From publishing to the performing arts our industry has finally begun to embrace environmentally sustainability. What are some of the green initiatives that have been implemented and can they really help to save the planet?
Earlier this year Artshub’s Jane Eastwood reported that publishing giant Hachette Book Group was about to introduce “a policy of environmental paper sourcing.” The new policy would allow its publishers, which include Hodder Headline and Orion, to “record and rate every paper used by members, helping them to improve their purchasing policies.”
The aim is to encourage publishers to source paper from sustainable sources. That means using more recycled paper and less pulp sourced from old growth or ancient forests.
Anyone who likes trees and breathing fresh air will recognise that it’s about time the publishing industry greened itself up.
Globally, publishing has been linked to deforestation. And deforestation is linked not only to climate change but also to poverty,particularly in areas where subsistence farming is practiced.
For almost a decade Canadian environmentalists, Ancient Forest Friendly, have been targeting book and magazine publishers with the aim of getting them to print using Ancient Forest Friendly or eco-friendly paper. Through its consultancy division Markets Initiative the Vancouver-based group has really made an impact.
This year Markets Initiative was able to take the credit for ensuring the final instalment of Harry Potter is printed on eco-friendly paper.
According to a report in Environmental Leader, “The English-language editions of the latest book result in a savings of 197,685 trees (an area equivalent to 2.5 times the size of New York’s Central Park) and 7.9 million kilograms of greenhouse gases (equivalent to taking 1,577 cars off the road).”
As a result of Harry Potter going green more than 80 printers in North America now stock Ancient Forest Friendly or eco-friendly papers. Hopefully in the future the price of reading a book about saving the planet won’t be an old growth forest.
Likewise, London’s Arcola Theatre wants its patrons to have the peace of mind that going to the theatre won’t cost the earth.
On July 20, Dr Ben Todd, Arcola’s executive director, launched Arcola Energy, which aims to make the theatre a truly sustainable venture for patrons, artists, and performers.
Todd says the theatre will become carbon neutral through its installation of “biomass heating, solar panels, fuel cells and energy saving technologies.” It will also have a designated room within the venue where energy companies can conduct field trials of energy saving technologies. There are plans to present the new energy technologies to audience members as well hundreds of young people through an extensive education programme.
It isn’t just funky East End theatres getting in on the green act. Judith Reynolds, director-general of the National Trust, says her organisation is repositioning itself for a greener future.
In a recent interview with the Telegraph newspaper, Reynolds says, “The world is changing and we’re changing, too.”
Renowned as a world leader in conservation, several of the National Trust’s ‘green building’ projects have added a green dimension to being heritage listed. For example, its £ 1.6 million renovation of Gibson Mill has restored a nineteenth century cotton mill as a “model of sustainability.”
Visitors to the mill are invited to mull over its water powered turbines, photo-voltaic panels, and solar hot water panels. The site has no electrical power supply and used only local materials in its construction. There is no sewage or wastewater and the toilets are composting.
Another National Trust development known as The Footprint is Cumbria’s first straw bale building. It has been set up as an educational resource to promote greater environmental sustainability.
It is projects like these the Trust hopes will attract younger, more environmentally aware patrons to swell its membership ranks.
If it seems like the National Trust, Hachette, and Arcola are simply jumping on the bandwagon since the release of Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Trust’s three major ‘green building’ projects have been several years in the making. Hachette was working on developing its green pulp policy when Al Gore was still in politics, and Arcola Theatre’s commitment to sustainability can be traced back at least as far as its decision to hire Ben Todd – who just happens to have completed his PhD on the Modelling of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Power at Cambridge University.
The question is less why does green seem to be flavour of the month than, will going green make any difference?
It is a question that can only be answered in the fullness of time. And in the meantime many hope that going green will make a difference, and that swapping bad habits for more environmentally friendly ones will be better for everyone.
If anyone doubts that small changes can yield positive results then they are advised to join the Royal Society of Arts and think about changing their ‘habbits’ (a habbit is a hobbit that represents habbits)!
