If you’ve never heard of Global Inheritance, you’re missing out on something big. Here’s an organization that bases its environmental credos on what the world around you can and should be: fun and interactive, in addition to being educational. This year marked GI’s 7th display at Coachella, and featured exercise bikes, human hamster wheels, and an energy see-saw — all hooked up to, and providing power for, a small stage with a DJ on board. Crowd members indulged in both endorphins and the experience of seeing how they could directly help the environment, and got immediate results. Beats having to wait years for the tree you planted to grow!

In the past, Global Inheritance utilized those same exercise bikes to fuel cell phones in lieu of regular chargers, and featured on-site conversions of vegetable oil to biodiesel (as well as an explanation of how it all worked — they’re helpful too). A few years back they even powered their stage with pure solar energy from a hot Coachella day. Over the past decade, Global Inheritance has forged a unique reputation combining a variety of different artistic media with its commitment to change the environment in a very hands-on way. When you commission someone like Hunter S. Thompson to help you design a trash can, it says something about your environmentally-friendly company: you’d better chug the rest of that Wild Turkey, son, and make sure it lands in the ‘recycle’ container when it misses your friend’s head!

And speaking of (awesome) trash, loads of independent and famous artists were on hand this year, having donated to the cause with their very own homemade huge trash/recycling can. From hundreds of entries, 20 finalists were selected, and the lucky ones proudly displayed their masterpieces alongside the aforementioned displays and next to the mannequins.

First and foremost, make it your mission to go to the Global Inheritance website. Admit it, you’d be more down to save the world if only it were more fun. Look no further…

Words by Jeff Nau, Photos by Manuel Gomez