Victoria is joined by AMT Lab contributor Georgia Calawerts, to discuss the environmental footprint of the film industry and the steps entertainment companies can take to decrease their carbon footprint. Conversations touch on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), carbon offsetting versus net-zero emissions, the environmental impact of a single episode of television, what some companies are doing to counteract their effect on the environment, and what others can learn from these efforts.
Georgia Calawerts 0:05
In the UK, a single hour episode of TV produced creates 13 metric tons of emissions, the US spends about 5.8 billion metric tons a year, which is an insane amount.
Victoria Sprowls 0:16
Welcome to the Let's Talk series of Tech in the Arts, the podcast for the Arts Management and Technology Lab. Each month we review trending stories on topics such as streaming, artificial intelligence, sustainability, social media, inclusion, and much more. Our goal is to exchange ideas, bring awareness and stay on top of the trends. My name is Victoria Sprowls, the Podcast Producer, and today I have with me, Georgia Calawerts, a contributor to the Arts Management and Technology Lab to talk about the environmental impact of the film and entertainment industry, and how companies in those fields are poised to contribute to the overarching goals of fighting climate change. Georgia, thank you for being here.
Georgia Calawerts 0:52
Thank you for having me.
Victoria Sprowls 0:54
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is finishing up today November 12th as we record this. The goal of the summit is to encourage different countries to slow their contributions to climate change, with the specific goal of securing global net-zero emissions by mid-century and keeping the global temperature from increasing more than 1.5 degrees celsius. In order to reach these goals, the United Nations General Assembly has previously set up a series of SDGs, or Sustainable Development goals, which are “...a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all." Many might question the efficacy of the COP26, and the follow-through on promises made there, given the fact that leaders of nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement, but many of those countries have not made sufficient moves to stave off the worst effects of climate change. The United States itself withdrew from the Paris climate agreement under President Trump, and while President Biden has signed back on to the agreement, some pundits wonder if the US will continue to flip flop on environmental issues under different administrations that may be elected in the future. While many governments mean well, we can see that if real, lasting change is to begin to take hold, it may well be businesses and organizations that have to lead the charge in sustainability efforts - and to not wait for governments to enforce those changes, but to enact them voluntarily for the betterment of society and the future of the planet. So Georgia, I know that in your work for AMT Lab, you’re focusing on a few individual SDGs, one of them being: responsible production and consumption, specifically in the world of entertainment. What was the most shocking discovery you made about waste in the entertainment industry? And what steps can organizations take to prevent such waste?
Georgia Calawerts 2:44
One of the most shocking things I found during my research was the extent of waste production in the film industry. I knew going into my research that this industry produce tons of waste. And I found out from an article from CCCB Lab that up to 95% of materials are thrown away after production.
Victoria Sprowls 3:02
Wow, that's so interesting, because I would assume that companies would want to reuse these materials, if not only for the sake of just cutting down on expenses, like in another production that they have or something like that. So there are no, I mean, 95% goes to waste, you're saying so there's not a lot of reusing going on in the industry. Why do you think that is?
Georgia Calawerts 3:24
I think it's because so many shows, it's hard for a show to continue for a long time, lots of shows are canceled after one or two seasons, a lot of pilots are shot and then never picked up by anyone. And I think that these sets aren't able to be used for anything else. So they just get rid of them.
Victoria Sprowls 3:40
Okay, so in particular, maybe like if they built a living room for a TV show, and it's really only applicable, or they think it's only applicable to that one TV show. They're not going to save that material if the show doesn't get picked up.
Georgia Calawerts 3:53
Yes.
Victoria Sprowls 3:54
Interesting.
Georgia Calawerts 3:56
One of the easiest and most impactful ways to “green” a production is to make small changes and one of the biggest changes is proper food management. On the sets of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, they had sets in UK and Hawaii. And they made small changes to reduce the amount of waste produced from the beginning of the production through the end of it. Specifically on the UK set, they were able to donate excess food to shelters in the area, they saved over 145 kilos of food that otherwise would have been thrown out.
