London Calling

I always saw myself as someone who was very aware of the responsibility of living with consideration for my fellow man. I would have said I cared a lot for the environment, without giving it much thought. Then I watched Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” and a lot changed for me. Suddenly I realised I was sleepwalking through life unaware of impending disaster. It is easy to be a busy fool, fiddling while Rome burns or is it Los Angeles or the outskirts of Sydney. It was a huge wake up call for me.

Images started to come into my mind about global warming. I remembered when I climbed Kilimanjaro how small the glaciers looked versus the traditional image shown of the mountain. If you had asked me five years before whether the environment was important I would have said very much so. And yet there I was driving around in a Range Rover because it was safe for the kids!!

A Prius has replaced the Range Rover. Taxis have been dropped for an Oyster card. Everything at home that can be recycled is recycled. All those measures are not enough when your company is running 22 vans through London and the South-East five days a week.

At London Calling we tend not to do things by half. When we embrace an idea we go for it. By the end of next year we intend to have all our vans either LPG (Liquid Paraffin Gas) or electric. By the end of this year we will be three quarters of the way to achieving that target. We recycle all of the remaining print and we know exactly where it is going and what it will be next. We have become more efficient in distributing and displaying print as we are covering fewer miles as our routing of journeys becomes more and more sophisticated.

We are embracing sustainability throughout the company. We have a green committee that has representatives from each department. We had a sustainability audit with Global Action Plan and now are working towards a Government accreditation.

Sustainability has become a genuine focus and every step along the way to hitting our environmental policy objectives and carbon footprint targets is met with as much enthusiasm as hitting our sales and profitability target.

I believe that the sustainability issue is going to grow in importance over the next few years as we are all forced to wake up and be more aware. Whatever you read and whenever you turn on the news, climate change and sustainability is not far from the surface. Obama, as President, I believe creates a new chapter and new momentum to the progress and even the financial crisis has failed to push the issue off the agenda. With the 2012 Olympics approaching at a frightening speed the ‘One Planet” objectives increases the awareness of the change and places London as a centre of excellence for sustainability.

I recognise that this is not a quick fix but from now on a way of life. At London Calling we are all prepared to take responsibility and our staff show a heartening enthusiasm to embrace the challenge.

By 2012 we will have a fleet of LPG and electric vehicles. We will have reduced our energy consumption to a minimum level and may well have invested in ways of generating our own energy. We want to explore more and more ways of making a difference, exploring zero emission hydrogen fuel cells and ways of reducing our total energy consumption further. We owe a huge thank you to Dr Ben Todd at Arcola Theatre for pointing us in the right direction and providing added enthusiasm and motivation for us to go further. We will have established a best practice for our industry and put forward recommendations as to how others can follow. Sustainability is something to share with everyone.

I took my kids to get a haircut last month and while Charlie was being “done” Larry (7 years old) was given an apple to eat. Where do I put the core? He asked. In the kitchen he was told. He returned with the core still in his hand saying he couldn’t find the compost bin!!

That’s the future when it becomes an unquestionable habit for everyone to embrace. I believe as a company we can inspire our clients as well as our peers to concentrate on reducing the damage we are doing to the planet. Our sponsorship of JAM, the AMA quarterly publication, is helping us get our message over to our clients and we will continue to pursue these goals. Then and only then can we talk about sustainability as something real rather than just a pale aspiration?

Andrew Moir – Managing Director

London Calling is pleased to be providing used wooden pallets for the Treehouse Gallery Project to use as building materials. The TreeHouse Gallery is a collaborative project that will take place in London’s Regents Park throughout July and August 2009. Their aim is to re-imagine one of the great outdoor public spaces of the city.

“The site, situated on the banks of the Boating Lake, will form an array of tree-top structures that will act as a catalyst to ignite the collective imagination, encouraging adults and children alike to explore a variety of creative responses to nature”

More info can be found on the TreeHouse Gallery website.

The London Calling Eco Group met again at the beginning of May to discuss ongoing initiatives. Some key points address below -

BS8555 Accreditation

Guy Smith explained that the three phases of the course have been completed and work is now needed on developing Environmental Management Programmes. Responsibility for each area has been allocated to individual members of the Eco Group.

Areas to be covered are:

1. Training

• Sustainability Policy to be promoted in the Staff Manual.

• A sustainability training sheet to be part of the induction process for all new staff – recycling / energy use / relevant information.

• All staff to receive regular briefings to understand ongoing sustainability projects and targets.

