Herefordshire is a long way from south London. After a weekend at The Big Chill, this much I know. Armed with festival armour of suncream, anoraks, and wellies, I joined the hippies, bohemians, and ravers to check out the hype on what is billed as one of the most ethical festivals in the UK right now to see how green the festival really is, and whether it's only the hippies that really still give a damn about keeping festivals conglomerate-free and ethical...

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely on saving the world one solar panel at a time, but if I'm told that all you need is love by just one hypocritical hippie in a Primark outfit, I'd  have a pretty unloving response to give them - feisty ethical journalist style.

The Big Chill prides itself on being, well, 'chilled' and for this reason it distances itself from some of the more commercial festivals. As a result, the music line-up isn't hugely mainstream, and you don't get the whole corporate presence of Barcardi tents or whatever Glastonbury and VFest have to offer, which gives it more ethical integrity than most. Not to say the music wasn't wicked, as it definitely was, particularly the London collective Nextmen and MC Wrec; who performed a set of old school hip hop classics and drum n bass while I danced along in my wellies. Gangster.

Music aside though, The Big Chill is more about bringing a sort of togetherness alongside an ethical education. Special shout-outs which gave me a lot of jokes go to 'The Crap Stage' - an open-mic stage dedicated to anyone who decided to get up and perform, which included a fair amount of festival crazies, and a looping of the DJ's joke: "Why did the lion get lost? Cos the Jungle is massive!" Classic. Also, the 'Mooncup' tent - which comprised of a lady showing off the ethical alternatives to tampons to all who would listen, giving vaginal, erm, 'insertion' lessons to anyone interested. Less mental was the amazing spoken word tent which housed the likes of poetic legend Jean Binta Breeze; as inspiring as expected.

So, music was good, tents were jokes, but what about the ethical aspect? The whole site was filled with recycling bins, with a 'Leave no Trace' campaign reminding people to pick up their rubbish; sadly, the impact was a bit slack, as on the last day, the deer park looked like 10,000 people had just ignored this completely. I hate people sometimes.

Saying that, social responsibility is about more than just recycling, and The Big Chill aims to educate people about things like energy consumption and the need to change in order to prevent environmental harm. What impressed me most was the sheer weight of an ethical presence that surrounded the site. For instance, if you stood in the middle of the festival, you were surrounded by the following: Solar Aid hotspots, (where you could go and learn more about clean energy, as well as charge your phone on solar panels), Amnesty International, and Big Green Gathering tents - all major players in the ethical game.

So do people at festivals take the message on board?

On my journalistic travels around the site, I admit I got a mixed response from festival goers...

Shaun Matthews:
"I think festivals like the Big Chill have a real responsibility to promote an awareness of the ethical agenda."

Norman Peterson:
"I've done some recycling and I love that the environment is a priority, but I'm here for a party and some recklessness."

Unnamed (and unashamed):
"I'm so fucked I can hardly walk."

Hmmm. So far, so uninspired. It seemed like I was alone in my enthusiasm to take the message of solar energy and recycling to the streets. It seemed as though people just come to get away from the city, get mashed, and dance in their wellies. So what's the point? My faith in the ethical festival community was slowly disappearing. Amazing weekend, but with nothing to take away. Shame.

On my return to the city though, I was met with these status updates on facebook by fellow people who had gone to the festival:

"OMG! So inspired after the Big Chill, I'ma go recycle this yoghurt pot now."

"Big Chill was amazing, we need to do more to change the way we live. Solar energy people!"

and...

"Just did Big Chill, now time to save the world."

So, maybe I got a particularly bad group of vox pops, or maybe it took a couple of days to sink in, but maybe I don't hate people so much after all. Although I'm not discarding my urban ways for a life of hippie-dom, my faith has luckily been restored. Amongst all the fairy wings, tampon shouting and lion jokes, somewhere, a message went through and people came away inspired to make a change. There you have it, I'm a festival convert. Turns out, all you need is love...

For more info on The Big Bar or Big Chill House events happening in London, go to: www.bigchill.net