Green rainbow party

The LGBT community announced that it was proud to be green, as members voted to make the theme for this year's Boston Pride the eco-conscious "Sustaining our community, conserving our world." But while those who helped choose the theme showed their commitment to the planet simply by casting a ballot, it has fallen to the Pride Committee to put that theme into practice, which begs the question: how do you take an event known for a parade filled with gas-guzzling flatbed trucks and roaring motorcycles - not to mention the scads of plastic mardi-gras beads - and transform it into the kind of event that Al Gore would love?

Sylvain Bruni, who chairs Boston Pride's Green Subcommittee, said the committee is working on a range of plans aimed at reducing Pride's carbon footprint. He said given the short time between the selection of the theme and Pride's June 6 start date this year's Pride will fall short of being carbon neutral, but the committee is trying a variety of initiatives to make this year's event more eco-friendly. If those initiatives succeed Bruni hopes Pride will expand on them in future years, making Pride a permanently green event.

"My personal view is I would love for this year to be kind of a test bed and see if we can do it," said Bruni.

Among the various efforts Pride will make to reduce its environmental impact are putting recycle bins alongside garbage cans at every Pride event; ending the use of all paper forms and shifting to a completely digital registration process for all events; using recycled and/or biodegradable material for all signs and banners; using biodegradable balloons, biodegradable bags for merchandise, and biodegradable cups for beverages; and investing in sturdier decorations for the block parties, allowing the committee to use them year after year rather than throwing them out.

With gas prices on the rise Bruni said the Pride Committee will also try to reduce the amount of fuel consumption associated with putting on Pride. All outdoor events will have bike racks on hand to encourage people to bike to events, and campaign posters will urge people to bike, carpool or take public transportation to the events. Bruni said the committee is also working to increase the percentage of local vendors at the Pride festival, reducing the fuel used to get vendors to and from the event. The committee is also negotiating with one of this year's sponsors, Zipcar, to allow Pride committee members to use hybrid vehicles as they travel across the city to oversee events.

Bruni said Pride is partnering with the City of Boston to give the LGBT community a chance to give back to the city through community service. The afternoon of June 8 Pride and the city will hold a community clean-up at a yet-to-be-determined city park, inviting members of the community to help clean up garbage and, depending on which park is chosen, to possibly help plant new trees. The clean-up will be followed by a family picnic.

"We're making it simple this year to see how the community reacts to that," said Bruni.

One area where the Pride Committee won't have much impact this year is on the parade. Bruni said that the theme was chosen after parade participants filled out their applications, so it would be unworkable and unfair to ask each of those participants to revise their applications to include fuel-efficient vehicles. The committee will take environmental friendliness into account in presenting the annual awards for best adaptation of a theme, but beyond that the committee will leave it to each participating organization in the parade to decide whether or not to make their parade float carbon-neutral. Bruni said that in the future the committee might tell organizations in advance that they will receive registration discounts for using fuel efficient or carbon-neutral vehicles in the parade.

Despite the theme of this year's parade there will likely be several gas-guzzling trucks wending their way through the streets behind the more eco-friendly parade contingents. Paul Daley, assistant general manager of Machine and Ramrod, said for nightclubs carrying massive sound systems he sees few viable alternatives to the standard flatbed float.

"It's not easy. When you have a club with a large amount of staff and on top of that external groups that want to be part of that, it's hard to put them all together without putting them on a large floating object, aside from having them all walk," said Daley.

And don't look for the Moving Violations Motorcycle Club, which kicks off the parade each year with a roar of its motors and rides at the head of the parade, to trade their hogs for Huffies. Loocie Brown, president of the club, said Moving Violations plans to continue the tradition of riding at the head of the parade with a fleet of about 20 motorcycles. But while they may not run on bio-diesel, Brown said when it comes to fuel usage bikes are relatively minor offenders.

"One of the things that motorcycles more these days have is, we get much better fuel efficiency. I have a new BMW and I get between 60 and 75 miles a gallon on my bike. ... Certainly I'm going to be riding my bike much more than my car, which gets 23 miles a gallon," said Brown.

At least one organization is embracing the eco-friendly theme in designing its Pride float. The Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association (MASALA) will position several people around the borders of MASALA's parade contingent holding large poles that are connected to each other with long sheets of silk; the silk will surround the MASALA marchers, creating a virtual float.

"Our group is going to be within these barriers and dance along," said MASALA's Amit Dixit. He said in lieu of dragging speakers on a flatbed truck MASALA hopes to carry speakers on rickshaws.

Bruni said the committee is considering other ideas for this year's Pride that have not yet been finalized. One is to eliminate the sale of bottled water by vendors during the festival and have a free cold-water station at the festival where people can quench their thirst using recyclable cups. Another is to try to use the park clean-up day to try to offset the emissions produced by the event if the clean-up takes place in a park where volunteers can plant trees. Bruni said the committee is suspicious of purchasing carbon offsets, given news reports questioning the reliability of companies selling those offsets, but they may try to do their own calculation of the emissions produced by the parade to determine how many trees they need to plant to offset those emissions.

Boston Pride is not the first large-scale event in Boston to attempt to bring together large crowds without making a negative impact on the environment. On May 24 Radio 92.9 will hold its 15th annual Earthfest at the Hatch Shell, and Adam Klein, who has helped organize the event since its inception and who now works with 92.9 as an outside PR and event management consultant, said Earthfest has used many of the same initiatives that Pride is using this year to reduce its environmental impact. Like Pride, Earthfest has engaged in aggressive recycling efforts at its events, and to encourage people to bike to the festival Earthfest will have bike valets onsite to park the bikes in a secure location for the duration of the festival. Backstage at the Hatch Shell, Klein said Earthfest will be using biodegradable plates and utensils, and throughout the festival organizers are encouraging vendors to use environmentally friendly materials for their booths.

Earthfest has also pursued some initiatives that Pride will not be doing, including purchasing carbon offsets and running some of the power generators using bio-diesel. In years past Klein said organizers have worked with the MBTA to make fares free that day to encourage T usage, but he does not expect that to happen this year.

"It's absolutely imperative that we are responsible event managers as we put on a event and festival that promotes and supports our environment," said Klein. "We're not perfect, but we work with a lot of experts that helps us pull this event off and do the right thing."

Bruni said the Pride Committee is taking the theme of sustainability and preservation to refer not only to caring for the environment but to strengthening the LGBT community and improving the health of its members. To promote community building the committee will launch a Pride scholarship program, providing funding both to local Pride organizations like Black Pride and Latino Pride as well as to smaller Pride festivals in the New England area beyond Boston. Pride will also be partnering with health-related organizations like the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and AIDS Action's Male Center to do outreach at Pride events. Bruni said there would also be alcohol-free zones at the block parties and smoke-free sections of some Pride events.

As to whether or not Pride goes green in future years, Bruni said much of that would depend on whether attendees support this year's green efforts. He estimates the committee will spend about $20,000 on its green initiative, including working with dumpster and recycling companies to increase the number of recycle bins, paying for sturdier event decorations, renting bike racks for all events, and other costs. But if attendees throw their recyclable soda bottles into the garbage cans or if the bike racks sit empty at events Bruni said it will be difficult for the Pride Committee to justify the expense next year.

"I'm confident that the community will buy into this program and do their part to help us be a greener Pride," said Bruni.