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

Sustainability Links from around the web:

Sense & Sustainability: Banking on greener tea

This article in Canada’s National Post discusses the merits of the Lipton Estate, owned by Unilever, in Kericho, Kenya whose management is commendable with responsible labour conditions and sustainable agriculture practices.

Sustainability Is Back In Fashion

The New York Times reports how what has always been viewed as ‘luxury’ goods is now changing. The want is for lasting value and knowledge that materials have been sourced in an environmentally responsible way.

Mars commits to sustainable cocoa production

The Food Business review writes here that Mars have announced they will certify it’s cocoa supply as being produced sustainably by 2020.

Sustainability: Zero-carbon homes

This article examines the government’s pledge to make all new homes zero-carbon by 2016 and looks at what they have defined to be zero-carbon.

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.