Keeping It Green

PHOTO BY MAGGIE MATTINSON

TREEFORT TACKLES SUSTAINABILITY

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

“What would a music festival sound like if not for the hum of generators?” asks David Broderick, Director of Sustainability for Treefort Music Fest. Broderick isn’t asking an existential question. “Our end goal is to replace all of these loud gas generators with quieter battery-operated ones, but running sound equipment is much different than running tablets for token sales like we’re doing this year,” he says.

Of course, it won’t happen overnight. The team behind Treefort approaches sustainability by focusing on what’s possible, something Broderick learned from John Bernardo, a sustainability/ESG strategist at Idaho Power who served as a mentor for Broderick. Because sustainability touches each part of the festival, including how people travel there, Bernardo advised Broderick to look at it as three layers, focusing on the things that fell within their control. For Treefort, this meant the main stage and the areas (Alefort, Kidfort) around it. They knew that the second layer (venues) and the third layer (other stuff) could also be made more sustainable, but that it would be more difficult.

There are so many tentacles that go out to different things that may be small— but they add up.

This gave Broderick a place to start, and they quickly replaced single-use plastic water bottles with canned water. Musicians started recognizing environmental efforts on stage and the festival asked ticket holders to be mindful of their impact as well. Treefort encourages venues and vendors to adopt better practices. And when things don’t work, they adapt. In this way, Treefort builds a more sustainable base for their efforts. “There are so many tentacles that go out to different things that may be small—but they add up,” says Broderick.

PHOTO BY AARON RODRIGUEZ

Broderick joined Treefort in 2014 when the festival’s efforts to increase their sustainability necessitated the need for experienced leadership. He met with Treefort Cofounder Eric Gilbert and told him that he’d be willing to jump in and see where he could go with it. Immediately, they built trash and recycling stations from recycled pallets and brought attention to their composting program.

Broderick also leads Treefort’s Green Team. With about 75 people, they keep the festival green by designating stage managers who oversee a team of folks to pick up during the festival and educate the public about what and how to recycle, particularly because so many guests come from out of state. “It’s part of being a good citizen of a city, and it’s our city too. And we love it and want to take care of it,” Broderick says.

PHOTO BY GLENN LANDBERG

Ideally, the Green Team works into the festival seamlessly, so that sustainability becomes an easy and necessary part of the festival experience for people. Treefort doesn’t want to force action, but to gently encourage and hope that people are motivated to continue. The festival’s steel cups were first introduced as optional, and slowly shifted to required, although you could rent a cup and either pay to keep it or get your money back— and it came with more ounces of beer than the canned option.

Unlike many events, Treefort doesn’t actually want people to keep buying things. They stopped changing the cup design because steel cups are more environmentally friendly than single-use water bottles, yet they create a pretty big impact if you keep buying them as souvenirs. Instead, people can check out the festival’s other merchandise, which strives to recycle old festival materials.

Broderick’s approach, which carries over from his personal life, is to identify an area that has a lot of impact and work to decrease it. This year, the festival is setting up a wash station to clean new reusable bamboo plates and reusable utensils, which is a huge improvement on previous years, when there was a lot of transport and integration with local business kitchens.

“Treefort has always been about lifting up the community. The Treefort values attract the same kind of people, so we’re all working toward the same goal. We’re just trying to make things better,” Broderick says.