The main audience of children’s arts and culture is children and young people, whose rights we, as practitioners of arts and culture (for children), promote through art and culture. However, children’s right to a good future is currently under threat. The unsustainable use of natural resources, the climate crisis, and the collapse of biodiversity are affecting the future of the human species. Without a well-functioning planet, neither we nor future generations can live good and safe lives.
Those working in children’s arts and culture have almost unlimited opportunities to increase their positive environmental impact – in other words, their ecological footprint – for example, by creating impactful arts-based methods for imagining sustainable futures or by building an experiential relationship with the environment through cultural heritage.
But what about the ecological footprint? Every exhibition, festival, tour, and workshop run by a children’s cultural centre or other arts and culture practitioners creates an environmental impact. If we want to improve the environmental impact of our activities, meaning reducing our ecological footprint, we need to look closely at the environmental sustainability of our operations and leadership, and actively develop a sustainable operational culture. Also, children are often quick to notice if there’s a contradiction between what we say and what we do. That’s why it’s worth rolling up our sleeves and making concrete improvements.
What does the ecological footprint of children’s arts and culture consist of?
The environmental impact of activities can be assessed in many ways and from different angles. Because of the urgent climate crisis, many people are most familiar with the concept of a carbon footprint, which refers to how much greenhouse gas is generated during the life cycle of a product, activity, or service. The ecological footprint, on the other hand, describes how much land and water area is needed to produce the food, materials, and energy a person or group consumes, as well as to manage the resulting waste. Even a Baltic Sea footprint has been calculated. What’s clear is that all activity creates some level of environmental impact. However, we can change our practices to help secure the conditions for a good life for future generations.
In the Guide to Sustainable Development for Children’s Cultural Centres we divided eco-friendly everyday practices and a sustainable lifestyle into the following areas: energy consumption; travel and logistics; purchases; material efficiency and waste; water use and impact on water bodies; biodiversity; and also wellbeing at work, occupational safety, development, and continuous learning, including a child-centred approach. In the guide, members and experts of the Association of Children’s Culture in Finland share reflections on real-life challenges and insightful examples of solutions.
When assessing the sustainability of one’s own activities, you can ask questions like:
- Is the centre’s electricity supplied by an EKOenergy-certified provider?
- Are indoor temperatures kept at 21°C or below?
- Are windows and doors properly sealed?
- Are electrical devices and lights switched off when not in use?
- Are staff encouraged to travel by land and use public transport for work trips?
- Is remote work supported?
- Are the emissions from work trips and transport compensated?
- If an artist or performance is brought in from abroad, can it be circulated at multiple events or children’s cultural centres?
- When is it better to bring a cultural experience to the children, and when to bring the children to the experience?
- Do food offerings prioritise plant-based, local, seasonal, organically produced, and sustainably certified ingredients and products?
- What can be rented, borrowed, or shared?
- What can be repaired, customised, or reused?
- What can be bought second-hand?
- How can materials be recycled?
- What kind of waste is generated most at your children’s cultural centre, and from which activities?
- Could the amount of waste be reduced by rethinking the activity or the catering?
- How could you increase biodiversity in your centre’s yard or surrounding area?
- Could you plant a meadow, leave dead wood in the garden, or build insect hotels and birdhouses?
The Green Flag is used at Sagalund Museum and Sagalund Children’s Cultural Centre.
A Sustainable Development Programme as a Tool
The most systematic, and therefore also the most effective, way to start reviewing and improving the sustainability of an organisation’s consumption is to create a dedicated sustainable development programme.
Developing such a programme is also a key step in the process of obtaining various sustainable development certifications. Each organisation prepares its programme based on its circumstances, and there is no single correct way to do it. The goal is to create a practical tool that makes learning and promoting a sustainable lifestyle a planned part of the organisation’s activities.
Creating the programme begins with forming a working group and conducting a sustainability review. Based on this review, the most important areas for improvement are selected, and a sustainable development programme is proposed. In other words, an action plan is drawn up. This outlines what actions will be taken and on what timeline. It’s important to do this work collaboratively so that all voices are heard and everyone feels motivated to improve their area of work.
At this stage, it’s also worth considering how the selected themes will be integrated into the children’s cultural centre’s annual activities and content. The planned actions are then implemented, and after the agreed period, progress is reviewed: how well were the goals met, and what should be the next steps?
Author: Kristiina Tiainen
Children’s Culture Officer
Sagalund Museum and Children’s Cultural Centre
www.sagalund.fi
This blog was originally published in Finnish on the lastenkulttuuri.fi website on 11th of February 2022.
