Coachella organizers have at least two reasons to care about global warming.
First, environmental wastefulness is not the best PR angle. Second, they have a vested interest in preventing global warming: The festival takes place near the Mojave Desert. During previous Coachella festivals, the intense daytime heat has required that water hoses be available for spraying down overheated attendees.
Los Angeles-based nonprofit Global Inheritance is helping to reduce Coachella's carbon footprint in a number of ways. For the first time, a free train called the Coachella Express (Amtrak) will ferry festival-goers to and from the venue this year, possibly reducing the number of cars at the event (and the lengthy wait encountered by those dedicated enough to stay until the end of the last headliner's show).
Global Inheritance will also do the same fun environmental demos it did last year:
- Tour de Coachella stationary bike-powered cellphone
- Computer charging (wind, solar)
- An ethanol Jiffy Pop tree
- Wind-powered light box
- Solar-powered water misters and lights
- Live vegetable-oil-to-biodiesel conversion
- Alternative energy screen-printing
- Electric car conversions
- Solar-powered DJ station
Finally, those who agree to carpool will be entered in a drawing to win VIP Coachella tickets for life (talk about sustainable living).
Photo o Of Montreal playing at Coachella 2007: Mick O
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