Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Turning house music into homes: The James Hype special edition is out!
BUY magazine
Music

A utopian vision for sustainable festivals

Festivals don't have to cost the Earth. Pictish Trail, aka Johnny Lynch, explains

Howling Fling - sustainable festival

Howlin' Fling. Image: Jassy Earl

More and more festival organisers are looking for ways to lessen their impact on their surroundings, whether through green schemes or community projects. Howlin’ Fling, an intimate annual festival on Scotland’s Isle of Eigg, functions as a forward-thinking model of a sustainable festival that makes a genuine difference to its local community and the planet. 

The festival is organised by psychedelic pop artist Pictish Trail aka Johnny Lynch, founder of record label Lost Map and one of around 100 Eigg residents – all of whom are integral to the festival’s spirit. “They are usually the ones having the most fun,” laughs Lynch, who moved to Eigg a decade ago. “Some of them help out with getting the marquee erected, and the bar is stocked with beer from the local brewery.” The festival is a two-day event (on August 4/5), but it allows him to do his bit for the island year-round. “I’ve been able to use profits to support the local kids’ ceilidh summer camp, and purchase a new PA for the community hall.” 

Like the island at large, the whole festival is powered by Eigg’s self-contained renewable energy system, which is entirely economically and environmentally sustainable. Guests are encouraged to camp amid the island’s breathtaking landscape, and Lynch builds up the green-friendly infrastructure when he can. “The thing I’m genuinely most excited about this year is the addition of a brand new compost toilet on our campsite,” Lynch deadpans.  

Of course, a sustainable festival paradise would be nothing without music and Howlin’ Fling consistently delivers on that front too, with artists from Lost Map playing alongside indie heroes like Gruff Rhys, Steve Mason and Beth Orton. This year’s line-up is a guarded secret, but Lynch cites a solo set from Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle as an all-time favourite from years past. “I remember walking out of the ceilidh hall after he’d played that show with tears of joy in my eyes, and seeing all my pals crying, too. Moments like that make all the months of stress, sorting out the logistics of the event, worthwhile.”

howlinfling.com

Read our full 2023 festivals guide here.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
Belinda Carlisle: 'I never felt like I was good enough or that I was worthy'
Letter To My Younger Self

Belinda Carlisle: 'I never felt like I was good enough or that I was worthy'

Leona Lewis: 'I would tell young Leona, I see your pain and I feel you – but you'll be OK'
Letter To My Younger Self

Leona Lewis: 'I would tell young Leona, I see your pain and I feel you – but you'll be OK'

Opera performers are using Palestinian flags to make a stand. And why shouldn't they?
Classical music

Opera performers are using Palestinian flags to make a stand. And why shouldn't they?

How the Trainspotting soundtrack changed the world
Music

How the Trainspotting soundtrack changed the world

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know