Visit the We Love Green festival in Paris
If you want your partying to be good for the planet, head to this eco-friendly music festival. It’s a great way to start the summer!
Held in early June in Paris, We Love Green is a festival like no other. While its stages feature some of the best in dance, hip-hop, electronica and alternative music, its environmental credentials are what make it so unique. If you’re conscious of the impact festivals normally have, with their legacy of rubbish-strewn fields and discarded tents, We Love Green is different. It is fully focused on sustainability, and the festival has won awards for its environmentally-friendly initiatives. Along with all things eco, We Love Green is also about great music, as any good festival should be. What is the We Love Green Festival?We Love Green is the place young Parisians like to party in early summer. They come for big beats, good times and great food, and embrace the eco-focus of the festival. From water to energy to transportation to waste management, We Love Green proves that sustainable development is compatible with live entertainment and the arts. Its green credentials are as illustrious as some of its headline acts. We Love Green is one of the only festivals in the world to use 100% renewable energy. A solar farm completely powers one of its stages, and among its other innovations is the recycling of bio-waste into fertilizer and renewable gas. Its food stalls and catering attractions emphasise plant-based options as much as possible. The organising committee of the 2024 Paris Olympics have even taken inspiration from its ideas. Where is We Love Green held?We Love Green is held in the Bois de Vincennes, a beautiful area of parkland and woods in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. The festival site is in one of the largest green spaces in central Paris, close to the Vincennes woods and the Paris Zoological Park. Nearest Metro station: Château de Vincennes When is We Love Green festival?The festival is usually held over a weekend in early June every year. Check the festival website for the latest information on dates and tickets. The history of the festivalThe festival was first held in 2011, and past performers have included Gorillaz, Disclosure, Massive Attack, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Foals, Beck, Wet Leg and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Every year there are some unmissable acts that pack the main stage! While it emerged from the electronic dance music scene of Paris, the festival has developed an eclectic bill over the years. The five stages offer a diverse range of artists and DJ sets, combining French hip-hop and rap, trance, world music, dance and R&B, with major pop and alternative acts helping to make it one of the most popular festivals in France. What to expect at the festivalThe festival’s philosophy is: “What resources do we have at hand, and what can we make with them?” Wherever you wander at We Love Green, you find the festival’s beliefs and simple planet-friendly message. Think TankThe Think Tank is a stage for discussions, round tables, conferences and debates. Take a seat in a deckchair and listen to some of the world’s leading environmental thinkers, activists, scientists and academics, exchanging ideas and talking about the ecological issues that face us. Innovations VillageThis is the place on the festival site where start-ups and companies can demonstrate solutions and projects that address environmental challenges, and aim to build a better, more sustainable society. Chef LabWe Love Green takes food seriously, with it being one of the festival’s key areas of sustainability. At Chef Lab, some of the world’s top chefs cook up veggie and plant-based dishes to die for – so animals don’t have to. The pop-up street food stalls place huge emphasis on sustainable sourcing and local produce. Elsewhere you will find a dedicated Kids area, upcycled clothing stalls, stand-up comedy and all the usual festival amenities. What you won’t find is single-use plastic, wasted food (2,600 unsold meals were distributed to charities at the last festival) and tents – there is no on-site camping at We Love Green. Festival-goers are encouraged to use public transport to reach the site, and there are numerous bike-sharing stations, bus stops, metro and rail connections nearby. Why cross the Channel with LeShuttle?As well as amazing music, sustainability is what makes We Love Green the unique festival it is. At Le Shuttle we also take sustainability seriously. Crossing the channel on a ferry produces 147kg of CO2 per car, compared to 2kg when travelling by Le Shuttle. As a company we save two million tonnes of CO2 every year, and are committed to having 30% less emissions in 2025 than in 2019. Our trains have recently been upgraded to enable accurate reading of CO2 emissions for each crossing. Visit We Love Green festival with LeShuttleIf you have ever wanted to experience a festival abroad, make it We Love Green – it’s just a 35-minute crossing from Folkestone to our Calais terminal. There are lots of other great festivals in France and Belgium. Open a LeShuttle account today to stay up-to-date with travel information, holiday inspiration and special offers. |
Top image credit: courtesy of We Love Green Festival