organizing of accompanying events with eco-friendly
profile - workshops, speeches, discussions, screenings, meetings with experts,
lectures, etc. - the culture has great power, education through the
participation of recipients has the greatest potential for festivals to
introduce changes
spreading flower bombs (they contain seeds, for
example, of wild herbs, and they can be scattered in random places where plants
have a chance to grow and thus propagate biodiversity and valiant pollinators)
making bags/backpacks from recycled materials, e.g.
banners
implementing festival bug or insect houses
introducing fruit/vegetable packs prepared in
cooperation with local producers, e.g. eco-friendly “parsley” fairs,
initiatives aimed at reducing food waste (e.g. Too Good To Go - they are already
huge and probably expensive, but there are smaller initiatives, too, that work
on a similar principle) → e.g. preparing several sets of food to be handed over,
allocating them by a "less-waste partner" and handing them over to
the festival so that festival guests or the audience could choose from them and
decide to buy, for example, a package of "bad-looking" parsley, which
will not sell in a supermarket
limiting or resigning from some prints - programs,
catalogs, posters, leaflets
using lanyards and badges (generally any available resources,
as much as possible) from previous editions e.g. having a set of "neutral lanyards"
to be used in the future regardless of the edition’s visual identification, or using
recycled lanyards - those that have been left over from the previous edition (this
will make the event more colorful and environmentally friendly)
using vegetarian/vegan catering only
providing access to drinking water and encouraging
audience members to bring their own reusable water bottles
offsetting events - calculating the carbon footprint
of the event and determining actions that would neutralize it - e.g. by
planting trees (you can also introduce voluntary donations for this purpose,
e.g. if someone arrives at the festival by plane from outside Poland, s/he is
proposed to donate xPLN, if s/he comes from Poland it is xPLN, etc. – in this
case, the carbon footprint of the trip can also be calculated)
encouraging participants to use public transport
using the services of local suppliers
economic and ecological planning of transportation and
other logistics of all festival activities
creating shared refrigerators, or freedges - if people
participating in the event have some provisions that they will not consume,
they can leave it in the refrigerator and someone else can take it – as an
alternative to throwing it away
preparing an appropriate number of litter bins/garbage
discharge points
As we are aware of human responsibility for the progressing climate disaster, this year, together with other event organizers, we want to talk about what can we do for the climate when acting in the area of human activity that is closest to our hearts, namely the culture. We invite you to a joint debate and exchange of ideas and experiences related to the process of making cultural events more sustainable and eco-friendly. We wish to discuss the potential of culture for increasing the eco-awareness, motivating the public to take up eco-friendly activities or organizing culture in a sustainable way. We will talk about best practices, the most common mistakes, our ideas and ways we can inspire each other. The discussion will take place online and will be moderated by Joanna Mieszkowicz ? the president of the Aeris Futuro Foundation.
Aeris Futuro Foundation The mission of the Foundation is to effectively counteract global climate change, protect and increase biological and landscape diversity, support the development of local communities and promote responsible business. Since 2005, the Foundation has been expanding its offer with various activities for business, public sector offices, as well as education and culture. The Aeris Futuro team supports the organization of green events whose principal idea is to minimize the negative impact on the environment. We encourage you to visit the Foundation's website: https://aerisfuturo.pl/ where you can find various publications and an ecological knowledge-base with information about, among others, climate, water, biodiversity, the zero waste idea, climate policy, renewable energy sources or pro-ecological methods for the organization of festivals.
