Ultra: the music festival many Miamians wait all year for; The festival that brings millions of dollars in revenue every year to Downtown Miami in just a single weekend and the festival that brings music lovers from all over the world to Miami. But does this popular festival come with negative feedback for our environment? In fact, it does. Ultra has an average attendance of hundreds of thousands of people each year, this is not including people who get into the festival without a ticket, the security teams surrounding the festival, and all the additional police that are hired to make sure this event runs smoothly and safely. This influx of people in one area over a weekend is just simply not a good idea for the environment that this festival takes place in. Most Miami residents already don’t respect our beautiful beaches and parks, imagine having not only Miami residents, but a “larger than normal” number of tourists too. The addition of these two factors result in a catastrophic outcome for whichever region Ultra Music Festival takes place at`.
Ultra Music Festival brings in millions of dollars of revenue to Downtown Miami every year, but at what cost? Bayfront Park, which has been the home of Ultra for 18 years, has a major pollution problem which has not been remedied because of this festival. The soil in Bayfront Park has been tested and it is extremely toxic, containing not only arsenic and lead, but also 16 types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which happen to be carcinogens. Although there have been no studies confirming how easily these pollutants can be transferred to humans, there are studies that have proven that PAH’s can be absorbed into the body via ingestion, inhalation, and skin contact. This problem has not been remedied because it would take 18 months and over one million dollars to remove the entire layer of topsoil to help remedy the situation. Since the toxicity of the soil posed no “real threats” to humans, Bayfront Park Management Trust ignored the evidence and hosted the festival until this year, where it will now be held in Virginia Key.
Some supporters of Ultra may use the argument “If it doesn’t affect us (humans) why should we care?”; Toxic soil may not affect us directly, but it may affect other living beings directly, which can then affect us indirectly. Soil pollution can affect animals and humans through the consumption of plants or animals that have consumed a large amount of soil pollutants. Another way that may affect us is by the secondary contamination of water supplies and from air contaminants. This means that we don’t have to eat a chunk of soil from Bayfront Park to get sick, we can just eat plants or animals that have been in contact with this soil and still get these chemicals and carcinogens in our bodies.
Apart from being the reason Bayfront Park’s soil has not been taken care of, Ultra has also shown in studies that the loud music that accompanies this festival is bad for fish. Although this sounds like a post your aunt would share on her Facebook, ocean noise pollution is real. Per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this is becoming a real problem for ocean life. Because water amplifies sound, the festival could be at the 110 decibels they are under contract to follow, these 110 decibels turn into 172 decibels in water. Since the festival is so loud and it coincides with the breeding season for certain research fish, it’s causing long term damage to the spawn of these fish. The volume of this festival is going to cause a real issue this year in regards to hurting ocean life because the festival is being moved to Virginia Key. Virginia Key houses a large wildlife sanctuary with various rare oceanic species. This just goes to show that Ultra doesn’t only affect the people who are not fans of the festival, but the animals that are situated close to the festival as well.
Although Ultra Music Festival is a wonderful experience for EDM fans everywhere, the environment isn’t such a big fan. If you or a friend are attending Ultra Music Festival this year, please be courteous to the environment.