In this guest blog, Richard Phillips, Climate Change & Sustainability Specialist for Music at Julie’s Bicycle, shares Julie’s Bicycles current work with Attitude is Everything & A Greener Future which explores climate justice and how sustainability initiatives at outdoor events can consider accessibility needs. Richard will be joining The Sustainable Event Summit, presented by Vision: 2025 at The Showman’s Show, 18th October, to deliver a briefing on the topic. Find out more about the event and register for free.
The climate crisis is not felt equally. Impacts are unevenly distributed on local, national and global levels, while solutions are often not available for all and in some cases can increase existing inequalities. It’s therefore not enough to focus solely on the environmental and physical science of climate change, with only a narrow view of how to reduce emissions. We need to examine the interconnectedness of economic, political and ethical issues surrounding the causes and impacts of climate change.
Climate justice is both a framework to understand and address historical responsibility for carbon emissions, and a movement that seeks to redress the systems of power that continue to extract from, oppress and harm people and planet. Climate justice is deeply connected to racial justice, gender and disability, labour rights, land justice, the rights of nature, and environmental justice.
Creative Climate Justice is Julie’s Bicycle’s invitation for in-depth and inclusive conversations about justice and fairness. This is to better understand why marginalised groups around the world are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis and how we can use this to inform the response of the creative community.
At the Sustainable Events Summit 2023, Julie’s Bicycle will present an introduction to climate justice and crucially what it means for festivals in taking environmental action. This will also highlight Julie’s Bicycle’s current work with accessibility charity Attitude is Everything and A Greener Future exploring how sustainability initiatives at festivals can be designed to take accessibility needs into full consideration. Such research is essential to ensure environmental progress comes together with greater equality.
You can learn more before the event by visiting the Julie’s Bicycle Creative Climate Justice Hub – a dynamic library of climate justice resources curated for the arts and culture community.
Follow Richard on Linkedin
Find out more about Julie’s Bicycle, Attitude is Everything and A Greener Future.
This article originally appeared in our October 2023 Vision: 2025 newsletter. Sign up to receive monthly event sustainability news, case studies and guest blogs direct to your inbox.