It’s not every day we trump the Rolling Stones. But more than once at Glastonbury 2013, I overheard people pointing to the Greenpeace field and saying “that’s been my favourite thing at the festival”.
They came for the snow, for the Northern Lights, for the Svalbard-themed Farmers’ market [read: mojito chocolate truffles] and the hot tubs; for the Arctic explorers, the skate ramp and the polar bears.
Throughout the festival, snow fell serenely across the field – dusting its boats, jetties, boardwalks and icebergs. Cool was a legitimate word for it. But what really blew people away was the snowball fight, held on the Friday evening and broadcast live on the One Show.
The field’s theme this year was the Arctic – that untouched, pristine wilderness at the top of the world, at risk because of climate change and companies like Shell wanting to exploit it for oil. Over the course of the festival, an incredible 4,000 people signed up to the Save the Arctic campaign – joining the 3 million people from around the world who’ve already done so.
But it wasn’t just everyday punters who stepped up to protect the far North- Florence Welch, Jade Jagger, Alexa Chung and Alabama Shakes were just some of the high profile festival-goers who also joined the campaign. Alt J went that extra mile.
A highlight of the Greenpeace field was undoubtedly the Arctic Dome, voted by Time Out as the second best non-musical thing to do at the festival and previewed by NME. It offered people the opportunity to disappear through a crack in the ice and take a magical 15-minute trip to the North Pole, where ice towered and the Northern Lights danced.
Lily Cole swung by. Michael Eavis dropped in for a sandwich and cup of tea. And a BBC 2 producer who filmed a segment in our explorers’ hut with Ann Daniels and Paula Bear - said it was the best thing she’d shot at Glastonbury – “and I’ve been doing it for years”.
Over 300 Greenpeace volunteers and representatives come to Glastonbury every year - carpenters and builders, painters and decorators, campaigners and stewards. They are part of the magic, they CREATE the magic. Thank you to all those involved. See you next year!
Check out our field highlights here:
