We work together
Remember that an institution is its team. If you are not part of management, do not wait for regulations coming from ‘above’ – start collecting observations and information. If you are in charge of an institution, do not provide your team with a climate emergency announcement accompanied by a list of guidelines. Work together, support those already interested in ecology, green teams and their initiatives. If such a team does not exist in your institution, create one (see: GREEN TEAMS). Together with members of the green team, collate activities from all departments that aim at responding to climate challenges in different ways. Collect the needs that individual employees indicate as important to be included in the work of the institution. Organise an all-staff meeting to present the conclusions. Showcase activities already undertaken by individuals or entire departments. Present examples of good practices from other institutions and organisations. Talk about your motivations and inspirations.
Good start
Give yourself and your team a good start. Gather existing practices, smaller and larger, to appreciate initiatives taken, irrespective of how advanced, complex, cross-sectional or systemic they may or may not be. It is better to avoid shaming or accusing people of doing too little or of not doing things well enough. Take a diligent look at what is already being done and on that basis set the directions for development. Focus on inspiring others and asking questions, rather than being afraid that you cannot answer every question. Wise reflection on ecology consists of carefully defining what you know, as well as determining the scope for institutional agency and resolving its limits. Do not just announce you are starting something big and unique that needs to be done quickly. Invite discussion and open criticism. There are many people who avoid the label ‘ecological’ because they are tired of empty declarations or do not understand what specific procedures entail. Shared reading, preferably current studies on various aspects of the problem, may be a good pretext for discussing the climate.
> Reliable sources of knowledge can be found, for example, in the Climate Knowledge Database, which monitors materials on climate change, verifies their quality, and then places them in its online repository. It is also worth referring to materials published by specific cultural institutions which collect reflections from a given sector.
> One of the most popular websites dedicated to science and climate in Poland is ‘Nauka o klimacie’ (Climate Science). There you will find both scientific articles and comments on current events affecting climate change policy.
> Climate knowledge database Global Compact Network Poland.
Support in combating climate disinformation
One of the greatest dangers to a proper understanding of climate change is disinformation. It is important to ensure that people not only have access to reliable sources, but also understand how climate change content is manipulated. Katarzyna Bąkowicz, PhD (SWPS) clearly describes this, listing the most important disinformation strategies in this area (quote):
– Providing false information.
– Manipulating true data.
– Failing to cite sources of information.
– Undermining the scientific consensus on climate change, research and scientific authorities in this field.
– Citing experts who are not independent but are affiliated with, for example, the fossil fuel industry
– Creating conspiracy theories around climate protection (e.g., portraying climate policy as a conspiracy by global elites or wealthy Western European countries against countries such as Poland).
– Shifting responsibility for climate protection onto others (for example, other countries).
– Repeating the same arguments and slogans over and over again (e.g. climate protection is an ‘ideology’, “fad”, ‘circus’, and irrational climate policy is the cause of rising energy prices and inflation).
– Accumulating details and technicalities that are incomprehensible to the audience, which increases their susceptibility to disinformation.
in: Katarzyna Bąkowicz, „Dezinformacja klimatyczna. Techniki, narracje, oddziaływanie” [Climate disinformation. Techniques, narratives, impact’] (2023).
Common lessons
It is important that the need for action is understood by all employees. Taking care of equal access to knowledge by allocating working time for joint education, discussions, reaching conclusions, and then equal participation in initiating actions and changes, regardless of the positions held or differentiation of departments, will strengthen the team and contribute to building collective knowledge. Sharing various sensitivities, dilemmas or limitations will enrich the institution’s operating strategies. Organise a series of lectures and workshops, invite experts, specialists and artists who will feed your collective knowledge.
You can ask staff members for specific recommendations on this topic. Are there people they would like to listen to, ask questions, or express their concerns to?
> Green change in culture, guests: Joanna Tabaka, Iwona Woźniak (2025).
> ABC of a Green Cultural Institution. Debate featuring Joanna Baranowska, Tomasz Ignalski, Katarzyna Roj, Joanna Tabaka, Iwona Woźniak (2025).
> Debate on institutional ecology: Green cultural institutions – how culture can support environmental education. Debate featuring Joanna Tabaka, Ewa Chomicka, Iwona Dolecka, Beata Barbara Frankowska, Magdalena Klepczarek (2024).
> Aleksandra Jach, „Ekologia instytucji kultury” [Ecology of a cultural institution], „Projektowanie”, ASP Warszawa, 2024.
> “Ekologie kultury. Jak sztuka i instytucje kultury mogą włączyć się w działania proklimatyczne i proekologiczne” [Ecologies of culture. How art and cultural institutions can engage in pro-climate and pro-environmental activities] (2023), an e-book created in a theatrical and performative context.