Victoria Sprowls 4:25
And this was during COVID?
Georgia Calawerts 4:26
Yes or no, this was in 2017.
Victoria Sprowls 4:28
Okay, okay, so this was before COVID.
Georgia Calawerts 4:30
Yes.
Victoria Sprowls 4:31
Okay.
Georgia Calawerts 4:31
This is showing practices that have been around for a bit and that movies have started using and then in Hawaii, the same idea was practiced, but instead of the food being donated to shelters, it was donated to local schools, so all the children got free lunch.
Victoria Sprowls 4:45
Sounds great to me. I would love to eat like a movie star. Sounds fun. I would love to know what Chris Pratt's having for lunch.
Georgia Calawerts 4:53
Or the dinosaurs.
Victoria Sprowls 4:55
Right or the dinosaurs, yeah.
Georgia Calawerts 4:58
Other practices that they used onset to reduce waste was reusable water bottles and filling stations, recycling incentives, and lighting was 75% LED, and all the vehicles they used were hybrid.
Victoria Sprowls 5:11
That's great. Well, what I like about that is that some of them are more expensive practices, like replacing LED lights and electric cars, which I know, over time you do recoup you recoup that through gas prices, lighting bills, things like that. But some of them are smaller, you know, smaller choices that you make, like sustainable water bottles or filling stations, things like that.
Georgia Calawerts 5:34
And those make much bigger differences than you would originally think. Which is surprising - sorry.
Victoria Sprowls 5:39
Wow, okay, yeah. No, it's okay. Yeah, it is surprising.
Georgia Calawerts 5:43
-surprising that more films don't do this.
Victoria Sprowls 5:45
Right? Yeah, you would think that the amount it costs, I'm just still stuck on this, the whole amount that it would cost of production, to buy so many water bottles every single day for like the hundreds or 1000s of people on a film set, that it's worth it to them even from just a profit perspective. So I know that single-use plastics are a large concern for many environmentalists. And you were just talking about, you know, reusable water bottles and all this. But the pandemic has made some of those practices harder, especially in the early days of the pandemic, when we had less information. Do you think that the pandemic has made it harder for companies to implement reusable practices? Are there any environmental policies you think entertainment companies implemented, or lessons that they learned from the pandemic that you think will remain moving forward?
Georgia Calawerts 6:36
So there's been lots of pros and cons of the pandemic? And I really like looking at the pros and how it has shaped the film industry for the future.
Victoria Sprowls 6:44
I like that an optimist.
Georgia Calawerts 6:45
Yes. One of the biggest things is proper planning from the beginning of the production of taking that time to think through everything to have a COVID safe production, and they're able to sit there and then think of sustainable practices that would save them money in the end.
Victoria Sprowls 7:00
So if you're already sitting down, you know, with production heads of different departments, and you're thinking about ways that you can make a COVID safe production. Why not? Oh, we're already here. We're already in the planning stages. Let's also think about ways to make the production more sustainable. Exactly.
Georgia Calawerts 7:17
And they're trying to offset the cost with how much biowaste they're creating with the COVID test, the single-use masks all of that. And by having sustainable practices, they're able to kind of offset that a bit.
Victoria Sprowls 7:27
I always feel bad when I go to the doctor's office, and I see that little pink box that's like medical waste. And I'm like, oh, yeah, and I can only imagine on film sets. Now, in particular, it's so much worse with masks gloves, and the COVID tests that are required every day, or almost every day.
Georgia Calawerts 7:48
In an article from The Hollywood Reporter from 2021, it talks about how COVID has actually helped the sustainable practices. There's even production sites in Canada-
Victoria Sprowls 7:56
Not what I would have expected!
Georgia Calawerts 7:57
Neither did I. But in Canada, they have actually used compostable PPE, which is something that I don't think many people have talked about...
Victoria Sprowls 8:06
I didn't even know that existed.
Georgia Calawerts 8:09
But it is possible. Throughout the article, it states that they can't rush decisions anymore, which is how they're able to save money and create sustainability.
