Photos: Pemberton Music Festival creates field of trash (like every other fest)

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      A field of garbage left behind by the more than 115,000 people who attended the 2015 Pemberton Music Festival has attracted outrage on social media.

      The photograph above was taken by Keith Harasymiw, posted to Facebook, and subsequently shared more than 30,000 times as of July 22.

      Pictures like this one circulate after most large music festivals where people camp on site. (My recollection is hazy but I think this is the second or third time I’ve written this blog post.)

      Here’s a photograph by Bill Eppridge from the morning after Woodstock ’69.

      Music lovers of the 1960s have a reputation for being kind to Mother Earth but the mess they left behind at Woodstock '69 suggests they weren't so different from today's EDM fans.
      Bill Eppridge

      And here’s a gallery of images from that three days of peace and music where you can see piles of crap building among the bunch of supposedly ecofriendly hippies.

      As critics of Pemberton festival goers are shouting online, yes, we are indeed a wasteful society. But we’ve been that way for a long time.

      Since the Pemberton picture at the top of this post was taken on Monday, July 20, the site has been cleaned up. Organizers have sent out photos of a spotless valley, like they did the year before.

      The Pemberton valley was looking pretty clean less than 48 hours after more than 100,000 people vacated the festival grounds.
      Pemberton Music Festival

      It’s also worth noting Pemberton festival organizers have been invited back to the valley for 2016, unlike the Woodstock ’69 crowd. Max Yasgur banished them from his farm, calling the mess they left behind evidence of a catastrophe.

      Comments

      19 Comments

      Christine Fleet.

      Jul 22, 2015 at 1:50pm

      Any so called human that would leave a mess like this are MORONS... all I dare say on here.

      Dale Sakawsky

      Jul 22, 2015 at 1:51pm

      It's long past time that the people that go to concerts picked up after them selves . I am sure that there are ways of identifieng then . Your mother would be disscusted with you .

      Justin Credible

      Jul 22, 2015 at 2:01pm

      About time someone in the media gave perspective. I was at pemberton...every year, and I saw the photo circulating, and thought "why does anyone think this is unprecedented? It looks like pretty much ANY festival before the cleanup crew comes in". This is not nature camping, it's a vacation on private property that cost a pretty penny and organizers expect and plan for this cleanup. Standard protocal.

      Ninigik

      Jul 22, 2015 at 2:28pm

      I don't care how much tickets cost, this is unacceptable. The argument that this is just the way festivals are speaks to a level of apathy that has no place in a society which is trying to be more conscious of its environmental footprint; just because it's always been done this way doesn't mean we can't do it better.

      James Blatchford

      Jul 22, 2015 at 8:28pm

      Must be the same people that walk/drive/cycle by my house. Trash left aplenty each and every day.

      Daniel

      Jul 22, 2015 at 10:43pm

      The clean pictures are of the festival grounds not the camp site. The festival grounds where generally clean all weekend the picture of the garbage was of the camp site.

      Arachides

      Jul 23, 2015 at 12:07am

      Other than stranded tents how is this any worse than the annual mess left behind after fireworks in English Bay where the taxpayers of Vancouver subsidize the clean-up.

      Jenny

      Jul 23, 2015 at 12:12am

      Agreed Daniel, I was there & this photo comparison is a BIG LIE. Completely different areas of the event. Showing the area they cleaned each day & night, which never looked as messy like the camping areas is very misleading. Obviously the Festival grounds would be quick to clean. Then posting the Clean Pic, while the haven't even finished cleaning the disaster camping areas. Shame on this False Reporting!!

      Mary-Ann O'Brien

      Jul 23, 2015 at 8:01am

      not EVERY Music festival ends up like this... Vancouver Island Musicfest doesn't... but that's probably because they have fantastic volunteers .