Festivals, Fun and Filth

About the Project

Festivals and live events of all kinds are important to the Canadian economy because they attract visitors from across the country, the United States and internationally. Socially, festivals unite people of diverse backgrounds and interests to celebrate a common event or purpose and this celebrates equality, knowledge and understanding. Socially and environmentally, however, events and festivals can be a burden on local communities if they are not managed with a sustainability mindset. Events and festivals create enormous amounts of waste and use an extraordinary amount of water. They also impact the festival grounds because there are so many people in one place as well as can be responsible for crowding, congestion and carbon impacts.

This study examined the level of sustainability across Canadian festivals.

About the Researcher

Dr. Rachel Dodds is a Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management and her work focuses on sustainable tourism, green festivals, CSR, islands and tourism policy.