Festival organizer on climate: “Political movements need a soundtrack”

taz: Why does the world need to know about the 3rd Festival Sounds for Climate on Saturday in the Aachen province?

Rüdiger Haude: Because, firstly, we are putting together a festival that is 100 percent climate-neutral, not just in terms of power supply with storage towers. But also among the caterers with vegan food, composting toilets, flushing lines, etc. And we want to link the festival to the creation of political awareness through speeches from civic initiatives in Aachen - not just climate policy, but also the social climate.

taz: Aren’t there already similar projects in the festival landscape?

Until his retirement, Rüdiger Haude, 66, was a private lecturer in history at the RWTH Aachen University and a public relations officer at the Solar Energy Promotion Association of Germany based in Aachen. Now co-organizer of the S4C.

Haude: Our electricity supplier, BaasEnergy from Jülich, assured us that we were absolute pioneers with second-choice batteries, slightly larger than refrigerators. Other sustainable festivals buy their way with offset programs, but this tends to be a sham.

taz: How much electricity does a festival need?

Haude: Of course it depends on the size. We will have up to 450 kilowatt hours of storage for a planned 2,000 visitors - that's how much a single household needs for around three months. Plus photovoltaic systems to boost the sunshine. The Futur 2 festival in Hamburg with 5,000 people needs an estimated one megawatt hour. They work similarly to us. But: There is a GmbH behind it, ours is a non-profit organization, and everyone works on a voluntary basis.

Haude: Most of them with electricity. Two insist on gas. A challenge for our uncompromising focus. We found biogas bottles next door in Belgium, but we need other adapters so that it fits. We're still sitting there.

Haude: We'll heat things up at the beginning with our vocal ensemble Andere Saiten. Then there's Guts Pie Earshot, Camper with indie pop or background noise. My highlight is Robb Johnson and the Irregulars from England, great rock 'n' roll with great radical lyrics.

taz: They come on foot and swim in a climate-friendly way?

Haude: No. Arrival by train, with the Eurostar under the canal.

taz: Is one of the goals of the festival to continue to inspire enthusiasm for the climate movement?

Haude: Exactly right. Climate is to be understood in broader terms. It's also about the climate in our society, the growing fascisation, the militarization. Now Saxony-Anhalt has stepped in. The AfD wants to destroy all climate protection.

taz: On the other hand, do you need rousing riffs and thunderous drum rolls?

Haude: Yes, that can get you moving. By the way, I believe that political movements need a soundtrack as a factor in their success. At demos, don't just chant something, sometimes shout an insult like Fuck AfD. But show: things can be better, we have ideas. A song together can help!

taz: Last time the piano cabaret artist Bodo Wartke was there. Wouldn't Alphaville have been a hit now?

Haude: Definitely. But the really big ones: difficult. The doctors are on the list, there is good contact with the Jamel rocks the forester festival. Maybe next year.

taz: I'm asking about Alphaville because they were recently disinvited for fear of political statements. With Sounds for Climate you would have to contractually guarantee political statements?

Haude: No, they would certainly do that themselves. We want the artists to act politically on stage.

taz: As an open-air organizer, how often do you look at the banal weather forecast beforehand?

Haude: Some not at all. Me several times a day. Looks good. We have always been very lucky.

taz. The climate god is for climate justice!

Haude: The many agnostics and atheists in the team would certainly put it differently.