Environmental Responsibility

We all live on this planet and we all have a responsibility to look after the environment. Charities and non-profits exist to solve the world’s problems, not to create them, so we must do all that we can to meet the needs of the people that we support now, whilst also ensuring that future generations can live a fulfilled life on this planet too. The climate emergency also presents real risks to the future sustainability of our organisation, as well as the planet.

• • UK transport is often impacted by the severe weather events (flooding, heatwaves, strong winds, etc) caused by climate change, including public transport and private travel. This can impact the ability of participants to travel to our activities and our team members’ ability to deliver sessions.
  • Climate change also creates increased delivery costs and insurance costs. These costs are rising due to more claims for climate related events, there is an increased need for venue repairs following severe weather and heating and cooling costs are rising in public venues due to the changing climate too.
  • Food cost increases due to problems with supply caused by climate change and extreme weather mean than people are spending more money on food, leaving them with less disposable income. This impacts DanceSyndrome in terms of workshop participation fees, performance tickets and donations, all of which comes from disposable income rather than being “essential”.
  • There is likely to be even greater competition for donations and funding due to all charities being impacted by climate change. The proportion of philanthropic giving that goes to charities mitigating climate impact is likely to increase from the current 2% (Source: ICAEW Insights), meaning that other charities are likely to see a reduction. This means that alternative business models will be needed that are less reliant on philanthropic giving need to be developed to ensure financial sustainability.

• • • Attempt to reduce our carbon footprint – communicating with participants and venues about their own environmental responsibilities and changes they can make will be key to this.
    • Use art to influence policy makers and share important messages from our artists.
    • Create change locally by talking about climate change in the communities that we work in.
    • Be a catalyst for conversations around climate change with partners and stakeholders.
    • Be “net positive” by giving more to the world than we take. This means working primarily for positive outcomes for people and the planet, instead of being driven by profit margins.

A key piece of learning this year has been that if we want people in our communities to think about serious issues like climate change then we need to relieve other worries, such as social inequalities, health care issues, social isolation, financial challenges and other significant concerns. If the people we work with don’t have the headspace for thinking about climate change, then none of our communications on the issue will ever be effective. Our impact measurement shows that removing concerns like these and improving health and wellbeing is one of DanceSyndrome’s greatest strengths and we didn’t expect that to be something that also contributed to our environmental responsibility impact.

Other key learning:

• • Environmental responsibility only works through “lived” policies that are put into practice operationally on a day-to-day basis.
  • Measuring environmental impact is challenging and there is no “perfect” solution. It’s best to have a broad overview of the organisation’s impact and to focus on making reductions wherever possible, rather than getting too involved with perfecting detailed statistics.
  • Online and digital activity has much more negative environmental impact than people realise. For example, in a year, the emails sent and received by an average person is equivalent to an 320km driven in a car.
  • Conversation and communication about climate is really key to extending your impact – this can be within your organisation and outside.
  • It’s important to take ownership of your impact and be transparent about it. If you make a mistake, admit it and try to improve it. If you do something that really works, tell the world about it so that others can do it too! People appreciate honesty and authenticity.
  • The concept of “spheres of influence” is important in climate action. DanceSyndrome is a well connected organisation with lots of valuable partnerships, so by talking to our partners and members about environmental responsibility then we can have a bigger positive impact.
  • “Climate equity” is the principle that some people need to have a larger carbon footprint because of circumstances that they can’t control. As an example, people with learning disabilities often need to take a carer or support worker with them to their activities, which creates a bigger carbon footprint. We need to be realistic about this id aiming for “net zero.”

• • • Formation of an Environmental Responsibility Sub-group with 6 team members which meets quarterly.
    • Green Skills Sustainability Basics: 6 week long training course completed by 2 members of staff and learning shared with the sub-group members.
    • Plungington Community Centre identified as a pilot venue to work with as a partner for developing a model for how to work with community venues on environmental responsibility. Initial meeting completed.
    • Completed Beyond Carbon survey to start measuring our environmental impact.
    • We have researched many different types of “green accreditation” for businesses.
    • Attended the launch of LANDS (Lancashire Arts Network for Developing Sustainability) at the bi-annual Lancashire Arts Exchange. LANDS is positioned as a vital program of climate action, engagement, advocacy, and support for Lancashire artists and arts organisations.
    • Researched our bank, IT providers etc to check their policies on environmental responsibility.
    • Delivered a workshop about sustainability and environmental responsibility with our Dance Leaders.
    • Reviewed the Green Touring Guide and considered how it can be applied to DanceSyndrome’s co-production model.
    • Replaced our traditional “Secret Santa” with thoughtful messages, saving the purchase of approximately 30 £5 gifts for our extended team.
    • Started communicating our efforts via social media and funder reports.
    • Produced a new dance piece called “The Sunken Forest” which addressed issues of rising sea levels caused by climate change. This was performed at our EXPRESS ’24 Showcase.