For over a decade now, California Roots Music and Arts Festival has been a leader in festival sustainability. As the festival returns to the Monterey County Fair and Event Center for their 11th edition, they are proud to be the first festival in the state to earn the Green Business certification.

The music, lifestyle and destination event is dedicated to incorporating sustainability onsite and into their core daily business operations. Amy Sheehan, operations manager for Cali Roots, proudly explains the brand’s mission stating, “We pledge to reduce our impact on the environment by aligning ourselves with other like-minded organizations, making earth-wise choices regarding the products we purchase, promoting environmental awareness to our fans, staff & artists, & continuing to set the bar higher each year in our commitment to sustainability.” She adds, “We wouldn’t be able to do these sustainable initiatives if it wasn’t for the support of our community and fans. We feel lucky to know our festival attendees back our earth-friendly decisions for future generations to come.”

The festival’s mission and work has not gone unnoticed as it was honored to receive its certification as the first Green Festival in the state by California Green Business Network in 2020. For years the festival has been working with key partners, led by Amy Sheehan to ensure their commitment to sustainability. Through this work Cali Roots has become a leader in California businesses for those who are making a positive impact on people and the planet. Acknowledging this achievement, and in addition to their green certification, the festival earned the highest verifiable standards of sustainability with the title Green Innovators by the CGBN.

Brooke Wright, Director of Programs and Strategy for Environmental Innovations, worked with the festival and commented, "Prior to working with Dan and Amy, we didn’t have standards for event producers or events in the California Green Business Network. Certifying Cali Roots helped us solidify the benchmarks on what needs to be done during these gatherings. We are thrilled to have Cali Roots as a partner to our program to help develop the standards we are using for events moving forwards."

Partnering with the festival for this year’s greening initiatives include like-minded companies: Blue Strike Environmental, California Green Business Network, Green Pedal Courier, Redwood Forest Foundation Inc (RFFI), REVERB, Save Our Shores, The Last Plastic Straw and TripZero.

Through the years, Cali Roots’ partnership with Blue Strike Environmental has helped the festival to create a robust and successful waste diversion program. By implementing simple changes like compostable dining ware, to elimination of single use cups and food waste diversion programs, California Roots has successfully eliminated almost all landfill waste generated. This year the festival aims to impressively divert 90% of waste from landfills.

With the introduction of their “Redwood Pass” over five years ago, the festival offers a unique VIP experience. In partnership with Redwood Forest Foundation Inc (RFFI), for every VIP Redwood Pass sold two redwood trees are planted. A successful endeavor that has resulted in over 7,400 redwoods planted to date!

Cali Roots was an early adopter of self-serve water stations which first made an appearance at the festival in 2013. But it was in 2015 with the help of the environmental nonprofit REVERB and their #RockNRefill Campaign that the festival keyed into eliminating single-use plastic bottles. The #RockNRefill Campaign is a partnership between REVERB and Nalgene and offers music fans free water stations and custom designed reusable water bottles at concerts, festivals, and venues as an alternative to single-use bottles. 100% of the donations for the #RockNRefill bottles support nonprofit and environmental causes, raising over $20,000 for local nonprofits at Cali Roots.

In conjunction with these partnerships, the festival offers many more notable conscious efforts including requiring all vendors to serve compostable greenware, the free bike and skate valet, and the ability for local environmental nonprofits to raise awareness and funds. These on-going initiatives bolster their commitment while encouraging collaborative partnerships with fellow California Green Certified Businesses. Through their leadership Cali Roots inspires other events who strive to ‘go green.’ These achievements are years in the making for the festival and they are committed to work in concert with state and local leaders to help create green event guidelines.
 
The festival has impressive numbers to showcase how their environmental partnerships and initiatives have already made an impact.

    Certified as the first Green Festival in the state of California in 2020
    Diverted 500,000+ single use plastic cups & bottles through our Steel Pint & REVERB’s Rock n’ Refill Programs
    Sold over 40,000 multi-use steel pint cups & Nalgene bottles
    Enhanced local vineyards with 50,000 lbs of composted food waste
    Collected 86 tons of recyclables via our partnership with Blue Strike Environmental
    Planted over 5,000 Redwood tree seedlings on behalf of our Redwood (VIP) ticket holders with RFFI
    Offset over 12 million pounds of carbon over our 4 year partnership with TripZero
    Raised over $11,000 for Save Our Shores & Last Plastic Straw via REVERB’s Rock n’ Refill Program
    Parked 3,500 skateboards at our free, onsite Bike & Skate Valet run by Green Pedal Courier
    Conducted a festival-wide clean up with Save Our Shores, focusing on collecting cigarette butts & education about the path they can take directly to the ocean via storm drains
    Donated 1,300 pounds of leftover food from catering, hospitality & vendors to the Monterey County Food Bank

 Additional information about Cali Roots and the greening programs can be found here: https://www.californiarootsfestival.com/information/experience/greening/
 
FESTIVAL DETAILS
California Roots Music and Arts Festival 2022
Dates: Thursday, May 26 - Sunday, May 29, 2022
Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 pm PDT
Venue: Monterey County Fair and Event Center
Address: 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey, CA 93940
Admission: Varies
Age restrictions: All Ages
 
TRAVEL PACKAGES
Cali Roots Ticket & Hotel Packages ON SALE NOW! Each package includes a two to five night hotel stay at partner hotels in Monterey, CA; plus exclusive add-ons for purchase like Open Bar, Brunch, and Single Day Tickets! You don't want to miss out on this exciting weekend!

    Buy Packages Here: https://portal.fuseignited.com/events/california-roots
    Already have a ticket? Hotel Only options available here: https://www.californiarootsfestival.com/hotels/

4 Days of Music
 
THURSDAY, May 26
Dirty Heads | Stephen Marley | Protoje Featuring Lila Ike | Fortunate Youth | Alborosie | Demarco | DENM | Turbulence l Tropidelic | Eli Mac | Tunnel Vision
 
FRIDAY, May 27
Rebelution | Atmosphere | Chronixx |  Pepper |  J Boog | The Movement | Brother Ali | Satsang | Nattali Rize | Sa-Roc | Arise Roots | Natural Vibrations | Kash’d Out
 
SATURDAY, May 28
Slightly Stoopid | Stick Figure | Beenie Man | Tribal Seeds | Trevor Hall | The Green | Collie Buddz | The Expendables | Dub Inc | Bumpin Uglies | The Elovaters | FIA | Sensi Trails
 
SUNDAY, May 29
Damian Marley | Ice Cube | Sean Paul | Sublime With Rome | Common Kings | Durand Jones and The Indications | Anthony B | Hirie | Iya Terra | Mike Love | Keznamdi  Through The Roots | Artikal Sound System | Vana Liya