Festivals are a key part of our culture and economy, but traditionally they’ve had a big ecological footprint. Festivals attendees have long been heavy consumers of resources from travel to food and disposable plastic. But, researchers are turning their attention to assessing the environmental impacts of major sport and cultural events – and making them more sustainable. Des Fitzgerald asks Dr Andrea Collins and Steve Muggeridge about the latest research and practice on making festivals and events greener.

Dr Andrea Collins is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University where she is Programme Director for MSc in Sustainability, Planning and Environmental Policy. She is a member of Cardiff University’s Festival research Group. Her research has informed the development UK Sport's eventIMPACT Toolkit. Steve Muggeridge is Director of the Green Gathering charity and Optimistic Trout Productions (OTP), a not-for-profit Community Interest Company where he runs the Green Gathering festival.Professor Des Fitzgerald is a New Generation Thinker based at the University of Exeter.
You can find a new podcast series Green Thinking: 26 episodes 26 minutes long in the run up to COP26 made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI, exploring the latest research and ideas around understanding and tackling the climate and nature emergency. New Generation Thinkers Des Fitzgerald and Eleanor Barraclough will be in conversation with researchers on a wide-range of subjects from cryptocurrencies and finance to eco poetry and fast fashion.The podcasts are all available from the Arts & Ideas podcast feed - and collected on the Free Thinking website under Green Thinking where you can also find programmes on mushrooms, forests, rivers, eco-criticism and soil. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2
For more information about the research the AHRC’s supports around climate change and the natural world you can visit: https://www.ukri.org/our-work/responding-to-climate-change/ or follow @ahrcpress on twitter. To join the discussion about the research covered in this podcast and the series please use the hashtag #GreenThinkingPodcast.Producer: Marcus Smith

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