Earth Day Festival attracts fair-weather environmentalists
John Chen
Issue date: 5/1/10 Section: News/Features
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This year, the Festival's theme was "Strike A Chord. Go Green." Headlining the musical portion were Bela Fleck, a Grammy Award winning banjo player, and Sara Watkins, the fiddler and vocalist for the bluegrass trio Nickel Creek. The festival's live music attracted people from all around the Nashville area, not just hardcore tree huggers.
Nashvillian Rico Ramiraz called many Earth Day festival attendees "weekend warriors," people who are not genuinely interested in environmentalism, but participate in the festival for the fun and games. Ramiraz, who has attended every festival since its inaugural year, said that even the music has lacked spirit in the last several years. He says that most people have other, higher-ranking worries than going green. John from Donelson said, "Give them 20 minutes after they leave and they'll start throwing stuff on the ground again."
Jeffrey Bottoms from the Tennessee Department of Transportation volunteered at the festival. Although he considers Tennessee an environmentally friendly state, Forbes Magazine's list of "America's Greenest States" places Tennessee forty-third. Nashville is sixth in the nation for worst carbon footprint, according to the Brookings Institute, and the most dangerous city to bike and walk, according to the Alliance for Biking and Walking.
David Kleinfelter hopes to change Nashville's poor biking and walking rating. Next to Toyota's Hybrid Prius showcase, Kleinfelter manned the Walk/Bike Nashville booth, which designated an area for free bike parking during the event. Walk/Bike Nashville, which was started 11 years ago, seeks to make Nashville more "walkable and bikable and therefore livable," said Kleinfelter. Kleinfelter was the editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler in 1983 and served on the Metropolitan County Council and its City Planning Committee. "The people on Metro Council are very green people," he said.
Still, John from Donelson is convinced that the younger generation will be the driving force behind the green movement, citing their higher education on pressing environmental issues. Two years ago, Vanderbilt graduate students helped ensure that the festival was "carbon neutral."
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