The year 2020 will be known as a pivotal moment for the growth of digital events. In this month’s newsletter we focus on this topic, with our monthly Q&A featuring Kaye Dunnings, a leading figure in the Lost Horizons VR event that attracted 4.2m viewers; we host blogs about the significance of the environmental footprint of online events vs. physical events, and e-waste. Plus: Exciting news about industry project Powerful Thinking's restructure and leadership; A Greener Festival members collaborate to create a better future; ecolibrium launch a music industry app to track travel emissions, and our monthly picks from around the web.

Enjoy reading, and remember that we always welcome feedback and input e.g. Do you want to be our next guest blogger? What topic should we explore next? What innovative and green service do you want to highlight? Get in touch - we're only an email away!

What exactly is a digital footprint? How significant is it really? How does a physical event compare to a digital event?

Should we be concerned about the footprint of online events, and if so, how can we reduce it? Chris Johnson, Sustainable Event Consultant, Chair of Vision: 2025 and Co-founder of Shambala Festival considers how the rapid rise of streaming events online in response to Covid-19 has brought the digital environmental footprint for the live events industry into sharper focus.

Read the full article HERE. 

This month Kaye Dunnings shares her answers to our 20 questions. Kaye is co-founder and Creative Director of Glastonbury’s world renowned Shangri-La, an artist, event producer and pioneer of 'art with purpose', re-using materials in art and set design and giving a platform for climate crisis and truth messaging.

In 2020, Shangri-La responded to the restrictions imposed on events by the covid pandemic by transforming into Lost Horizon, a virtual festival that attracted a global audience of 4.2million. Read Kaye's answers HERE.

In July, Doug Francisco took the Q&A spotlight, you can read his answers HERE.

Win one of three specialist consultancy sessions focused on cost-saving with leading event sustainability experts; Livvy Drake (waste reduction), Chris Johnson (strategy and action plans), and Tim Benson (event power efficiency). For a chance to win, event organisers simply need to take the 2020 Event Industry Green Survey to let the Vision: 2025 team know about your sustainability plans for next season.

Fill out the 5 minute survey HERE.

In this blog Chiara Badiali, Knowledge Lead at Julie's Bicycle, unpicks the meaning and issues around Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, a.k.a. WEEE.

E-waste is made from a complex range of materials, including some hazardous substances; Chiara looks at the European and UK laws that govern how we can best dispose of and recycle WEEE. She also considers what individuals can do to reduce their e-waste and at how arts projects that have engaged with communities to encourage them to address this growing issue. Read the blog HERE. 

Christopher Pleydell, CEO of Hybrid Events, and the Strategy & Communications Director for the ‘Event Greening Program,’ provides updated figures for an assessment made in 2013 of the e-waste produced by the UK audio visual industry, estimating that only a third of over 5,000 tonnes of e-waste produced annually is recycled.

Read the blog HERE.

In lieu of visiting and assessing over 50 festivals globally for the Greener Festival Award in summer 2020, AGF have created a platform for AGF award-winning festivals to connect and share with the purpose of finding inspiring and innovative ways to make positive lasting changes to event sustainability, and to reduce or eliminate any negative environmental impacts that may be presented as a result of the Covid-19 response.

Meetings are held bi-weekly with attendance from festivals from around the globe, and a number of subgroups have been established to allow deep diving into various topics.

If you are interested to join or contribute find out more HERE.

ecolibrium, the charity that works in the live events industry to help tackle travel emissions, has collaborated with the event software developer MapYourEvent to make their travel carbon calculator tools more accessible for individuals, companies and teams who want to track and balance their travel emissions - and to model journeys to find the most efficient route.

Users of the app can choose to submit the travel log and balance the carbon emissions through one of ecolibrium's climate solutions programmes. 

Download it by searching for ‘ecolibrium’ in the App store or from GooglePlay.

Vision: 2025 joined a UK carnival sector network event, organised by the New Carnival Company (NCC) on 22 July, to talk about the future of sustainability at carnivals across the UK, and the role that the Vision: 2025 pledge can play in providing a framework for reducing impacts by 50% by 2025 in key areas. The next meeting will be on 18 August, 9.30-10.30 to explore sustainable portable power technology for carnivals. If you would like to join the conversation get in touch HERE.

The NCC organised the ‘Towards a Greener Carnival’ in March 2020 and are committed to making carnival production more sustainable, as well as engaging the communities they work with in the topic. In 2019, the NCC held a ‘Biosphere Island’ themed Mardi Gras on the Isle of Wight; the event was set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and engaged the local community in a project to achieve a designation of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve for the area. Read the case study HERE.

Photo credit: Photo credit: Tracy Curtis for the New Carnival Company 

Arts Council England are working with Julie's Bicycle to host a series of webinars exploring the seven pillars of a Green Deal for Culture. Episode two takes place on August 25 at 10am, and discusses Sustainable Digital Technology: How can we start to understand and account for the impacts of digital creations and technology? Is digital actually less damaging than physical? What steps can be taken to minimise digital impacts?

This webinar will explore these questions and look at creative approaches to tackling them from across the sector. Register HERE. 

Here's what the Vision: 2025 team are watching, listening to, and reading this month:

'E-highways' could slash UK road freight emissions, says study - The Guardian reports on the system of overhead cables and adapted lorries that could pay for itself within 15 years HERE.

So Hot Right Now - an inspiring podcast with Tom Mustill, Lucy Siegel and guests, packed with insight for better communication. Listen HERE. 

Tomorrowland push the limits of digital events with Digital Universe: Combining 3D design, Hollywood-style filming techniques and modern gaming technology. Read more in IQ magazine online HERE.

A Weekend in Outer Space: Bluedot hosted a free weekend of music, science and cosmic culture, broadcasting live over the 24-26 July and raising money for Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. Watch again HERE.

$10bn of precious metals dumped each year in electronic waste, says UN: The Guardian reports on the fast growing mountain of toxic e-waste is polluting the planet and damaging health HERE.

Invisible Dust introduces new project ‘Garden to Garden’ which invites young explorers to share their adventures with insects in local green spaces by sharing photos, videos or sketches. Find out more HERE. 

What is the right mindset for sustainability innovation? This blog on edie by Chris Sherwin, Director at Reboot Innovation introduces four characteristics to help innovators adopt the right mentality and approach for a sustainable future HERE.

Artists Fast Familiar create their first carbon-neutral artwork 'Smoking Gun:' read the blog on how they accomplished this HERE.

Earth Speakr is a digital artwork by Olafur Eliasson that invites kids from around the world to speak up for the planet -  the project's digital and physical environmental impacts are being audited. Read the report HERE.