Our Green Journey

The Visual Artists News Sheet.

The VAN content is commissioned through letters of understanding, which outline terms & conditions and level of payment. Content is supplied, edited and proofed electronically with no print version created.

The VAN for distribution is printed using recycled/recyclable paper, vegetable ink, and despatched in compostable plastic by a local fulfilment company.

Artists are encouraged to sign up for the eVersion, and the number of VAN’s physically printed is based on precise numbers calculated for each edition.

The process uses local companies who show a commitment to our values regarding the use of carbon friendly processes and materials.

The physical VAN archive is stored in archival quality folders and boxes, with the main archive stored and available electronically, stored in the cloud.

Unused VANs are recycled, or re-purposed – examples of re-purposing include The VAN being used as barriers in No Dig Gardening Projects.

eBulletin

The eBulletin is a clear example of VAI’s touch once policy where information provision is concerned. The automated work-flow receives raw information in a structured format and creates content for: our website; social media; and eBulletins. This has reduced production time for an eBulletin from 2.5 person days to 3 hours.

The eBulletin is formatted and delivered using  Intuit Mailchimp and FlipRSS. Intuit Mailchimp was chosen as the supplier of choice due to the functionality required to automate the eBulletin using RSS feeds, and Intuit’s declaration “We’ve been carbon neutral since 2015. But we’re not stopping there. We’re working toward our climate-positive goal of reducing 2 million metric tonnes of CO2 by the year 2030. That’s 50X our 2018 footprint and the equivalent of taking 430,000 cars off the road for one year.”

The eBulletin database is cleansed annually as part of our commitment to GDPR, which has the additional effect of reducing down our data storage needs.

We continue to offset email usage as a belt and braces approach to the carbon neutrality of the eBulletin, using Mailchimp’s published matrices, and as indicated in the relevant section of this application.

Websites

VAI websites have a dedicated Carbon Offset calculation based on estimates provided by IngenCO2.dk and offset through their programmes which invests in comprehensive, long-term projects to minimise CO2 emissions and establish sustainable facilities, such as wind and solar energy plants. Deloitte conducts annual audits of IngenCO2’s CO2-accounts. They show that IngenCO2s projects and investments on average compensate 200% of their members’ emissions.

We use Content Delivery Network (CDN) and caching to cut our digital carbon footprint.

Lifelong Learning, Services & Governance

We deliver primarily online, but when requested or given the expected outcome/impact of specific events, we choose a venue, or use our own location, which is close to public transport links and has good sustainability initiatives in place;

We build sustainability considerations into design and material choices; avoid physical handouts, and provide electronic copies of materials when required;

We avoid sending waste to landfill by recycling materials and redistributing or composting food items when possible;

We prioritise locally sourced and seasonal food items to minimise mileage and carbon emissions for transportation and support local business;

We source suppliers that are local to minimise mileage and carbon emissions from transportation;

We prioritise travel to locations, so as to reduce the movement of people;

We work with catering teams to produce a plant forward menu with plant based and vegetarian options given priority.

Membership

We have moved all of our membership function to online with cloud storage. Using this form of centralised energy usage with large economies of scale enables commercial cloud services to operate with greater efficiencies than smaller, on-premises deployments;

By default, members are provided with an eVersion of their membership card. They may request a physical copy if required.

All member communications is electronic, with a backup of telephone or physical mail to facilitate our older members.

In keeping with GDPR, and effective database management, the membership data is cleansed annually, and the database optimised to reduce storage needs and efficient use of energy.

Facilities

As we move to a new space, VAI is dependent upon Temple Bar Cultural Trust for the adoption of carbon friendly policies where energy is concerned. We have impressed upon them the importance that they, at a minimum, use green energy suppliers, and based on future capital investment, must look to alternative energy solutions such as solar, wind, and geothermal rods within their buildings. We have provided clear examples of these working in other buildings within Temple Bar, and are encouraged that government capital funding is also encouraging changes in this direction as part of their significant funding packages.

We actively discourage upgrading of systems “for the sake of having the latest and newest” while at the same time, actively encouraging upgrades that make for more energy efficient solutions. We look at upgrades of existing non-energy efficient items based on the overall cost and impact, and in keeping with best practice, may wait until the end of lifetime of items before replacing them with energy efficient solutions.

Transport

We use cars or other transport which are either Hybrid, CNG, LPG or electric

We work with suppliers with transport that is CNG, LNG or Electric;

We communicate the desired preference of using public means of transport to get to work (public transport tickets at reduced costs or part-covered by the company, car-sharing, carpools, electric, CNG or hybrid cars);

We prefer partners with an environmental program.

On-going monitoring

All of VAI’s services are under constant review for efficiency and to ensure that we are taking advantage of new technologies that assist in delivery. Recent examples of changes caused by our Green Approach include: Change of Fulfilment supplier; working with our printer to encourage them to provide eco-friendly materials and processes; the encouragement of members to access publications electronically.

Our Journey

We have reviewed systems provided by several organisations from outside of Ireland. Whilst we acknowledge their strong experience and presence in the sector, it became clear that their systems were about measurement and did not address the deep-seated mindset change required within our sector and were unwieldy for an organisation of our size. We therefore engaged with the Glasgow School of Art who have a department dedicated to changing artists ways of working and thinking, and looked to the commercial sector for systems that are suitable for an organisation of our size and level of resources. This has lead us to our Green Policy, and has embedded it as a normal part of our planning and delivery.