fits cost around $307 million and many are thrown in the trash, never to be seen again.
Greenhouse gas emissions for transportation to the festival are 1,181,864.50 kg CO2e, equivalent to the emissions of “251 average passenger vehicles driven for one year,” according to a 2020 study.
When it’s not festival season, Coachella Valley is home to over 40,000 residents. The community, largely Mexican American, are subjected to “some of the nation’s unhealthiest concentrations of a pollutant known as PM10 — particles of dust small enough to inhale,” according to CalMatters.
Days before the second weekend of the festival this year, an air quality warning was issued for Coachella Valley. The warning was later extended to Saturday at midnight. At risk attendees were encouraged to seek shelter and everyone was advised to avoid pollution-causing activities, including driving cars.
Although the festival itself causes a myriad of environmental harms, the region’s environmental issues are exacerbated by human activity. To truly reach its sustainability goals, Coachella must encourage attendees to be green or stay out of the desert.
