We Love Green, the beautiful hours of ecological commitment

Ecology as a banner and commitments reaffirmed at every moment. This year, the We Love Green festival - whose environmental ambitions have been claimed since its creation in 2011 - caused a sensation by announcing that it was taking new measures to become ever greener, in a sector, cultural events, subject to no regulation. Rapper Orelsan opened a festival on Friday June 2 that is greener than ever. Apart from a few technical problems - sound cuts for a few seconds during the concerts of the multi-award winning rapper at the Victoires de la Musique, Apple or the techno duo Adriatique - this edition is a success. In total, more than 100,000 festival-goers walked the lawns of the Bois Vincennes during the weekend.

Green ambitions appeared with the different scenes with green names - canopy, meadow, clearing - pastel-colored banners, 100% vegetarian restaurants with returnable reusable tableware. All in a festive atmosphere that gives pride of place to benevolence with an audience that already seems committed to the cause. Or at least, sensitive to environmental issues.

The educational work of the festival begins as soon as you enter the Bois de Vincennes. At the end of the long dirt road that provides access to the festival facilities, a few volunteers in fluorescent orange vests remind festival-goers that sexual violence will not be tolerated. Further on, glued to the pillars of bars, signs display in large letters the slogan "Do not touch my drink", in reference to the drugs poured into the glasses of women without their knowledge, before enjoining witnesses and victims to contact the staff of the establishment in the event of a problem.

On the music side, the festival plays the card of diversity and assumes the mixture of genres. "It's a bias to bring together audiences who never rub shoulders, to ensure that PLK fans meet those of Apple, for example," recalled Marie Sabot on France Inter on Friday. Established artists such as the group Phoenix and rapper Gazo, revealed during the first edition of La Flamme, share the bill with rising stars such as American rapper Little Simz and British duo Sad Night Dynamite.

Doing pedagogy, while having fun and without feeling guilty, is the mantra of We Love Green. Good intentions with an audience that is not to be convinced. In front of a techno stage on which Adriatique swings bass, a 30-year-old in a kilt remarks: "It's not very eco-friendly to smoke", before explaining that he is "flexitarian and no longer flies to save the planet ".

Perched on a bale of straw a few meters away, the environmental activist Camille Étienne explains at the microphone of France Inter, that on the contrary, small gestures do not count. The important thing is to stand up collectively. The young woman is invited by the festival to lead a round table with the members of a magazine dedicated to travel, Les Others, during which they provide advice and recommendations together to teach the public to "microtravel" and avoid taking the plane. , very polluting. “No need to go to the other side of the world to be out of place,” they explain to a visibly conquered assembly. The public is encouraged to embark on hitchhiking and bivouac adventures and why not chat with their neighbour.

A kind of great civic celebration that Marie Sabot brings to life. The co-founder and director of the event assumes to bring together people whose paths never cross. A desired social mix, but which sins a little. Among the festival-goers, we guess the young dynamic executives. And for good reason, We Love Green is expensive and assumes sometimes prohibitive prices: 60 euros the day of the festival and on site beers at 10 euros a snack for 15 euros. Only water, thanks to a partnership with the town hall of Paris, is free.

Commitment goes as far as restoration. Mafé, focaccia, falafels, naan, fusion cuisine, Moroccan… For the first time, at the festival, the fifty or so restaurateurs present had to comply with all vegetarian options, as well as the technicians who had been in place for a month on the site. An ecological commitment that is not to everyone's taste. Marie Sabot notes, during the special broadcast of France Inter, that a rapper, whose name she will keep silent, complained about the entirely vegetarian catering.

In the stands, we meet Romain Meder, formerly of Ducasse or Bertrand of Septime Ecotable, a table responsible for the 11th arrondissement. A way to reduce costs and the carbon footprint. The festival opted for reusable tableware, a first that required a lot of logistics. The festival dreams of being a laboratory of ideas.