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The Carnival of
Flowers:
Environmental and
Public Health Risks
PUN620: Concepts of Environmental health

Cameron Woodruf

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Executive Summary

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................... 1
Introduction........................................................................................................... 3
History................................................................................................................ 3
Environmental Health Issues................................................................................. 3
Noise.................................................................................................................. 3
Air Pollution........................................................................................................ 3
Indoor.............................................................................................................. 3
Outdoor........................................................................................................... 3
Waste.................................................................................................................. 3
Water use........................................................................................................... 4
Public Health Issues............................................................................................... 4
Waste.................................................................................................................. 4
Small venues that serve morning tea in.............................................................4
Food.................................................................................................................... 4
Psycho Social benefit.......................................................................................... 4
Stakeholder management..................................................................................... 4
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 4
References............................................................................................................. 4
Appendices............................................................................................................ 4

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Introduction
The Environment looks at the intrinsic value of ecosystems including people and
community. These ecosystems can be broken down into several conditions social
or sense of community, economic, aesthetic and cultural. Woodford Folk Music
Festival applies the waste hierarchy and principles of sustainable development to
minimise its environmental footprint (Environmental Protection Act 1994).

Sustainability forever, thats a future that is clever, see the economy as a means to
an end not the end goal for our society Ian Lowe, Australian Conservation Foundation
President 2004-2014.

Comparison to other Music Festivals

With the outgoing music festivals, such as the Australian Gospel Music festival,
Soundwave, Big Day Out, in recent years it is important to assess what can help
these Mass Gatherings (MGs) thrive. It is important to maintain these MGs due to
the socio-economic benefits they provide. However, when groups of diferent
populations densely congregate, pollution, traffic and risks of injury all increase.
One music festival that is maintaining its success and growing is The Woodford
Folk Music Festival.
A major diference in this event is that it occurs at a specially designed venue
that supports the events notion of creating a relatively sustainable community
that promotes the environment. Unlike most many festivals it is held on a rural
property 7kilometers from the town of Woodford; the two major causes of the
downfall of the previously mentioned festivals is financial viability and the NIMBY
(Not In My Backyard) objections, being on a 250 hectare site it is one its own
backyard.
Broad genre
NIMBY (not in my backyard)
Water and Sanitation is one of the primary drivers of public health. Management
of all diseases
Relevance to environmental health

People from diferent backgrounds/areas

People are often congregated in close proximity to each other
Large amount of resources are required to set up and a significant amount
of wastes are generated

What legal frameworks are relevant

Licensing and local laws

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health and well being of the broad physical, psychological, social and cultural
environment, which includes housing, urban development, land use and transport
Positive impacts and treating them as adults with some agency
Has its own postal service and was considered the 67th largest town in Australia
Attended by an environmentally literate audience
Starting in November everything begins to be set up and by the end of January the
site is fully dissembled and returned to a relatively natural state, excluding the
composting, office buildings and sewerage infrastructure.

History
the Woodford Folk Festival is a prime example of how festivals create return
visitors, with more than 92% of attendees surveyed indicating they would be
likely or very likely to return to the Festival. The Festival also demonstrated its
tourism value with an aggregated attendance of more than 122 470 and
generating an economic impact of $21.14m to Queensland.
As a festival of international standing, Australias biggest folk festival attracts over
128,000 people from South East Queensland (55%), intrastate (12%), interstate
(30%) and all over the world (3%) every year (Queensland Historical Atlas 2010).

2014 Australian Tourism Award for Major Festivals and Events, comparitvely the
Melbourne Cup was fourth
Is now the site for two other events, being the Planting (a weekend dedicated to
the environmental enhancement of the site) and The Dreaming with promotes
indigenous culture from around Australia.
500 year plan, where every decision should consider the future. those that are
permanent include the 43 amenities blocks and the cider house , and some stages
Facilitated the transition of the planning elements from a temporary local
planning instrument into the draft Moreton Bay Planning Scheme to safeguard
the future use of the Woodfordia site
Upto 31st Woodford folk festivals, with 23 held at current Wordfordia site, a 500acre parkland in the Moreton Bay Regional Council. In 2015 is was attended by
126, 966 people
2000 performers, more than 2300 volunteers 35 venues
lighting towers, water tanks, signage, fencing/barricades, stage(s), temporary
toilets and rubbish bins all of which needed to be transported to, and will later
need to be taken away from, the site.
Examples of both risks
State the thesis Outline of
essay structure

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You will also notice the festivals need for power has been met by cabling
electrical services to various site locations and/or by the strategic placement of
generators. Water may also have been plumbed to selected areas
Car parks

