Going Green Gatherings – The journey to Net Zero, a collaborative story
Bucks Culture was formed to support the creative and cultural sector to develop and grow whilst also providing a talking space to tackle the agendas faced by the communities we work with and the creative organisations we support.
Working in collaboration across Bucks allows us to support the cultural sector to address key issues and climate change features highly.
The Going Green Gatherings offer an opportunity to not only build connections but also share insights into best practices. The team at Bucks Culture co-produced the Going Green Gatherings with Amersham Museum as part of their 12-month Going Green project, funded by Museum Development South East. The idea behind the group was for like-minded organisations to discuss and support one another in their green initiatives.
The only approach to tackling climate change is a joined-up one
Collaboration provides opportunity to widen reach and share information both within the sector and beyond. Increasing impact demands working, not only within the creative and cultural sectors, but across sectors to share knowledge and resources as we support each other in our endeavours towards lasting change. As a creative and cultural sector we are presented with the opportunity to help raise the profile of great causes and projects, working towards a more sustainable future for all. Art and creativity are essential tools for sharing information, translating complex data into more accessible formats, reaching new audiences and initiating behaviour change.
Session Content
The sessions are peer-led, with host spots available for suggested guest speakers to share top tips for greener futures. This series of fun and engaging sessions delivered mostly online allowed attendees to learn from each other.
Going Green Concepts
The first session, “Going Green Concepts,” covered the language of climate change and actions that organisations might take, presented by Samantha Free from Sustainable Amersham. During the ensuing conversation, we heard from Jim Davey-Hewins, Environmental & Sustainability Lead at Chiltern Music Therapy, who provided insight into creating a Sustainability Strategy and shared the following links.
Link to Chiltern Music Therapy’s latest Environmental Report
Link to Greeenhouse Gas Reporting Conversion Factors 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2024
How Sustainable Is Your Venue? (session 2)
With many community spaces tasked with reaching Net Zero by 2030 the struggle is real, the target is unrealistic, and the sector is under–resourced to attain impactful change. So, where do we start?
Mike King from Project Zero, formed by Bucks Business First to support businesses on their journey to Net Zero shared an approach and resources https://bbf.uk.com/net-zero-ngage Rory Cullen, Historic Buildings Consultant, introduced the concepts and practicalities behind improving the thermal performance of listed buildings in his work at Cullen Conservation.
How Green Is Your Digital Practice, and how can museums manage their collections more sustainably? (session 3)
Digital practice is a big challenge for the creative sector, and we were delighted to discover that actually making something uses less carbon than digital creation, rendering and storage.
Learning from the experts.
In February we were treated to a journey through film and digital creativity with researcher and educator Dr Rebecca Harrison, who leads the Environmental Impact of Filmmaking Project. Rebecca shared how to work to reduce the carbon footprint of online digital practices and urged participants to consider the impact of generative AI.
Read more about Rebecca’s work here – eifproject.com and writingonreels.uk.
In the second part of the session, Lorraine Finch, Director LFCP, took us on a journey through real-life case studies. Lorraine’s session provided insight into actionable, low cost solutions to motivate the sector towards positive and sustainable behaviour change for arts, culture, and heritage settings.
More about Lorraine’s work. – Creating Change in Cultural Heritage
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecaringconservator
Joining the dots (session 4)
Melissa Linsey from Dacorum Heritage Trust led our final workshop to explore some of the ways in which we might make greener choices for our visitor events. Appreciating that much of our environmental sustainability work focuses behind the scenes to reduce our carbon footprint, such as on insulation, heating and lighting, Melissa asked whether the choices we make for our visitor activities, shops and displays are of equal thought and value.
From how to complete carbon calculations to implementing sustainable strategies, we emerge from the first series of sessions with plenty of work to complete. We have opened the conversation around AI and the environmental impact thereof and this is just the beginning. The sessions offer the opportunity to process new information in a group setting. We aren’t tackling the problem alone and can go so much further as a collective.
We are working on shared resources to signpost the sector to new information, championing great work and inviting creative orgs to make energy-saving steps towards a more sustainable future. We hope we can all be part of supporting positive behaviour change towards best sustainable solutions within our sector and beyond..
A big thank you to all for forming this group, coming together to support impactful change.
Join us on the creative journey to net zero
We aim to meet quarterly for the next year and are working on a collective marketing campaign sharing Top Tips for Greener Future to support more sustainable practices in our working lives.
Interested in being involved get in touch with Kerry – Email – Kerry@buckinghamshireculture.org
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