Sustainability is at the heart of Dandelion. By working with communities across Scotland we hope to revitalise the nation’s relationship to nature. The act of growing food is one of the strongest connections we have to the earth, and Dandelion is all about food that’s grown organically, harvested by local people and enjoyed as close as possible to where it’s produced – best for us and best for the planet.
When we began planning this nationwide programme, it became clear that transport was going to be our principal environmental impact. From the inception of Dandelion we have worked with Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, to develop the design and delivery of every aspect of the project. We're also advocating walking, wheeling and cycling to our events – and when active travel isn’t possible, we’ll use electric vehicles wherever we can.
Here are our key sustainability commitments:
- The development of Dandelion's own growing medium, which avoids the use of unsustainable coconut fibre or peat
- Promoting the use of cargo bikes for the last leg of every journey of our Bikes On Tour programme
- Using reusable materials for all of our cubes and stages, ensuring the longevity of resources after the project
- Where mains electricity isn’t available, we’ll be using electric or HVO biofuel generators (which run on used cooking oil), which produce 90% less emissions than diesel
- All of our plant plugs are grown in Scotland and are sourced from a carbon neutral company who work closely with our partners at SRUC (The Scottish Rural College)
- Musicians are chosen with their touring schedule in mind, reducing the need to travel to Scotland solely for Dandelion performances
- Food at our events comes from local organisations with sustainable practice
- We’re scrutinising every element of our events to make sure they’re as sustainable as possible
- Everyone who attends Dandelion is also encouraged to consider how they travel – to walk, wheel or cycle if they can, or use public transport
- Our overall target is to be carbon neutral. We believe we can meet this – and that we could even become carbon positive
Working closely with Sustainability West Midlands and EventScotland, we routinely review every element of Dandelion in relation to our sustainability commitments. And to make sure that we’re accountable, we’re carefully recording our impacts, with a promise to plant enough trees to offset the emissions we can't avoid.