Remember that the basis for green change for a stationary cultural institution is the building – how we use energy, water and other materials in it.

Focus on raising awareness, shaping daily habits and promoting green transport among your team, collaborators and audience, as well as providing basic infrastructure that supports pro-environmental choices.

Everyday practices are related to the daily use of space and the introduction of environmentally friendly habits within the team. By raising awareness and implementing various improvements, we can significantly reduce water, heat and energy consumption, limit waste production and build a shared responsibility for the environment.

The main goal at this stage is the implementation of practices making use of water, heating, cooling and electrical appliances more efficient.

Ecological solutions make it possible to limit energy consumption, lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduce waste by choosing appropriate equipment and recycling it. Digital technologies account for a similar amount of global CO2 emissions as aviation. The internet is powered by physical infrastructure operating 24/7, running on the electricity derived from fossil fuels. Pro-environmental activities which are easiest to introduce include information ecology, e-mail use standards and appropriate disposal methods.

If your institution manages a green area, pay attention to how it is looked after by your institution and your neighbours. In all your activities associated with the ecosystem pay attention to what is happening ‘next door’ to support the change holistically and widen the area fit for animals in the city. The first step would simply be to refrain from adverse activities such as removing fallen leaves and twigs and excessively mowing the grass.

Good neighbourliness may be a particularly good topic for finding and developing activities supporting climate action. Partly because many institutions already carry out projects aimed at developing local and neighbourly partnerships, other institutions have fixed programmes which involve reaching out to the closest neighbourhood. An increasing number of institutions provide common green space for their neighbours in the vicinity of their buildings. This also extends to caring for the natural world: there are wildflower meadows, communal gardens and bee hives for urban bees. In this context, adding ecological activity to these experiences will not be difficult, but it may deepen the meaning of these initiatives. You can also try to weave them into other elements of institutional programmes.

Raising the subject of employees and their rights in the context of climate change and the ecological crisis may be surprising. However, the change associated with the notion of greening cannot omit the issues concerning the employees of cultural institutions. The principle of exploiting resources for profit affects every sector, including culture – and, like everywhere else, requires revision.
Exploitation, hierarchisation, inequality, discrimination, abuse are words we know from the existing economic system, which the natural world is entangled in, and which are transferred to the world of social relationships. Similarly, while introducing changes to the functioning of a cultural institution, one should not omit self-reflection about the practices within the institution. It is an organism which we need to care for and be collectively responsible for.

Look around – you are bound to find a supporter of the green cause among your colleagues. Set up a green team yourself or share your idea with the management. Together you will motivate yourselves to act.

The first step is to revise your current processes associated with the production and use of materials. Think about how to reduce the commissioning and production of new things, how to use and continue to reuse the resources you already have, how to recycle them, how to avoid production traps and which products you should avoid in order not to produce unnecessary waste. Being aware of your decision-making process is key to further stages of sustainable production.

The goal is to reduce emissions resulting from, among other things, the format of the event, transport, accommodation, purchases, catering or promotion. Although sustainable production may seem difficult, it primarily concerns changing habits and building pro-environmental awareness. Begin with areas you have direct influence on and gradually implement other changes.

At this stage, revise your existing promotional activities. Consider how to reduce the number of printed materials, how to make better use of existing materials and resources, how to choose promotional tools more consciously, and how to communicate pro-environmental activities responsibly.

At this stage, an institution may carry out an analysis of good practices and ideas with the help of its employees.

At this stage, what is important is assessing the current situation of the institution, i.e. addressing the question: what quantities of resources are used. At first, it is worth choosing areas that are easy to monitor, such as: consumption of energy, water, paper, fuel in company cars. The necessary information is available on meters or invoices.

First, identify the needs of your institution/organisation and appreciate your own resources, particularly human resources (and the associated competences), but also material and legal. Analyse what is located in your local environment. Talk to other people and institutions about common needs and issues. Even if it turns out that institutional cooperation is not possible at this moment, it may still be possible at the level of specific people. Perhaps your institution offers greater freedom of action and you are more able to make decisions, while in other organisations the situation differs. Get to know people and ask around. Start with a small initiative and develop it together as far as possible.

Give yourself some time for reflection. The design and planning stage is extremely important as it is then that we decide about many solutions that would shape the character of our initiatives. Think about how friendly to the environment, both natural and work environment, these initiatives are going to be. Look at the contexts that form the basis for the programme of greening cultural institutions: the surrounding overproduction, the concept of post-growth, the idea of a feminist cultural institution, and ‘care collectives’. The critical self-diagnosis made at this stage can help us remodel existing patterns and introduce alternative scenarios.

Eco-ethics is a set of values, norms and priorities that indicate a respectful human attitude towards the natural environment. The eco-ethics of cooperation is therefore the application of ecological rules in economic and business relations. This can be achieved through organising environmentally and socially sustainable tenders, researching the company or institution’s policy, introducing relevant provisions in contracts or by activities promoting the change of legal regulations at the municipal, city or even national level.

Climate Emergency is a moment when education and work on the development of pro-environmental awareness outside and inside an institution become crucial. Earmark funds for such activities in the budgets of your projects. Remember that the key to sustainable budgeting is appropriate planning.

Mapping the ongoing changes and current needs should be undertaken on several levels: both those located inside the institution, based on the practices and needs of individual employees, and those outside which the institution can respond to, i.e. global challenges posed by the effects of climate change and ecological crises. In the first step, it is best to take care of the process of non-intrusive education, i.e. one that will be integrated with the functioning of the institution.