Three years ago when we launched the blog, I wrote about The Southern California Desert and momentarily pouted at how I’d pass up on making that my first Coachella (guess who else bailed Week 2? Frank Ocean, who I primarily bought the tickets for). TLDR; it sounds like I’d rather be desert camping? When Carli introduced me to our friend Mike, he graciously faciliated me into that world. Next week, three years later is now my first time hitting the festival ready to escape to good vibes.

Going to Coachella takes a LOT of preparation. For the next half of the week you are expected to thug it out and party hard in the desert heat with well over a hundred thousand strangers and celebrities coming from different parts of the world with their friends, even their families. Beyond dealing with accommodations, I’ve heard of influencers creating spreadsheets of their outfits (there is a huge interest in “Coachella Outfits” itself, generating millions of search queries and hype and maybe, another post idea?) and turning it into their next photoshoot (so I admit it, I’m guilty for the same reasons: we do it for the content). Now that I’m faced with the ADHD urgency of having to pack before my flight to Southern California in a couple of days, between the excitement of it all, it can be easy to forget about the environmental impact of these events.

Naturally, anything that is designed for a single event isn’t going to be the most sustainably-friendly thing on the planet. I’m getting on a plane, burning fossil fuels, and burning even more driving in to the campgrounds. Inevitably in our lifetime of modern convenience, many of our day-to-day actions leave a carbon footprint. But with any mindful and intentional execution, efforts can be taken to reduce the harm done to the desert we’re borrowing as our epic playground for a few days.

Some things are obvious, but here are five things I’d love to see at Coachella (and any other music festivals and shows) that help make it more sustainable:

✵ Stop supporting “fast-fashion”. It took me a while to break this habit, like any girly who loves to be fitted on a budget, but the environment would benefit from less “festival season” advertising that encourages one-time-use clothing. A British survey of their shopping habits revealed that about 7.5 million outfits each year are single-use pieces purchased solely for music festivals. If you can afford Coachella’s admission, I would find it odd if you already didn’t own reasonable festival-ready clothes. I’ll try my best not to judge your brand-new fit when I know there’s perfectly good clothes sitting in your closet, or maybe even your friend’s or someone you know in the same size. Caring about the environment is anything but basic.

Other alternatives: Thrifting, re-purposing clothes (Coachella has an Art Studio, where you can flip or alter old textiles). But alright, if you think that SHEIN top is really cute and could see it making reoccurring appearances in your wardrobe, I won’t bug you about the basic concept of recycling and re-use. The dense topic of fast fashion deserves its own discussion.

✵ Save gas where you can. This is pretty obvious and nearly inevitable if you are camping in a group (you have to arrive at the same time!) but carpooling to Coachella is more efficient for the environment AND the chaotic commute into festival grounds. Coachella has implemented a “Carpoolchella” program which encourages attendants to share their commute.

During vehicle searches (this applies to camping), there are many Coachella tutorials that recommend putting your car in neutral and pushing it across the grounds. This reduces exhaust fume pollution, and you can easily convince your friends to do it as an excuse to drink more alcohol.

✵ Bring in less trash. Open any products and manage packaging before entering festival grounds. Open wrappers, bags, etc. BEFORE entering the campgrounds so you can prevent bringing in any more garbage than necessary. I wrote about this in the 2023 article, but based on historical data and reports, Coachella struggles to completely recycle all of thousands of tons of waste. I’ll also reiterate bringing a reusable water bottle, which if you are no stranger to any sort of festival, this is a no-brainer. Personally, I prefer collapsible flasks.

Before arriving consider what you can throw away on your own, applying Leave No Trace where you can and disposing of additional waste.

✵ Have conversations. Everyone is there to have a good time so it can be uncomfortable to have more responsible and less light-hearted conversations about climate change. It isn’t on everyone’s mind, especially if you’re drunk or geeked coming back from Sexyy Red’s witching hour set, but fostering this sense of community is where sustainability can come back to Coachella.

Talk about it and be curious! Currently, Coachella lacks direct attendee participation aside from the Global Inheritance program, which is acting as Coachella’s Sustainability Partner. The program manages Carpoolchella, but also invites speakers to tell stories, give demonstrations, and spread their passion for sustainability. They host raffles and giveaways to encourage festival folks to make choices that are better for the planet, but compared to overall attendance their presence is still widely left unnoticed, especially against the backdrop of incredible performances.

✵ Take a stand. Last year, Massive Attack declined an offer to perform at Coachella due to the festival’s environmental impact, citing their concerns over the festival’s high water usage and carbon emissions.

While Coachella is far from perfect, it wasn’t the harsh evil you think it is. Coachella debuted in 1999 after Pearl Jam’s 1993 performance at the Indio Polo Club while boycotting concert conglomerate Ticketmaster. A few months ago, 2022 internal communications from Ticketmaster/Live Nation executives surfaced that revealed them boasting over “robbing them blind” through high concert fees and parking; sources calling the customer base “so stupid” for being able to take advantage of them. As of now, Ticketmaster stands on trial for settlement with the Department of Justice.

Since selling my GA ticket three years ago, I’ve seen a ten percent increase from the gate price. As of Friday afternoon, you can expect to pay $4000 for a sold-out weekend one (lower for weekend two) GA on StubHub.

Luckily, you don’t need anything more than what you already have to read this article to see Coachella’s musical acts. They are live-streamed on YouTube in the late afternoons (PST), keeping the music free for all.

We are taking advantage of music, just as we are capable of taking advantage of the environment. Stand up when you have the energy for these things, and bring a culture that cares for sustainability of the arts. How often is it that that word is in your head, for everything, but especially avenues that inherently generate waste? If they are here to stay, (for Coachella: in the desert) how can we make this sustainable? We need to start asking this question about many existing structures (for example, where fashion intersects with a music event) and bring awareness to foster room for growth, not harm. See you in the desert, I hope, for many years nature allows us.