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CLIMATE CHALLENGE: Eden Court Theatre in Inverness has pledged 'urgent' action as it joins efforts to tackle the global climate crisis


By Val Sweeney

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Locator..Eden Court..Picture: Gary Anthony..
Locator..Eden Court..Picture: Gary Anthony..

Eden Court Theatre in Inverness has pledged “urgent” action as it joins efforts to tackle the global climate crisis.

The venue, which says it has a duty to respond to the emergency, has published an environment and climate crisis policy stating its commitment to becoming a more sustainable organisation.

In year one, it plans to set up a system to track and monitor its carbon emissions in three agreed priority areas: place, people and programme.

“We want to better understand the impact of our building on the environment and seek to make changes that enable us to reduce our carbon footprint,” the policy states.

“We want to support everyone who uses our building, including staff, artists, audiences and participants, to be more environmentally friendly in their actions.

“We want to promote and produce artistic work that galvanises positive change and which enables people to engage with climate and logical concerns.”

It will also stage a programme of events to link in with the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November.

James Mackenzie-Blackman
James Mackenzie-Blackman

Eden Court’s chief executive James Mackenzie-Blackman, said: “At Eden Court, we are often incredibly busy working from event to event, making sure they are of the highest standard possible, and it can be very easy to get caught up in the short-term.

“But globally we are experiencing a climate emergency and Eden Court has a duty to respond to this emergency.

“The decisions we make every day as a business – whether that’s food suppliers, marketing strategies, or building operations as a whole – all have an impact on shaping what the future looks like for Eden Court, Inverness, and the world beyond.”

The policy committed Eden Court to becoming a more sustainable organisation.

“We’re not approaching this with an expectation of prior knowledge or experience, and we will be providing many access routes for audiences to join us in tackling this global threat, through engagement events, cinema, theatre, art and more,” he said.

Neil Hepburn, co-manager of Eden Court’s environment and climate crisis project group, said: “In responding to what we recognise is an emergency, we are attempting to embed environmental concerns into every aspect of our organisation’s work with great urgency.

“Progress has been made in the past year, from recruiting our fantastic resident Artist for Change: Climate Crisis, Ink Asher Hemp, to initiating climate literacy training for all staff.

“We are looking at our recycling and waste processes and have commissioned a building energy audit in order to find ways to decrease our carbon emissions.”

He said the policy document was a statement of intent.

“This needs to happen internally and externally, carrying staff and audiences with us on the journey,” he added.

READ: Highland councillor Duncan Macpherson hits out at owners of abandoned and vandalised caravan near to Daviot, south of Inverness on the A9


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