by Saoirse Anton

This week I went to see The Last Pearl at Ballina Arts Centre. A beautiful production from Blue Raincoat Theatre Company, it tells the story of M, a pearl diver struggling to continue her work amidst the upheaval of climate change and the devastating pollution we have wrought on our seas. Using a mix of styles of puppetry, accompanied by an atmospheric and narrative sound design by Joe Hunt, the Blue Raincoat ensemble weave a stark yet hopeful parable about the effects of our current actions on generations to come.

This theatre trip, coupled with reading the Environmental Protection Agency’s Ireland’s State of the Environment Report 2024 this week set me thinking for this column. With Ireland ranking as “very poor” or “poor” across the metrics of Overall Climate Assessment, Overall Nature Assessment, Overall Water Assessment and Overall Circular Economy & Waste Assessment, it is clear something needs to change. Ireland is currently projected to fall significantly short of our EU Effort Sharing Regulations 2030 target of a 42% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, and not just a little bit short. If we don’t make drastic changes in how we are acting on the climate crisis, we are set to achieve just a 9% reduction on emissions by 2030. This leaves us pretty far away from our national commitment to achieving a climate neutral economy by 2050.

Currently, we have the luxury of being able to ignore the problem, but that will not be the case forever. More storms like the recent Storm Éowyn are likely to cause more disruption, food production will be impacted by changing climate, and on an island shaped effectively like a basin, we should definitely be paying attention to the rising sea levels. Like our little puppet Pearl Diver, many countries are already beyond the point of being able to see climate change as an abstract problem, the entire population of the island of Gardi Sugdub in Panama had to be relocated because of the effects of climate change, and places like Tonga and Fiji are seeing increases in extreme cyclones, and facing water insecurity due to rising sea levels encroaching on fresh water sources. These are not the countries causing the climate emergency. So though we might feel able to suspend reality, remain comfortable and brush the problem under the carpet a little longer, we can’t.

In the theatre sector, there’s a lot we can do to clean up our act. It’s not always immediately obvious, particularly if you are not working in the industry, because theatre feels ephemeral, and when we buy a theatre ticket we are buying an experience, not an object, so it might not feel like we are having an environmental impact with our choices. But there are lots of ways we can do our bit.

To Venues and Theatre Companies…

If you are a venue or theatre company, there are several brilliant resources available to help you begin or continue your journey towards environmentally friendly production. Performing Arts Forum and Green Arts Initiative in Ireland recently launched the Irish Theatre Green Book, a fantastic resource which is a practical introduction to greening your theatre practice. It is based off of the model of the Theatre Green Book UK, who host webinars and resources that are free to attend and can help you with specific areas of production, operations and venue management. Julie’s Bicycle is a UK-based organisation that offers consultancy, Creative Climate Tools, and support for organisations looking to improve their climate impact. Companies like Ecomerit can help venues to improve their carbon footprint (and often reduce running costs in the process!) by conducting energy audits, providing training, supporting organisations to produce sustainability reports and running a certification programme. From sourcing costume second hand, to switching to LED lighting, to changing company pension plans and web hosts to more environmentally friendly alternatives, there are a lot of ways theatre organisations can reduce their negative impacts on the environment.

To Artists…

If you are an independent artist, or a small project-funded company and are reading this column so far thinking “but none of this applies to me, I don’t have a venue, full time staff or the confirmed funding to make big changes like these…,” don’t worry. There are still lots of actions you can take. You can include a Green Rider in the touring information you send to venues, including small requests such as no single use plastics in the green room, up to big suggestions to venues like fossil fuel divestments. Many large organisations have implemented big changes as a result of pressure from artists and audiences; the National Theatre in London, Scottish Ballet, the Edinburgh International Festival, the RSC and many other organisations ended fossil fuel funding and sponsorship completely following a push from artists and audiences. You can also request that companies who book you prioritise booking your travel by trains and ferries instead of flights, and allocate time in production schedules to allow for this. Be vocal and make small changes where you can – every small change adds up.

To Audiences…

Finally, as audiences we can hold a lot of power. Encourage the theatres you go to and the companies whose shows you book to make positive changes. Write to organisations and let them know that it is important to you that they consider the climate impact of their activities. If your local venue is hosting a sustainability event like a talk, clothes swap, community gathering or production about climate change, support it! Use your ticket booking to show that these sorts of events are important to you, and spread the word so that other people in your community know the events are happening too. Try to take public transport or cycle to the theatre when you can. If the bus timetables are slightly awkward and get you to the venue either two hours early or ten minutes late, mention it to the venue – there’s no guarantee but maybe a start time of 7:30 instead of 7 is possible in future. Bring a keep cup or ask for a reusable mug instead of a takeaway cup for your interval coffee. Write to your TD and encourage them to support arts funding so that companies and venues have the resources available to make the changes we need to make. There are so many ways we can make a difference, big or small.

As the line from the Tao Te Ching goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Just as the little puppet in The Last Pearl deals with the rubbish in the small patch of ocean they dive in to ensure that their way of life could continue for the next generation, we too can act within our own spheres of influence (which are often bigger than we might think!) to make positive changes for the future.