Victoria Sprowls 8:18
Right, because before I assume, oh, you think to yourself, you're on a film set. Oh, I need a blue shirt. Okay, let me just run over to Target and get a blue shirt. But now it's like, oh, can you leave the film set? If you come back are you still in a bubble? What's happening? There is much more planning that needs to go into it. So maybe you think, Oh, do I really need that blue shirt? And I'm not just talking about a blue shirt. I'm talking about, like, you know, everyday decisions that make up a lot of waste on these film sets.
Georgia Calawerts 8:45
Yes.
Victoria Sprowls 8:46
Something that gave me hope for the future of sustainability and entertainment was that during COVID, you know, flights were essentially canceled or discouraged for a brief period of time. And typically, many studios choose to move their production outside of California and film on location, because of the large tax incentives many states offered that far outweigh the cost to production companies. However, these companies often do not consider the additional environmental cost of moving an entire production to another state: airfare, shipping, those kinds of things. And so hopefully COVID has incentivized companies to see that, oh, maybe we don't need to fly out and executive for one day on location, maybe we could just do a Zoom meeting. That's one great way that production companies can increase their sustainability. However, let's talk a little about the environmental impact of a single episode of television. And what are some companies doing to counteract that effect?
Georgia Calawerts 9:45
So in the UK, a single-hour episode of TV produced creates 13 metric tons of emissions.
Victoria Sprowls 9:51
Okay, so when you say 13 metric tons of emissions, I am embarrassed to say that I just would have no idea the scale of that, I mean, I'm embarrassed to say I don't even know like what my car emits in a year. And I don't drive my car that often. So I think hopefully it will be less than the average person's car, but kind of help us get a sense of what 13 emission carbon emission 13 metric tons of carbon emissions is. Right.
Georgia Calawerts 10:18
So in total, the US spends about 5.8 billion metric tons a year, which is an insane amount. And there's about there's a carbon limit that the world is supposed to not meet.
Victoria Sprowls 10:31
Right in accord with the Paris Climate Agreement. Right. So yeah, if the US is already at 5.6 billion, we gotta we got to bring that down a little.
Georgia Calawerts 10:42
And that's just for a one-hour TV episode.
Victoria Sprowls 10:46
The 13 metric tons, right.
Georgia Calawerts 10:48
So imagine a whole season of a show like Downton Abbey, it has like 20 episodes or something.
Victoria Sprowls 10:52
So me watching one of my favorite TV shows of all time, I can just now picture. What is it? 13 times 22 metric tons of carbon emissions escaping into the atmosphere as I sit down and aimlessly watch a TV show.
Georgia Calawerts 11:09
They even equate how much sea ice is lost because of this 13 metric tons, which is around 780,000 square meters. That's for an entire year.
Victoria Sprowls 11:18
What do you mean, that's for an entire year? Like that's how many
Georgia Calawerts 11:21
Just from - just from UK alone, the amount of emissions they produce is about 20,000 hours of programming.
Victoria Sprowls 11:29
From the UK film industry?
Georgia Calawerts 11:30
Yes. Just them. So imagine the US, which is huge.
Victoria Sprowls 11:34
Which Yeah, probably has more of a - a bigger film industry.
Georgia Calawerts 11:37
Much more and sea ice loss is one of the biggest issues with the Paris Climate Agreement because we can't have sea levels rising.
Victoria Sprowls 11:43
Right. And it's hard to, you know, put that ice back.
Georgia Calawerts 11:46
Yes, Once it's melted, you can't really get it back.
Victoria Sprowls 11:49
Right. So given that, what are some companies doing to counteract the effect that, you know, my aimless TV watching has on the environment?
Georgia Calawerts 11:57
So this is, again, just in the UK, the whole article was about the UK.
Victoria Sprowls 12:01
Okay, but applicable.
Georgia Calawerts 12:02
Yes. But they every production company is mandated to have a Carbon Report released every year of how much emissions they use. And it's to help them start thinking about how they can lower these numbers and use more sustainable practices such as renewable energies.
