BACKGROUND
In 1999, while living in a 1,000-year-old redwood tree, activist Julia Butterfly Hill founded the non-profit Circle of Life. Circle of Life's purpose is to empower people to recognize their individual responsibility, to encourage them to be conscious of their choices, and to take action.

CHALLENGE
Connect with the ‘unusual suspects’ in the San Francisco community. Acknowledge the problems in our world by displaying the many exciting solutions. Make the program sustainable, ecologically as well as financially. Above all, as Julia put it, “Redefine Cool”.

SOLUTION
‘We the Planet’, an outdoor festival of music, activism and consciousness. Create, produce and promote a groundbreaking concert event while utilizing only the solutions. Empower attendees to adopt these solutions into their daily lives.

RESULTS
On April 20 2003, The Spitfire Agency produced the first annual ‘We the Planet’ festival for Circle of Life. More than 10,000 people gathered in Golden Gate Park to see Alanis Morissette, Cake, Bonnie Raitt, De La Soul, Tracy Chapman, Concrete Blonde, the Coup, Flea, Andy Dick, Woody Harrelson and many others support Circle of Life’s vision of sustainability. In addition to booking a stellar line-up at no cost to COL, The Spitfire Agency helped COL model the solutions in the following ways:

• Off The Grid - The entire event was powered ‘off the grid’. The stage was powered using bio-diesel. The medical area was powered using solar. Even our office energy use was balanced out with wind energy certificates.

• Near-Zero Waste - The event was a near-zero-waste event. Instead of gouging the public for corporate water bottled in disposable containers, COL mugs were sold at a fair price, and water was poured for free at water refill stations. Rather than garbage cans, artistic ‘Waste Reclamation Stations’ were manned throughout the grounds to collect compostables, and any bottles or cans brought into the event. The standard 10,000 person outdoor concert in San Francisco fills six 20 yard trash canisters. We The Planet used 1/4th of just one.

• Tree Free - The event tickets, fliers, posters, sponsorship booklets, signage, letterhead and all other printed materials were printed using soy based inks on paper made from hemp, flax & waste, rather than cutting trees. All sponsors and non-profits in attendance also used tree-free paper for any materials at their booths.

• Organic, Veggie, Vegan - All food sold at the event was organic, veggie & vegan, compliments of independently owned local restaurants. Food vendors were required (and excited) to leave their plastic cutlery at home, and use our compostable cutlery instead (made of flour and corn).

• Community Outreach - In addition to featuring 52 local non-profits at the festival at no cost to them, the first 2,000 tickets were offered to low income community members, for free. The tickets were given away through service-oriented non-profits who work with low-income persons in the greater Bay Area.

• Sustainable / Political Art - Throughout the event grounds, local artist’s works were featured. The event entrance was a 30-foot long/15 foot high stained glass-like arch made of small colorful plastic pieces found at the dump. A giant GMO chicken greeted attendees with it’s yellow ‘caution tape’ feathers blowing in the wind. The stage backdrop and poster art was hand painted by a local artist. ‘Waste Reclamation Station’s’ were artistic masterpieces, welded together from items claimed from torn down buildings. The water refill stations were located in a dome tent, made entirely of CD’s that had been thrown away. And on stage, bands performed amongst 100 oversized sunflowers, welded from scrap metal.

• Eco Transportation - Those who rode their bikes to the event received free secure bike valet at the entrance to the event. Bio diesel and electric cars received free VIP parking. And those who rode the bus, well they received good karma.

• Responsible Sponsorship - All sponsors had to meet our high standards of sustainability and corporate responsibility, which included, amongst other things, environmental stewardship, human rights and animal rights screening.

• Independent Media - Although major media was utilized to achieve our goal of reaching the ‘unusual suspects’, independent radio, press and television were all included in the events pre, on-site and post event campaigns.

• Independent Agencies - In addition to The Spitfire Agency, the press, travel, staging, transportation, medical, ticketing, tenting, generators, security, television production, bike valet, and fundraising were all produced by local independently owned agencies and/or non profit organizations. Additionally, all key WTP staff were women.

• Diversity - WTP performers and speakers reflected the diversity of the Bay Area community. The on-stage lineup included people of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Furthermore, COL conducted extra outreach activities with nonprofits and church groups that serve a majority non-white audience.

• Confirmed Results - People all over San Francisco tell us they have adopted the simple solutions displayed at our event into their daily lives. Whether carrying their own cup to their local fair trade coffee shop, riding their bike to work, or filling their car with bio-diesel, people are adopting the principles displayed at WTP. Additionally, major event and tour producers from all over America were invited to come see the solutions they could adopt into their own productions as well. For example, Perry Farrell came to see our stage run on bio-diesel, and later incorporated bio-diesel into the summer Lollapalooza tour.

• On Budget – The Spitfire Agency is proud to have produced this never been done before completely sustainable event within $500 of the budget originally presented to COL one year in advance. Spitfire managed both outgoing expenses and incoming revenues (each approximately $140,000), which resulted in a break-even first-time festival, as projected.