It's festival season and despite the frequent downpours we've been out and about, most recently to the Big Tent festival in Fife, where the sun did make an appearance (for a day, at least). There are all the usual elements that make festivals fun - but Big Tent also has a big heart, with the environment at the centre of everything it does. It's also amazingly family-friendly, with loads of fun stuff for adults and children. All within idyllic countryside (the kids spent most of the time tree climbing and den building).
We took the Arctic campaign to Big Tent, encouraging parents to sign up to "Save the Arctic" by mobile while the kids made snowflakes for our snow wall, picked their favourite Arctic animal or had their faces painted. A polar bear even made an appearance from time to time, to the delight of some and the terror of others (depending on age).
Being an environmental festival, it was a safe bet that we'd get a lot of support for our campaign to protect the Arctic from the greed of governments and oil companies. What we didn't expect was just how well informed everyone was, or the huge impact Greenpeace's campaign has already had. And the kids were an inspiration - aware of the threat to the North Pole and being able to identify Arctic animals easily (did I know what a narwhal was at age six?). This was really heartening, and will spur us on for the next stage of the campaign as Shell's drillships move closer to their target off Alaska.
We spent both days talking, facepainting and helping little people create a flurry of snowflakes but, as evening approached, the bands came out and we joined the (very) merry throng for some high-spirited foot stomping. Big Tent - it's a life and planet enhancing experience.
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