Boomtown Festival unveils ambitious plan to 'plant one million trees this year' - with your help

'We want to inspire individuals to work together to create positive social and environmental change'

The team behind a festival organised in Bristol has unveiled an ambitious plan to 'plant one million trees this year'.

Hot on the heels of announcing the lineup, which includes the likes of The Libertines, Squarepusher, Kelis and Wu-Tang Clan, Boomtown has now set its sights on supporting the restoration of the planet.

With the help of charity partner TreeSisters, as well as those associated with the annual festival, organisers hope to achieve the ambitious target by the end of 2020.

With growing concern around the climate crisis, the 66,000-capacity event will use its platform to raise awareness and invite ticket holders, artists, crew and external partners to work together to 'restore nature by collectively planting more than one million trees'.

To contribute to one of the most powerful solutions for climate breakdown and to accelerate the festival’s mission for Chapter 12, Boomtown is asking for support from its active community, which includes all those who attend, perform and work with or at the festival. 

People have been invited to make a £2 donation when purchasing their ticket, or supporters can contribute via an online fundraising platform here.

Boomtown co-founder Lak Mitchell said: "As an organisation, we have grown exponentially and with an audience of over 66,0000 people, we want to inspire individuals to work together to create positive social and environmental change.

"We believe that reforestation is the most effective action we can take to tackle the climate and ecological crisis and we’re asking our community of passionate people from all over the world, to come together to help save our planet - and have fun whilst we’re doing it."

Sustainability in the wider context sits at the forefront of Boomtown’s ethos and last year the festival welcomed a number of successful green initiatives.

These included compostable plates and a ban on the sale of all single-use plastics.

There was also a ban on the sale of all single-use plastics, while sustainable travel was encouraged and a behaviour change campaign was run to encourage a zero-waste culture among festivalgoers.

As a result, the 2019 event saw:

• 50% reduction in campsite waste
• 10% waste reduction per person
• 43% of waste was recycled and reused
• 3.9 reduction of over tonnes of plastic waste
• 17% drop in carbon footprint and reduced fuel usage by 21%
• Eliminated the sale of plastic bottles preventing 225,000 plastic bottles from being sold
• Balanced the CO2 from 537,805 travel miles, from public and artist car travel to Boomtown

The festival’s full programme of initiatives for 2020 will be announced in April when it launches Green Week.

For more information about the festival and to purchase a ticket, visit Boomtown's website.