Tree installation at Glastonbury Festival highlights critical minerals

A stand set up at the Glastonbury Festival, UK, shows how modern lifestyles are dictated by a sustainable supply of critical metals.

The exhibit entitled ‘Modern life doesn’t grow on trees’ has been put in place in the Green Futures field by the British Geological Survey (BGS). 

At its centre is the #TheCommoditree – a 3m-tall, interactive sculpture that lights up a supply chain in the form of a path, from extraction of resources to modern appliances.

The roots of #TheCommoditree are 3D-printed mineral crystals. Clean energy instruments, like solar panels and wind turbines, make up some of the branches, highlighting to visitors that these technologies also rely on extractive industries.

The exhibit is funded by the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre - as part of the Department of Business and Trade.

The stand is meant to provoke questions from festival goers. ‘Raising awareness and the necessity for a sustainable supply of critical metals has never been more important,’ says Paul Lusty, Director of the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre.

‘#TheCommoditree will not only enable people to visualise just how important rocks and minerals are in their everyday lives, but also initiate discussions around dependence on other countries, the associated security of supply and the circular economy.’