Green Festival in Ås

From 6-7 September, a green festival was organized in the center of Ås under the auspices of the organization Grønn Festival i Ås. They gathered both young and older environmentally conscious people to talk about and celebrate an environmentally conscious lifestyle.

Journalist: Kine Lie
Fotograf: Malene Tangen
Translator: S. Faseeha F. Gillani

Repair old gold

On Saturday and Sunday you could look at stalls in the market around the fountain outside the library in Ås centre. The stalls consisted of local teams from environmental organizations such as Framtiden i våre hender, Grønne studenter, Naturvernforbundet and Natur og Ungdom. In addition to informing visitors about their work, many of the stalls were also about looking after and repairing what you already have instead of buying new. Figures from Framtiden i våre hender show that 8% of global climate emissions come from the production of textiles and shoes, and as much as 20-35% of all microplastics in the ocean come from plastic-based garments.

It was therefore fitting that Ås Grønne students organized a clothes exchange on Sunday morning, where everyone could come to both get and donate used clothes. At the market, you could also buy embroideries and sewing equipment, and print graphic designs on clothes to "pimp up" old garments you've grown tired of. This is an environmentally friendly solution to prevent the purchase of new ones. Ås Sykkelreparasjon also had a very popular stall to help people repair their bikes. A number of cyclists turned up in long queues on Sunday morning for free repairs.

Mood report

In addition to helping and informing Ås' population about an environmentally conscious lifestyle, there was an impeccably good atmosphere in the sun during the festival. While children bathed in the fountain and chalked on the asphalt, and others ate vegetarian kebabs with plant-based meat substitute, I had a chat with the organizers of the festival. They said it was nice to organize something for the local community in Ås, and not just for the students at Samfunnet.

"We hope this can be a positive entry into the climate with local solutions."

While the evening sun set over the pavilion in front of the grass lawn in the center on Saturday evening, you could enjoy Norwegian live music from local artists with environmentally conscious lyrics. The organizers of Grønn Festival in Ås can pat each other on the back after a very successful and important local festival. I hope I can go back next year.