Victoria Sprowls 12:19
Do you see carbon offsetting as a useful tool or a dangerous trap to fall into.
Georgia Calawerts 12:25
So the goal isn't to offset it's to reduce carbon emissions overall in the world. And I think that the goal when you try to offset is, isn't to reduce emissions, you're just thinking how to be net neutral. And when you're a larger company, you have more money to buy carbon offsets.
Victoria Sprowls 12:42
So you when you say the goal isn't to offset, it's to lower emissions. What you're, you're talking about, like global goals with the COP26 and the Paris Climate Agreement?
Georgia Calawerts 12:52
Yeah so we're going at a rate right now, that's going to overshoot the Paris Climate Agreement.
Victoria Sprowls 12:57
Right, which is the 1.5 degrees of celsius. I think I have heard that, you know, the 1.5 degrees celsius, might not be the goal anymore, but that even if we surpassed that, you know, 1.6 is better than 1.7 is better than 1.8, anything we can do.
Georgia Calawerts 13:12
And we just can't be offsetting anymore, we need to be drastically reducing how much is being emitted.
Victoria Sprowls 13:19
Right. So and the exact difference between carbon offsets and reducing is that with offsets, you know, you're still emitting into the atmosphere. But you are then buying carbon offsets which allow you which, you know, pays companies to take that carbon back out of the air, which is kind of a weird, cyclical process and not the best for the environment, probably. So to that end, what are the biggest changes you see happening in the entertainment industry, that you think could apply across the board at big and small organizations, that would make a real difference in their environmental impact, and that would actually allow them to brand themselves as a more sustainable business.
Georgia Calawerts 14:03
I think some of the biggest changes that need to become more standardized is proper planning. The more I read, the more it is about planning and thinking about how they can be sustainable while saving money. And sustainability does save companies tons of money. But since the entertainment industry is such a fast-paced industry, they don't normally have that time to sit back and think about their decisions. They just go go go.
Victoria Sprowls 14:26
So COVID has kind of given them that time to sit back and think about their decisions. And we're hoping that they will carry that with them going forward. That's the goal.
Georgia Calawerts 14:34
Yes and there is so many case studies before the pandemic that showcase the sustainability practices, including Jurassic World: Call of the Wild by Disney. And they - it shows that proper planning can really go a long way in these productions. I also think that looking at climate change as a group project, instead of as just individual companies doing different things is really important.
Victoria Sprowls 14:57
Right. It's kind of like when what I was saying earlier about how you can look at other companies and see what they're doing. So maybe taking the practices from the UK, which require you were saying requires carbon reporting by film companies, and maybe implementing that here in the US or even if it's not implemented, businesses just willingly doing that in order to work together to decrease emissions in the film industry overall.
Georgia Calawerts 15:25
Yes. And collaborating is just not something that happens a lot with competitors in the film industry. They are very cutthroat about the products they're producing and the different movies and the movie rights and everything. But I think if they're able to share resources and work to the same goal of having a sustainable world, then they'll be able to create more content for everyone.
Victoria Sprowls 15:48
And I can feel less bad about aimlessly watching Netflix, then, if I know that Netflix is working towards being a sustainable company.
Georgia Calawerts 15:56
Exactly. They actually have the most rigorous sustainability plan in place to be net-zero by the end of 2022.
Victoria Sprowls 16:04
Wow.
Georgia Calawerts 16:05
And they're actively working to take carbon out of the air - atmosphere.
Victoria Sprowls 16:09
So net-zero, yeah, not just buying carbon offsets. I think you've certainly given us a lot to think about and some actionable steps to be taken Georgia. Thank you so much.
Georgia Calawerts 16:17
Thank you.
Victoria Sprowls 16:21
Thanks for listening to the AMT Lab podcast. And don't forget to subscribe - wherever podcasts are found. Let us know what you thought by visiting our website, AMT-lab.org. That's AMT-lab.org. Or, you can email us at amtlabcmu@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @techinthearts or on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn at Arts Management and Technology Lab. Join us next time for an interview episode with Quincy brown about PR and marketing in theater.
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