2. Measurable Targets

• Utility bills (Water/Gas/Electricity) – are we using less than last year?

• Fuel (Diesel/LPG) – reduction per annum?

• Recycling from warehouse (paper/cardboard)

• Recycling domestic waste (glass/tins/plastic)

• Use of copier paper per annum (reams per person)

• Bin audits in N1 and SE16 to ensure paper is not being thrown out with general waste

3. Site History

• Site map and office layout

• Water courses in surrounding area/Land Registry plan

• Any historic environmental issues?

4. Legal / Environmental information

• Subscription to a legal/environmental association to ensure regularly updated information

‘Switch Off’ Policy monitors

It’s been noted that some members of staff have been forgetting to switch off office equipment. In light of this Anita will cover Ardleigh Road and Guy will cover Bermondsey to ensure all equipment has been turned off every evening and to politely remind repeat offenders who leave their equipment on!

Twitter

Guy explained that a Twitter account had been opened for London Calling and it would be a great forum to highlight our sustainability initiatives. We have several followers already so must ensure that we regularly update our tweets! We can be found at http://twitter.com/LdnCallingArts

Here at London Calling we have an appointed Sustainability group. Members of staff from different departments volunteered to be a part of this group who meet every month or so to discuss issues raised and action ideas regarding Sustainability and London Calling. Here are some of the key points summarised from the last meeting, last month.

- The ‘switch-off’ policy is in operation across both office sites in Islington and Bermondsey. Computers were being left on over night for various IT updates, but now these updates are done automatically so there is no need for them to be left on. A ‘monitor’; is to be appointed in each office to ensure this happens.

- This Sustainability blog is being updated regularly with input from different departments. We are also putting together a list of links every now again with the best on the web of news, blogs and articles relating to Sustainability.

- Our Head of Distribution is attending the BS8555 Accreditation course aiming to create and implement a bespoke Environmental Management System for London Calling.

- We now have a Battbox (http://battbox.co.uk/home.html) in our office, which means we are able to dispose of old batteries. Staff are also encouraged to bring old batteries from home to be disposed of.

- Our Islington office now also has a recycling box for containers such us tins, cardboard and plastics so we can now recycle kitchen rubbish as well as paper.

Here are some interesting articles from across the web:

Seeds of Sustainability – Imagine 2050

A farm inherited by Sylvia Baretto in Brazil has developed from a chemically fertilized coffee plantation into a progressive organic farm that looks after its workers. They want to spread the word and their knowledge via their website (http://www.fafbrazil.com/fafbr/index.asp)

Sustainable Travel Plan for City – BBC News Wales

Cardiff is being given upwards of £28 million to become Wales’ first sustainable travel town. This BBC article outlines what changes and improvements will be made. There are many comments underneath about this from locals giving their opinion on this massive investment – Cardiff Transport Strategy

Sustainable Sanity – controldesign.com

This article highlights the interesting point of the need to win back labour from other countries to help in making manufacturing of products more sustainable.

Corporate Social Responsibility is vital for businesses to survive – independent.co.uk

Corporate Social Responsibility, also known as CSR, is a must in business in the present financial climate where long-term solutions should be favoured over the short-term and ultimately this will benefit businesses as much as it will benefit society.

Designers Accord NYC Town Hall: 2 Reflections-core 77

This blog gives us an insight into a meeting of a group of designers based in New York speaking about the ways they can encourage businesses to be more sustainable in the designs they produce. In turn for this to be possible they discuss the merits of being able to share this in a community of sustainably aware designers.

Ok I’m calling our links blog sustainability links this time, so by the modern wonder that is Google Alerts I bring to you London Callings pick of the week top sustainability links.

A Study on the most sustainable countries

An article on how art and sustainability can and should work together

Towards sustainability, lifestyle, what is the most difficult thing to change?

An inspiring article on sustainable Dave’s mission to reduce the amount of waste he produces in a year.

Sustainable Dave’s blog can be found here

Sustainable Travel International is a global non profit travel company that promotes environmentally responsible travel, their site can be found here and an interesting article explaining their position here

The Times newspaper has carried out an article on London Calling. It gives some interesting background history on Julia Moir-Jones the owner and the beginnings of our company as well as what we are doing in terms of future goals with working towards sustainability in the Arts. Please click below -

London Calling: one business that isn’t just taking a flyer

London Calling sponsors Green JAM

“At the heart of (our) sustainability initiative lies the need to successfully deliver environmentally friendly marketing campaigns. We believe this is a commitment we share with our clients.”

