Green music a new weapon against ubiquitous plastics

When environment protection and rock music come together, the resultant chemistry could be pure magic — that’s what the 2017–2018 Midi Festival on Dec 30 and Dec 31 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, proved.

The GoalBlue (Shenzhen) Low Carbon Development & Promotion Center, a Chinese non-governmental organization, joined hands with the Beijing Midi School of Music to advocate sustainable lifestyle through the medium of rock music.

During the two-day festival, over 220,000 music-loving eco-activists made a commitment to embrace a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

The theme of this year’s festival was “No plastic lunch boxes”. At the Shenzhen Universiade Center where the festival was held, GoalBlue teamed up with rock bands to communicate the concept of “refusing plastics”.

May Mei, executive director of GoalBlue, said: “Taking advantage of the power of music, we are bringing more and more people, especially the millennial generation, to live a life in harmony with nature.

“Everyone can get involved. To reduce plastics, one can take a cloth bag when shopping, bring his/her own dishware when eating out, and use straws made of glass instead of plastic ones,” she said.

As the world’s largest producer and consumer of plastics, China accounts for more than 60 million plastic lunch boxes every day, which equals the height of over 300 Mount Qomolangmas when piled up.

The average lifetime of a plastic lunch box is 25 minutes, while it takes over 470 years for it to be degraded thoroughly. Numerous plastics go to landfills or incineration, and the landfill and burning process inflicts severe damage on the planet, including its oceans.

According to a report by Science magazine of the United States, there are annually 8 million metric tons of plastic garbage from 192 coastal countries and regions flowing into oceans.

“We link ourselves to all living beings on the planet through the process of eating. The plastic products in the ocean reach the fish, and the same fish are caught and turn up on our dining tables.

“We human beings are just a link of the natural circulation. We advocate a sustainable lifestyle to respect the earth and live with the earth in peace,” said Mei.

The festival attracted tens of thousands of rock musicloving eco-activists. “There is so much fun in this Midi Festival. The combination of environmental protection and music made the festival very meaningful. I think it is a perfect combination,” said Dai Min, one of the fans.

Gong Xun, deputy manager of Beijing Midi Performance Co Ltd, said, “Every year, Midi presents different themes of public welfare, such as ‘education in sight’, ‘no drugs’, and ‘to protect animals’.

“This year’s theme is ‘No plastic lunch boxes’. Disposable plastic lunch boxes can bring serious pollution to the ocean. Using the power of music, we hope to get the public involved, to reduce using plastics, benefiting the planet where we live.”

According to Mei and Gong, the 2017–2018 festival is their first collaboration.

This year, there will be further cooperation between GoalBlue and Midi, to attract more people to take part in protecting the ocean and conducting sustainable lifestyles.

Taking advantage of the power of music, we are bringing more and more people ... to live a life in harmony with nature.” GoalBlue

May Mei,

executive director of

PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY A participant gets his wristband with the commitment “No plastic lunch boxes” during the 2017–18 Midi Festival in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

SI WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY A truck driver has breakfast during a break on Nov 14, 2016.