> A Green Cultural Institution. Why it is worthwhile and how to address climate change issues – a meeting with Joanna Tabaka (2023).
> Joanna Tabaka, „Zielona Instytucja Kultury. O stawaniu się miejscem kultury przyjaznym naturze” [A Green Cultural Institution. On becoming a nature-friendly cultural venue], 2020.
> Joanna Tabaka, „Dobre praktyki proekologiczne w warszawskich instytucjach kultury” [Good environmental practices in Warsaw’s cultural institutions], 2020.
Nature trips
Almost all studies, sociological and psychological interpretations show that regular, direct contact with nature deepens the awareness of ecological changes, makes people more sensitive to the world of nature, and also brings psychological and emotional relaxation. Regular work trips to the surrounding wild corners of nature may turn out to be a good practice. Invite naturalists, people with a passion for the outdoors and artists to conduct work trips for you, sharing their knowledge and interests. Perhaps someone from the team is fascinated by some area or some species of flora or fauna? Include the practice of regular, e.g. monthly trips into the institutional calendar. This way, you will also take care of the emotional wellbeing of employees. Together you will learn systemic moderation at work and get to know each other in non-professional situations.
Common activities
According to science, direct contact with the soil improves the mood. When organising friendly, neighbourly spaces (see: GOOD NEIGHBOURLINESS), do it as a team, without distinguishing between core, administrative or technical departments. Make sure to reserve time for joint activities. Designate days in your calendar when you spend time outdoors, working together. In every institution there are staff members who are experts on such topics and who can guide the rest of the team in its activities. You can set up a rain garden in front of your building. It is a simple and easy-to-implement project which does not require a large area. During the work, you will become familiarised with the real issues involved in saving the climate. It will also be a message for your audience that you do not just pay lip service to the idea of being environmentally conscious – you talk about climate change in your programme and you take action yourself.
Climate Emergency
Familiarise yourself with reports on climate alarms. The reports of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are the most comprehensively developed and widely recognised by many scientific, academic and activist circles. In the reports you will find extensive evidence that urgent action is necessary at all levels of government and all organised human activity. Cultural institutions must take a stand and prevent the disregard of the deepening ecological and climate crises. Join other institutions, declare a Climate Emergency, as did, for example, Czech arts and culture institutions and organisations. (see: PARTNERSHIPS AND ECO-COALITIONS)
> The climate emergency was most widely discussed in public debate around 2019. In 2025, climate change continues to take its grim toll, especially in the countries of the global south. See what they are facing: “Sinking islands, vanishing forests: World leaders call for urgent climate action”, 2025.
Revision of institution’s mission
Open a team discussion on the need to revise the institution’s mission. While agreeing with the diagnosis of the Climate Emergency, assess critically the mission and goals which your institution sets for itself in its strategic documents. Look at the values it lists and consider whether they need to be verified. Also, take a look at how programme activities symbolically locate your institution. Does your institution measure its importance in a vertical perspective, prioritising activities aimed at prestige and success determined by the principles of competition, referring to a globally established hierarchy, i.e. measuring itself against other institutions with a similar profile? Or is the importance and uniqueness of the institution seen horizontally, creating an environment of mutual interests and providing specific tools to improve the quality of life? Think as a team about what the current and specific historical moment suggests, and where to look for anchors for the institution’s mission. As a group of people who prepared this guide, we say straightforwardly: we must look for anchors and values in the world closest to us, in the policy of moderation, in cooperation, in the policy of commons, in intersectional justice applying to various categories (environmental, economic, social, etc.) as well as in kindness and community. A very inspiring example of a careful, all staff-inclusive, systemic evolution of an organisation from an ‘ordinary’ art institution to a commons institution is the Casco Art Institute in Utrecht. It might seem that this transformation is about something else. But as we point out in many places, greening in terms defined by us refers to the complexity of crises and problems that led to the Climate Emergency. In our guide, we look for hints for eco-transformation in various methods, including feminist economics, policy of moderation (in the sense of ‘degrowth’) or commons. The process of evolution that the Casco Art Institute has undergone is an example rich in inspiring tools and methods of work and cooperation.
> Manifesto of Komuna Warszawa as a social cultural institution.
> Description of the Casco Art Institute’s transformation, 2023.
> Conversation with Igor Stokfiszewski around the idea of a social cultural institution (2022)
> In the Polish context, BWA Wrocław has been undergoing such a transformation for some time now. What does this mean specifically? Developing projects aimed at supporting grassroots creative initiatives, ensuring quality in relation to regeneration in the context of culture – offering real spaces for rest, a fresh approach to telling the story of Lower Silesia and strengthening the imagination for the future in the context of the climate crisis. The people managing this institution say directly that a cultural institution: ‘must respond to the climate crisis, support local initiatives and create places of real refuge’. 2025
