As part of our commitment to transparency and bringing our community along on the journey, we’re excited to share an update on our Environmental Action Plan. When it was created in October 2023, we made sure to carefully consider all elements of our work and set ambitious but achievable goals, including some quick wins, and some longer term visions for 2023/24.
Key Successes from Year One
- Carbon Literacy Training has been undertaken by four members of the team and board, so we can effectively and sustainably use these learnings throughout our activity and operations.
- Our first year of tracking the carbon output of our activity and office has given us a baseline figure (approximately 2 tonnes CO2 equivalent) that we can compare against in subsequent years.
3. We joined the Sustainable Arts West Midlands network following the Culture Shift Symposium at Midlands Arts Centre, and are attending quarterly meetings to discuss current issues and successes with other brilliant local organisations.
4. We created a Strategic Climate Fund to financially support local organisations who are taking action on climate change. This year we supported Growing Up Green with £250. In subsequent years, our stakeholders will vote for where the fund should be allocated.
5. The launch of our Environmental Book Group, where the staff team gets together with the wider Spectra community of freelancers to discuss four books a year. These meetings every 6 weeks have been a provocative and insightful way to connect with one another and really embed what we’re learning into the work we are doing at Spectra. This is what we’ve been reading and listening to since December, and we thoroughly recommend them all:
- It’s Not That Radical by Michaela Loach – An easy to understand introduction to climate and racial justice that offers hopeful actions we can all take to tackle the climate crisis.
- The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh – A dense book that intricately weaves together many issues of inequality, climate and colonialism through the history of the nutmeg trade.
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer – A beautiful, rich compilation of stories and histories from Turtle Island which are used to reflect on our world today and how we can get back to a more reciprocal relationship with the land and the rest of our living kin.
Other Activity and Learning
Alongside these actions, we also created a garden installation at Sandwell General Hospital which increased the biodiversity of the site, with native and pollinator-friendly plants, upcycled materials and sustainable Hügelkultur planters. With garden-building being a key strand of our work, we were keen to try to understand how much carbon is sequestered in these structures but quickly learned – after conversations with researchers at Kew Gardens and Birmingham Botanical Gardens – that this is a pretty difficult and complicated process. So, for now, we’ll keep our focus on carbon reduction.
Due to his condition, Sam is rarely able to sleep through the night. While he would once have simply come outside and sat next to the bike shelter looking out at the car park, he now comes to Buzz Stop, smelling the lavender and jasmine, taking the time to reflect in solitude. He has found it therapeutic.
Buzz Stop Case Study Extract
Moving forward
Our Action Plan for 2024-25 has been reviewed by our staff team and Board members and can be found below. Some actions from last year remain as they are ongoing processes that we want to make sure remain at the forefront of decision making.