Mattea recently viewed the film at the Nashville Film Festival and was
moved by the scenes of environmental destruction wrought in her native West
Virginia by the coal mining technique called "mountain top removal". Says
Mattea, "You must see this to believe it. I am saddened that we've
'progressed' to a point where we think this is an acceptable practice. Michael
O'Connell's film gives voice to those that have no multi-million dollar PR
firm to tell their story. The visuals are gut-wrenching--there are no
words to describe the devastation."
Thousands of One - SoulForce CD
ROTHBURY:A
FESTIVAL CELEBRATING MUSIC, ART AND ACTION
JULY 3 - 6, 2008 IN
ROTHBURY, MICHIGAN
As leaders in the evolving art of sustainable large-scale event production, ROTHBURY is 100% committed to taking every possible step to reduce the environmental impact of the festival. While such a commitment does not come without its challenges, ROTHBURY, together with local and national partners who share the same pledge, will indeed demonstrate the vast possibilities in sustainability and hopefully highlight those areas that need serious attention.
ROTHBURY, working with Green Chief Sarah Haynes of the Spitfire Agency, is the first major U.S. camping festival to aim for a near zero waste event by composting throughout the entire festival site. All disposable food service items have been replaced with plant-based compostables. Compost will be pulped on-site thanks to Morbark, then processed by Spurt Industries in Grand Rapids.
In an effort to reduce plastic water bottle waste, ROTHBURY is working with Klean Kanteen to encourage crew and festival-goers to bring or buy reusable bottles and to take advantage of free refill stations in the campgrounds, within the festival site, and in the backstage areas. For those who choose to buy disposable water bottles, the only front-of-house provider on-site will be Earth Water. In passing up the big companies and going with Earth Water, ROTHBURY will contribute to building wells in refugee camps all over the world. 100% of Earth Water's profits go to building wells; and $500 builds a well. That's a lot of wells!
For those darn bottles, ROTHBURY will offer 200 waste reclamation stations throughout the site, most of them manned by a 500 person green team of volunteers committed to helping avoid contamination. The Green Team will also work around-the-clock backstage to re-sort all recycling bags that come in. An additional 55 people will work for three straight days post event to sift every single 'bad' item out on tables, much like a conveyer belt system.
Additional ROTHBURY sustainability initiatives include the use of biodiesel. ROTHBURY's local B99 biodiesel provider, Next Diesel, is the first company to be a part of Michigan Governor Granholm's green business incentive program. The biodiesel used by ROTHBURY is actually a waste product from manufacturing ethanol. So not only is it plant based, it is also recycled and on it's second life at ROTHBURY.
In addition to offsetting carbon emissions with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, ROTHBURY has partnered with RVL 7 by RE:VOLVE Apparel, Black Rock Solar and Grand Rapids' own Bauer Power to create the ROTHBURY Solar Schools Program, to support the local community and honor our energy independence theme. The 2008 recipient of the Solar Schools Program, which donates fully installed solar panel systems to local area schools, is Michigan's Shelby High School. With many ROTHBURY attendees opting in for the festival's Green Ticket (which allows ticket buyers to contribute to the Solar Schools Fund), ROTHBURY's initial $50,000 donation is rapidly growing. Many thanks to local heroes Bauer Power for offering to build for free so even more money will go to outfitting the school with solar power.
Part of ROTHBURY's objective and sustainability in general, is to support local companies and farmers and organic products whenever possible. All foods collected in the Conscious Alliance Food Drive will be donated directly to local food pantries and charities to benefit neighboring communities and the on-site Farmers' Market will be powered by area farmers, who are also learning the benefits of organics and how to begin growing organics in their own farms. To further promote the use of organic goods, RVL 7 by RE:VOLVE will provide all ROTHBURY staff with crew shirts made of a blend of organic cotton and recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or RPET, t-shirts. ROTHBURY has donated to Michigan's chapter of Global Re-Leaf, a tree planting organization that will plant trees in the Muskegon area following the event.
For those interested in taking a piece of this sustainability
mission home with them, ROTHBURY is hosting on-site Think Tank panel discussions
with some of the top thinkers in the field of Climate Change and Clean Energy.
Attendees are encouraged to take part in the discussions, help develop
solutions, and start making changes at home. The Better World Books bookstore
on-site will be stocked with books that match ROTHBURY's ideals and will host
signings by many of the participating panelists as well as Our Planet, a guide
to saving the environment, created by MySpace.
While producing large-scale sustainable events
is far from a perfect science, ROTHBURY is leading the mission to encourage
discussion, promote creative thinking and seek new ideas in this effort - not to
mention, throwing a serious party.
It's been six years ago this May since I covered my
first All Good. Back then the festival seemed to reflect my life raw, wide-open
and untamed. It was cold and rainy, at that time being what seasoned heads refer
to as an "Early Season Joint", All Good still delivered. Despite
inclement weather that year, Galactic and Gov't Mule and Karl Denson's Tiny
Universe among others played amazing sets and the overall experience was
monumental. I feel like I've grown up with this festival both as a journalist
and a music lover and over the years some things about the All Good experience
have faired the weather: it's commitment to accommodate all walks of life, the
general feeling of family and sharing and it's hard hitting talent roster... not
to mention the breath taking view off of Marvin's
Mountaintop.
Fast-forward to 2008, All Good has bloomed to a full-blown,
eclectic, three day banger sporting some of the finest touring talent the scene
has to offer. Thursday nights in past years have been a musical gold mine for
the "early arrivals" and this year promises the same with the likes of
Perpetual Groove, the Brazilian Girls and a screaming set from the Join
featuring keyboardist Jamie Shields and drummer Darren Shearer of the NEWDEAL
and Marco Benevento & Joe Russo (the DUO).
If you can't make it
Thursday night never fear, Friday is set up to run with SOJA, Phil Lesh &
Friends, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, All Mighty Senators, Grace Potter
& the Nocturnals, The Avett Brothers, Basshound, RAQ on Friday followed by a
stacked Saturday featuring The Bridge, Widespread Panic, Bassnectar, Keller
Williams w. Moseley, Droll & Sipe, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul
Stew Revival, Mike Gordon, Tea Leaf Green, Outformation and Eric Lindell to
round it out. (Whew) The list goes on for Sunday but the bottom line here
is the organizers didn't skimp on talent so can attendees get their live music
fix and their boogie on all weekend long. The great thing about the camping
arrangement on Marvin's Mountaintop is that you can access the festivities
easily from most areas without having to walk excessively far. If you arrive
later in the weekend you probably won't get stuck camping in the boon docks but
you'll miss monumental sets so don't lag.
The fabulous team at Walther Productions toils
year-round to bring you the finest offerings on the Mid-Atlantic festival
circuit and have been doing so for twelve years. For me, AG is more like a
sprawling family reunion where you come to reacquaint with old friends and meet
new smiling faces alike. The entire experience is peppered with fantastic,
continuous music on three stages, artisan vendors, day workshops for campers of
all ages, international cuisine and a slew of face melting visual goodies via
the goofy but lovable goons from Big Nazo. This year's All Good promises to be
all better so make the jaunt to the mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia for
a dazzling weekend of fun and camping fit for the whole family.
