An Open Letter to the Firefly Marketing Team

A dance festival. Photo by Wendy Wei. https://www.pexels.com/photo/purple-fireworks-effect-1190298/

The Firefly Music festival is the highlight of so many of my friends’ entire years. As a place of fun, friendship, and music, it is a jubilant four-day festival with music spanning pop, rock, rap, EDM, and hip-hop.

While Firefly is only in the name of the festival, I believe the festival can play an important role in getting young people involved in environmental action through its namesake.

The firefly population in the United States is quickly going extinct in large part due to habitat loss, with a 70% decrease in the number of fireflies in the last decade. Within the next five to ten years, the skies above the festival may grow completely dark.

But there is still time to help, and with tens of thousands of people coming from around the world to the Firefly Music Festival, there is a crucial moment; if we can come together to enjoy music and create bonds of friendship, can we also come together to save our world?

I propose the Firefly Marketing team sends out an email with easy steps participants can take to save fireflies in their area:

1. Mow their lawn less frequently. Instead of mowing once a week, move to every two to three weeks.
2. Switch from typical grass to any of the six varietals of low-maintenance, low-growing grass such as Bermuda grass or Buffalo grass, or clover mixes, all of which only need to be mown every four or fives weeks. This enables fireflies to mate and lay eggs safely.
3. Use pesticide sparingly, and when doing so, use environmentally friendly pesticides or non-chemical options.
4. Turn off porch lights at night to enable fireflies to better find each other.
5. Create a water feature in your yard so fireflies, birds, butterflies, and bees all have places to stay hydrated.
6. Donate to charities that raise awareness for this cause, such as Firefly.org.

These tips are fairly easy for people to put into practice for festival participants, and offers a means for a great public image for the festival. I implore the Marketing Team of the festival to take into consideration these ideas and create a festival filled with both great music and even greater positive environmental impact.