This statement is part of a longer article that’s running in the latest issue of JAM, the Journal of Arts Marketing and can be found by registering with the AMA:

http://www.a-m-a.org.uk/publications_detail.asp?id=157

(Full disclosure. This article is part of an advertorial running on the back page of the current issue. In other words I’ve paid for that position.)

In point of fact the ad itself was technically free and what I’ve really paid for is the entire print run of the issue, with London Calling taking on the sponsorship for this excellent publication across 2009 (so expect more articles from me in future issues).

In days gone by I’d have probably used this handy advertising space to promote a range of London Calling’s latest services – our thriving South East service perhaps, or maybe our latest experiences with new digital marketing initiatives.

However, given that one of the priority conditions of the sponsorship was that the journal itself be printed to the highest possible environmentally friendly standards, it seemed the perfect venue for us to share our own experiences of grappling with green marketing and to showcase some of the strides that our sustainability partners the Arcola Theatre are making in this area.

As I said, we believe the commitment to sustainable forms of marketing is one we share with our clients. Well, with a readership of almost exclusively arts marketers, this seemed like a great way to extend that dialogue and find out if that’s really true.

One of the most obvious questions I’ve been asked recently is about the costs and benefits of green printing.

I’ll come back to the benefits of green printing in a later post as there’s plenty of good material there and it’s worth covering the topic in depth.

Right now though one of the most immediate benefits to anyone considering greening their print production is that the once worthy but prohibitive costs have come right down the levels you’d expect to see from any quality printing service.
The latest issue of JAM has been produced by the friendly team at Greenhouse Print, and you can find out more about their services and the full range of ethical clients they work with here:

www.greenhouseprint.co.uk

Tom

January is traditionally the month of new resolutions, fresh starts and that often undefined but all-important sense that this year things are going to be different, dammit.

You know what? That kind of thinking just isn’t sustainable.

Here’s the thing. If you’re reading this post then chances are strong you’re either a google-savvy regular reader of green-style blogs and other online eco-resources or you’ve started developing a keen interest in finding out more about what you or your company can do in this area.

Either that or you’re one of the other companies operating in our market sector and you’re keen to find out more about what we’re up to – in which case hello, welcome and read on, this involves you as much as anyone else after all.

At London Calling we’ve been prioritising our sustainable communication strategy behind the scenes with internal changes and developments long before we felt confident enough to start talking about our efforts in this area in any kind public forum.

For instance a commitment to actively green our fleet (currently over 50% LPG and electric and counting) and investing in on-site recycling facilities are green decisions that also yield a practical business value. Forming mutually beneficial partnerships with companies like Arcola Theatre, inviting extensive external auditing from professional consultants like Global Action Plan and lending our services to promote the Mayor of London’s Green Theatre programme is all part of the learning curve: Learning what the real challenges are, benefiting from the knowledge of those who’ve gone ahead of us and, ultimately, sharing what we’ve learnt to benefit other organisations embarking on the same journey.

So then, of all that we’ve learnt so far, what’s the most important idea we want to carry forward into 2009? It’s a tricky one, but fortunately I think one of the key sustainability concepts is also one of the easiest to explain.

At heart the clue is in the word itself. Sustainability is now synonymous with the Green Movement, but it can also be more simply defined as the ability to keep up and keep something going. It’s an action or process where you can maintain momentum, and for an organisation, sustainability should be an ongoing process rather than a short, sharp New Year detox.

Where we can learn from the traditional January cycle of resolutions is to use this time to look back over what we have achieved so far and that it helps to write down and record your aims and targets as you go, which is exactly what this blog is for.

It is those decisions made, lessons learned and partnerships formed over the past 12 months that will ensure our policies are sustainable for the coming year, whilst at the same time, enable us to continue to look for new and innovative ideas that will help us improve on what we’ve already begun.

And the big aim this year? A continued resolve to work hard and avoid the easy out.

Green is good, but Greenwashing, or the art of punting a few hundred quid at some online carbon offsetting website for a notional badge of carbon neutrality? Well, let’s just say that’s one habit we intend to continue avoiding in 2009.

Happy New Year

Tom

Over the past few weeks we have been working hard to produce our environmental policies so we have direction in order to reduce our carbon outputs and ultimately aim to become carbon neutral. To see what we have done and plan to do please click below -

London Calling Sustainability Plan 2008
What have we done so far?