Importance of Environmental health to Music festivals

Drawing in large number of people from various backgrounds
Trampling of vegetation and soil eroid
Create an enormous amount of wastes, both in landfill, green waste and
sewerage

Environmental Health Issues

Revegetation
Erosion control suitable vegetation, such as ground cover is planted along higher
risk areas such as roads, creeks and gullies. Additionally barriers guide patrons
along paths that are lined with crusher dust paths, limiting soil compaction to the
designated paths. This can create a dust problem if the paths are not watered
down or rain does not occur.
Replacement of vegetation and weed control,
Added benefits of providing wildlife habitat
Has some non-indigenous trees of the reason but only ones that are used as
musical instruments
Creates natural shade for visitors

Communicable diseases
Flu
People are unlikely to not attend due to sickness if it is only mild illness, but will
likely to worsen and spread to others
ticks are at a lower risk in summer but would still be worth reminding patrons to
check themselves or a friend.

Dangerous plants
Lantana
Nightshade
Oleanda
White cedar berries and flows
Wintersweet

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Emergency Evacuations
No obvious plans on websites for

Educative Opportunities

Weather
Of the 35 venues, 18 are all weather venues

Noise
Sound exposure to audience
Music continues until late hours and fellow campers are relied on to be
considerate
Noise on wildlife as site is not used often
Recognise that our Festival does generate noise and seek to maintain levels at a
maximum of 2db above background levels

Air Pollution
Air pollutant are any substance which, when present in the atmosphere
adversely afect the health of humans, animals or plants
The typical air quality around the site would be considered to be quite good,
being a country town and surrounded by a significant amount of vegetation to
filter the air. However, the enclosed environments could become heavily
polluted, particularly small tents.
Topology of the area
Indoor
Indoor air pollution has been identified by the World Bank as one of the foremost
global environmental problems. Rule of 1000 i
Main issue is inside tents
Formaldehyde and Carbon Monoxide from cigarette smoke
Micro-organisms, Nitrogen Oxides, efects are respiratory tract infection and eye
irritation all are quite small so can make it deep into the lungs
Outdoor
transport
Dust when people migrate between the headline acts
The Fire event burning wood and paper with fire brigade personnel present
No generators are allowed

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Waste
Having volunteers, which are non-uniformed picking up rubbish helps to promote
the message to pick up your own litter. Additionally when people are uniformed it
suggests that they are getting paid for it, and as such visitors can litter because
it is the job of the clean-up crew rather than each individuals responsibility. This
has its own issues as the volunteers still need to be adequately protected from
possible illness that may arise from picking up sharp or contaminated objects,
this can be through spiked poles or pick up tools (see figure 1) supplied by WFF.

Figure 1. Example pick up tool for rubbish (sourced Cleaners Supermrket 2016)

Batteries from camp sites

Stainless steel pint glasses
Sewerage treatment what is done with the solid waste
Reducing wastes to landfill
26, 952 rolls used and 8 ML of waste water produced
The festival director Bill Hauritz said, This is the cleanest destival he has seen,
Meaning the patros are taking care. Organisers and patrons at this festival are
equal partners. This is an unusual view to take for festivals and is likely some of
the reason for the environmental success experienced at Woodford Folk Festival
One use tents
Avoid -> reduce->reuse__> recycle dispose (largely campers)
Unnesscary understand the impacts of products, reduce enrgy and water
usage, carry around a water bottle for the event rather than bottled water
reusing waste water for irrigation, other upcycling workshops that occur at the
event, composting of waste
Consumer power buying carbon ofset tickets, an example of user pays
principle

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Proximity principle, being wastes are largely dealt with onsite
Product stewardship principle shared responsibility and acquiring local produce
so that the global footprint of the product is minimise through lower transport
Look at incentives, for people to take their wastes with them
Community awareness presentations exists
A good example of potential cultural change, eg people from other environments
are
Contractors are also advised to considered what waste they will generate and
abide by waste hierarchy, focusing on biodegradable or recyclable wastes.
The folk festival has been running for 27 years at its current site, and has
installed its own sewerage plant and composting facility. Aside from this
infrastructure and the office building, there are no permanent buildings onsite,
allowing the area to be used for natural habitat

Water
Chemicals that are used are limited to those necessary for weed management and
fertiliser and more environmentally friendly
Tank rainwater can contain organisms referred to as opportunistic pathogens such
as Aeromonas spp and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Sinclair et al. 2005)

