Food vendors gave out disposable knives and forks and plates that were compostable.

Every couple of hundred metres there was a collection of bins; one for plastics, one for compostable waste and so on. These bins were flanked by people wearing green hi-vis jackets, kindly advising festival goers that their empty see-through cup belonged in the bin with the word “plastics” written on it.

There was even a return scheme at the festival, where you got a few cents if you were diligent enough to bring your plastic cup to one of the stations.

What’s more, the festival had a pop-up eco-village, Global Green. It was Global Green’s 10th year at Stradbally.

At a press conference close to the main stage on Sunday afternoon, the “environment” even got a mention, by festival director Melvin Benn.

He said: “The environment is now a regular topic, 10 years ago it was a challenging topic and it was a political topic 10 years ago. It’s hardly political anymore because everybody knows that it needs to be addressed.”

Really? Does everybody know that the environment needs to be addressed? Because going by the footage that emerged this week from Electric Picnic’s aftermath, it seems we are all more than a little environmentally illiterate.

We could simply condemn the more than handful of lazy, irresponsible festival-goers. Or we could look to Festival Republic, the London-based for-profit organisation that runs the event. Or lastly, we could look to our coalition Government and ask them how they’re getting on with that legislation on banning single-use plastics.

At that same Sunday afternoon press conference, Mr Benn was asked about the festival’s “environmental footprint” if the event was to expand (it is — by 2,500 tickets for 2019).

From an environmental point of view, I would say that every single person in that Jimi Hendrix campsite, if they weren’t here they’d have the telly switched on, they’d have the radio switched on, they’d have the heaters on, they’d be driving their car, they’d be using the hairdryers to blow-dry their hair.

“The environmental footprint that they have at home is significant. The environmental footprint that they have when they’re in that tent is zero,” he said.

By the following day, Ed Rice’s post-festival footage of Electric Picnic, which included Mr Benn’s Jimi Hendrix example, had gone viral. Even for the most seasoned barrister, it would be hard to now back up that point about the “environmental footprint” being “zero” when confronted with Mr Rice’s photographic evidence.

But still, Mr Benn was right in some respects. We are all leaving somewhat of an “environmental footprint” every day of our lives, because to live is to impact the environment around us.

However, some leave greater footprints than others. And some carry more responsibility than others — say for example, local authorities that grant event licences and limited companies that make lots and lots of money (millions in fact) putting on shows for tens of thousands of people.

Humans beings are both an incredibly lazy and an incredibly intelligent species. The question, what’s the shortest distance between two points and its answer, a straight line, sum up how we need to manage ourselves. We will always default to the path of least resistance, or, to the laziest version of ourselves.

Do you remember when the plastic bag levy came in? You were now being charged 22c per bag, for what had been free and easy packaging for your weekly grocery shop. Overnight our behaviour changed.

Bring in legislation, and hit us where it hurts, even if it is only for a few red cents, and we will immediately fall into line. It’s how miracles occur: threaten to touch our cash and create a law, and us humans will do as you say.

So, as Mr Benn says, “everybody knows that it (the environment) needs to be addressed” but how do we go about doing that?

Former president Mary Robinson was interviewed in the recent edition of Trinity college’s magazine. She said she can talk about climate change in “scary terms” because the future is more than a little daunting with climbing temperatures that will make life on earth “intolerable”, or she said, she can speak more positively.

“I spend more time talking about the benefits and the opportunities because that’s what gets people moving,” she said.

So let’s talk opportunities, business ones specifically. There is now a huge developing market for compostable coffee cups, while there are players in that field already, if you’re in any way entrepreneurially-inclined you should definitely carry out some research. The same goes for the millions of disposable plastic knives, forks and plates that we use in fast-food outlets, at festivals and on planes every single day, they can be compostable too. And there are also baby’s nappies and women’s period products, which are undergoing a revolution at the moment, with all sorts of sustainable and far more body-friendly products coming on the market.

Really, this stuff is not rocket science to implement and it makes commercial sense.

Fear and shame tend not to work that well as motivators for change, their application can lead to an anger-filled, indignant dead-end or to a head planted permanently in the ground.

Hope on the other hand, can be a pretty powerful motivating force. The question goes from: “we’re doomed, what have we done?” to one of “what can we do?”

So Mr Benn, Mr Varadkar et al and not just those 55,000 festival goers, but all of us here in Ireland, what can we do? Where are the opportunities to tackle climate change and what are the benefits, commercial, environmental and otherwise?

One last thing, there is this mental health hack called the “helper’s high”, where we instantly feel better in our mood when we do some good for another person or for our community. And I don’t know about you, but I get a right kick out of hearing those jam jars smashing into smithereens down at the bottle bank. How about you?