The total carbon emissions generated by people travelling by car to the Festival has been estimated at nearly 300 tonnes. But rather than using an off-the-shelf offsetting scheme, with all the difficulties that are associated with these, we have decided that we want to try and offer a hand to those that are already feeling the impact. That's why, to play our planetary part and to help reduce our Festival welly-print, we've introduced our own optional carbon levy. At the ticket booking stage, you'll be offered the chance to opt-in and make a levy donation. (There'll also be a link to an online calculator — a bit like the one you can click through to here — so you can work out what your off-the-shelf offset amount would be as a guide.)
We ring-fence your levy donations and give them all* to a project in Bangladesh helping some of the most vulnerable people and poorest families in the world to cope with the effects of climate change.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. 150 million people live in a country that is the same size as the UK and by 2050 it will be well over 200 million. 40% of the population live on less that US $1 a day.
Bangladesh is also expected to be one of the countries most affected by climate change. Increases in sea level from the snow melt are expected to have a huge impact on a country where 50% of the land is less than 1m above sea level .
The poorest sections of society live on ‘chars’ – temporary sand islands that form in the rivers that criss-cross the country. The islands have a natural life of about 15 years, but can be swept away by flooding at any time. Climate change models suggest that these communities are likely to face more frequent floods and more rapid erosion of the islands.
The Programme
Lighthouse is a local Bangladesh NGO that helps families living on chars that are truly destitute – living on less than US $0.3/day - sometimes referred to as the ultra poor. The programme aims to build a plinth that raises the height of the houses on which the families live. The work is done as a cash-for-work or food-for-work scheme during the hungry season (when people are waiting for the harvest) employing the villagers themselves.
(The programme then provides assets to the families such as vegetables or a goat to help them to earn a livelihood and pays for animal feed and a small stipend for 18 months – but ouir levy donations are not used to support this part of the programme.)
To raise a house onto a plinth and provide some plants to prevent erosion costs approximately £100 per family. And there is an additional monitoring cost of £10 per plinth to guard against corruption and to esnure that work is carried out to the required standard.