All supplied from on-site tanks

Promoted to just have one shower a day and be consider how much water you
need for washing up, alternatively bring your own. Seasonality problems
Ponds and wildlife
5.795 million litres of potable water used
Quanityt and quality
Washed disease such as eye infections and diarrhoeal
Waterborne diseases contamination of water for animals, containing pathogenic
viruses or bacteria
Monitor to avoid Eutrophication
Shower waste water is used for irrigation

General accommodation
Tent City hire events and festivals or BYO, alternatively ofsite camping or built
accommodation
Disabled access that includes electricity for life-support equipment

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Raise bedding of the ground
Consider the water course
Can bring water
Use of gas stoves that are compliant with Petroleum and gas safety instruction
no. 12015 vcersion 3. Also highlight the importance of where the butane
canister is located, eg not in sunlight or in a car, use of a correct sized pan

Public Health Issues

Waste
Increased complexity, urban sprawl
Vector breeding, chemical impacts
Biological impacts
Odour
Loss of amenity
Economic impacts, the better the location is kept by patrons the more welcoming
the local community will be, including governments and organisers are who left
with the clean up, NIMBY

The fire event on New years day (http://blog.woodfordfolkfestival.com/day-6highlights/)

Food
Food Act 2006, Food Regulation

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temperature
o low temperatures do not kill bacteria
o high temperatures do not change toxins
o danger zone is between 6 and 59
o keep hot food above 60degrees C; cold food below

time and temperature together

Raw food movement
Alcohol and immune system
Inadequate sleep
Food in camp sites
Water Bottle
Allergies and intolerance labelling is typically not obvious when ordering from
food van types

Psycho Social benefit

Soft drug use
Workshops

Stakeholder management
High levels of participation creates ownership
Create alliances between folk movement, environmental lobby and government
agencies
The power of social norms largely depends on the relationship between the
individual asking (event organisers) and patrons. WFF creates a community that
works to self-regulate itself, while also having an opening address that reminds
visitors of their environmental impacts and what is expected on them.

Volunteer Workforce
2300 volunteers
In the Fire event it is started in a traditional aboriginal method of rubbing sticks
together as a means of paying respect and integrating the many cultures
together

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Conclusion
Having ownership of the venue allows event organisers to plan and improve
facilities to reduce its environmental footprint
hippie-dippy events tend to be the best about cleaning up after themselves. But
it's clear that organizers can change folks' behavior patterns. It involves
providing the right incentives, the right penalties and, perhaps more than
anything else, making it easy to be green.
Competition between variousevent organisers with the public becoming
increasingly aware of their own environmental impacts and favouring events with
higher sustainability/green credentials.
Need for an interdisciplinary response and who is involved
Therefore, the responsible environmental development and engagement of the
Woodford Folk Festival site, along with an ongoing aim to make the festival
environmentally friendly and eventually carbon neutral, has always been, and
remains, vitally important to the festival ethos.
Woodford Folk Festival still has room for improvement, but sets the bar on a
global scale for how a Dairy Farm can be returned to a natural habitat whilst
providing significant contribution to the Queensland and local economy. It has
achieved this through a significant volunteer work force, sustainability promotion
and personal responsibility. This positive-feedback loop results in additional
environmental programs being implemented such as onsite sewerage treatment
and the current exploration into renewable energy options.

References
Cleaners Supermarket,. (2016). Strong Arm Ergo Grabbers Pick Up Tools.
Cleaningshop.com.au. Retrieved 26 May 2016, from
http://www.cleaningshop.com.au/contents/enus/d2342_Strong_Arm_Grabbers.html
Earl, Cameron and van der Heide, George. Public Health Impacts of Outdoor
Music Festivals: A Consumer Based Study [online].Environmental Health, Vol. 1,
No. 2, 2001: 56-65.
Availability:<http://search.informit.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/documentSu
mmary;dn=218266032531720;res=IELHEA> ISSN: 1444-5212. [cited 28 May
16].
Heyworth JS 2001, A diary study of gastroenteritis and tank rainwater consumption in
young children in South Australia, Third International Rainwater Catchment Systems
Conference Proceedings. (www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/ircsa/)

Queensland Historical Atlas, 2010. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1838-708X http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/people%E2%80%99s-republicwoodford

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Rodrigo S, Sinclair M, Forbes A, Cunlife D and Leder K (2010) A double-blinded
randomised controlled trial investigating the use of untreated rainwater for
drinking American Journal of Public Health Accepted for publication.

Sinclair MI, Leder K and Chapman H (2005) Public health aspects of rainwater tanks in
urban Australia. Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment,
Occasional Paper 10.

Appendices

Issue

Relevant
legislation

Implemented
action

Required Action

Correction