Festival goers will be able to watch a message from the climate change minister between sets by Neil Young and PixiesThe first major pop festival of the summer opens today with a climate change message playing alongside music ranging from The Prodigy to Neil Young.More than 50,000 music lovers will head over to the Isle of Wight for the legendary event, which has previously hosted acts such as Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, and will this year feature video screens showing Ed Miliband,
energy and climate change minister, calling on individuals to back a new government climate campaign.As well as publicising the government's upcoming Act on Copenhagen website ahead of post-
Kyoto climate talks in Copenhagen in December, the festival has introduced a number of environment initiatives.The festival organisers' range of green measures include a greater use of
renewable energy, guided
bike rides off the festival site and round the island and encouraging festival-goers to
travel to the event via car-sharing services. Money will also be raised for a local Give Bees a Chance campaign, which is raising funds for research into bee habitats on the Isle of Wight and predicting climate change's long-term affects on the island's honeybees.Miliband said: "Congratulations to the Isle of Wight festival for going green and helping to spread the message on cutting carbon. The
UK government is working hard to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions, and we'll be heading to Copenhagen in December determined to achieve an historic international deal to tackle climate change."John Giddings, Isle of Wight festival promoter, said: "The collaboration with the Department of Energy and Climate Change allows us to promote the importance of reducing emissions on a much bigger scale which will hopefully send a strong message that by working together towards a common goal we can make a huge difference to the future of our planet."The government-festival collaboration sees a video messag ...
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