Since 2012 I mainly volunteer when I go to festivals and normally I would avoid the Green Team at all costs, the idea of picking up trash and stuff just wasn’t for me. I signed up late in 2014 so ended up doing Green Team for the first time. It ended up being a huge learning experience for me.
Music has been a part of my life since I was a child, I was even a professional musician that has worked at the Juilliard school and toured the world with orchestras. But when it came to the trash at concerts, I never paid much attention to it. Then after working on the green team and realizing that after EACH SET people were picking up literally every single cigarette butt or anything else on the ground was a huge wake up call. My last shift was done in the sorting tent (see photo) and that really put into perspective not just the amount of trash that gets used by a music festival but made me realize how much trash we make as a planet, not to mention that every last piece of paper or wrapper ended up being put in the correct place BY HAND by a volunteer. I remember being at the Moe. acoustic set and thinking about how music has always meant so much to me but I felt grateful that music and Summer Camp gave me an opportunity to learn about such a significant issue an d made me more aware of my own contribution of waste.
This experience has stuck with me and has definitely made me more conscious and is a story I actually bring up all time to various friend and colleagues.
The man from Soulshine that worked with us suggested that we keep doing similar things around our community by picking up trash and things like this, and it totally stuck with me. Every time I see stuff on the ground at the park or by the yoga studio I’m immediately reminded of my experience at Scamp.
