Being a radical subjectivist, I maintain that there is only a single issue that ought to concern everyone. It's the environment, because alone of all categories, it contains everything. There is nothing that sits outside of 'environment,' because it is another word for context. Show me a consciousness without an environment, and I'll call you an idiot.
Being a radical subjectivist, I have a degree of about scepticism about all the claims made by the likes of Al Gore, and I reject the deeper green analysis that insists on the intrinsic worth of nature. But, I am equally sceptical about the counter-arguments that turn up in The Sunday Times every so often. Unlike those people who stomp about calling themselves Skeptics (the ones who combine an intelligent critique of religious statements and a childlike faith in the truth of science), I am an equal opportunities cynic.
My belief in the importance of treating the environment right is not about saving some planet from the naughty humans. Nature, like God, is something that doesn't need my help. What we usually mean by environmental crisis is that the world is becoming more inhospitable for homo sapiens. Nature has a good track record for coming back from adversity - extinction events are a regular feature of Earth's history.
Rather, the need to consider the environmental impact of our behaviour is ultimately to our own benefit (as a collective), and an expression of the human ability to make moral decisions. Even if we can keep polluting and get away with it - we might fund interstellar travel before we reduce the Earth to slag - it's worth not doing it to have a better quality of life and to exercise the moral faculties.
Now I have got that off of my chest, here's some generic moaning about liberalism. The absolute curse of the middle-classes is the ability to mistake talking about something for doing something. The environment is a winner. Everyone deplores the despoiling of the planet. Few people do anything about it.
Scum like me go one better: we preach about it and pretend that this is our contribution. Look back over my response to The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. I believe that I did my bit to combat the exploitation of Chinese workers by reading about it on the web and writing a review.
There's a further problem: when liberals make art, they think that is addressing the issue. I agree that discussion is important, but it can't replace action. And it is important to consider whether the infrastructure of the discussion is actually contributing to the problem under consideration.
I am finally getting back to the environment and, thankfully, a little bit of theatre criticism.
A few years ago at the Fringe, a rash of plays about Green Issues wowed the crowds. Quite a few of them had that horrible liberal piety, a lecture about how bad humans are with no redeeming aesthetic qualities. The hare-brained hypocrisy, comparable to the way Al Gore jets about the world warning about excessive consumption, was too busy accusing to think about the environmental cost of putting on a play.
The NTS went some way to addressing this with their show about Polar Bears, which toured on bike and used no lighting.
However, something good has happened. Since I have had my rant, I am handing over to the press release. I like this initiative.
Applications are now opened for consideration for the 2013 Fringe Sustainable Production Award, designed to reward sustainable practice in the production of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show. Productions are invited to engage their audiences with sustainability, take responsibility for their environmental impacts, and think big about how the arts can help to grow a sustainable world. Entries are invited from companies until 18 August, with shortlists announced on 5, 12 & 19 August and the final award being made on Friday 23 August in a ceremony at Fringe Central.
"We believe artists and cultural organisations are uniquely placed to address the challenges brought on by climate change through the art they produce," says Gemma Lawrence from Creative Carbon Scotland,"The audiences they speak to and the way in which they operate. This major award celebrates action being taken by artists and companies to use the form, content and framing of their work to engage with climate change during the Festival Fringe."
The Fringe Sustainable Production Award celebrates the best in environmentalism on the Edinburgh Fringe, and highlights the different exciting approaches Fringe productions are taking to sustainability. We're inviting all Fringe productions – whether they've just started thinking about recycling or whether they've been bike-powering venues for years – to apply for this high profile award, and to tell us the new ideas and new ways they have for engaging with sustainability
“The purpose of this award is not just to recognize the greenest production. Our objective in offering this award is to ask questions of ourselves, as theater artists, about the greater impact of our work on the world around us. The fringe model provides an ideal platform to introduce these ideas," says Wright, "The CSPA is not just another ‘go green’ organization. We hope to gather and distribute information that aids in the sustainability of the earth, the sustainability of our communities, and the sustainability of our art.”
In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.
We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.
Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:
Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.
Engage arts organisations and stakeholders in promoting environmental sustainability;
Provide support for arts organisations to be at the forefront of shaping an environmentally sustainable Scotland;
Support arts organisations, artists and audiences to be as environmentally sustainably as possible.
Okay - not that impressed by the second factor - that's giving points for the sort of grandstanding I don't approve. But the rest is okay...
Why sustainable practice in the cultural sector?
Like all sectors, the cultural sector faces risks from climate change and the legal, social and economic changes it will bring. Much more than many other sectors, arts and cultural organisations have huge potential to provoke crucial public behaviour change. We believe cultural organisations are uniquely placed to address the challenges brought on by climate change through the art they produce, the audiences they speak to and the way in which they operate themselves.
CSPA Fringe Initiatives: http://www.sustainablepractice.org/programs/fringe/
2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Questionnaire: http://bit.ly/cspafringe13
Might as well be a cynic to the end: has the CSPA calculated the carbon footprint of the programme?
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