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The team behind the ENDOTREND Festival, hope to use art and engage people with an interactive event to not only learn about the issues facing the environment and animals, but also actively teach them how they can use their everyday choices to make a positive impact on the world around them.
ENDOTREND is more than just a festival; it is an event that is walking the walk. In addition to drawing in crowds with a lineup of musicians, documentary filmmakers, inspiring entrepreneurs, and activists, the event aims to be plastic-free, net zero energy, and serve all vegan food.
Jeremy Gregory, Director of Tindakan, the philanthropic event organisation responsible for ENDOTREND, explained to One Green Planet that they chose to make this event as eco-friendly as possible to inspire lasting change in attendees. “ENDOTREND endeavors to build on the ability of music, film and art and an array of dynamic concepts such as the vegan food court, volunteerism and civic engagement program, Kid’s Ecotainment zone and Solutionary Showcase, among others, to open minds and hearts and immediately leverage those openings to engage in education, discourse and solutioning that will drive lasting shifts in mindset and perspective,” said Jeremy.
Unlike other environmental events, like Live Earth, that set out to spread an environmental message but fell flat by serving meat and dairy products and taking little steps to mitigate the amount of waste produced by attendees, ENDOTREND has gone above and beyond to ensure that every aspect of the festival is not “greenwashing” but a genuine example.
“What makes ENDOTREND’s sustainability initiatives unique is that we are looking at every individual aspect of the event and working to make all of it eco-friendly,” said Jeremy, “We are also working with partners to help them navigate the sustainable product world more easily. For example, with our food service, we are not only requiring vendors to use non-petroleum plastics, but we are working with them individually to ensure they find a good quality eco-friendly product. We are hoping vendors, partners, and attendees see how easy it is to be sustainable and choice to make long-term changes in their lives to reduce their footprint.”
Perhaps one of the most unique and inspiring aspects of the festival is the motivation to serve only plant-based options at the venue. When we asked Jeremy about Tindakan’s decision to make the event vegan, he explained that the choice was made in order to give attendees easy access to delicious, cruelty-free options that they might not otherwise try. He also highlighted that their goal was to encourage people to learn about the drastic impact their food choices have from an environmental standpoint.
“Seventy percent of grain grown in the U.S. goes to feed livestock; if we are able to divert the land and resources used to grow livestock feed to growing food for people we could put a large dent in hunger in the U.S. (and beyond). Raising livestock is also a huge drain on energy, by eliminating animal products from the menu at this event, we will significantly reduce the events footprint,” said Jeremy. We certainly couldn’t agree more.
ENDOTREND will be taking place Saturday, October, 1st at the McNichols Civic Center Building in Denver, Colorado, USA. To learn more about purchasing tickets, click here.
