The Bothy Society recognises the UK government’s ratification of the Paris Agreement, which limits global warming to no more than 2%.

As Carly McLachlan, the director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research says “Music, art, and culture are a really beautiful part of what it is to be human,” but we want to make sure that The Bothy Society and their musical family provide music, art and culture in ways that reduce environmental impact. The aim isn’t to greenwash but to make a commitment and a sustained effort to reduce emissions and conduct business in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Our commitments have been put into action in the following ways:

Day to Day Business Activities

• Reducing overall energy usage in day-to-day work activities

• Encouraging music family, partners and suppliers to act in an environmentally positive way.

• Regular partner discussions on ways to improve processes to make them more sustainable

• Use of 100% renewable or offset electricity for The Bothy Society offices and home working spaces

• Continuous development of our sustainability policy and actions.

• Using green transport methods during workday and business travel

• Using branchless, digital banking

Manufacture and Sales

• Organic and sustainable merchandise

• Reduction in plastic packaging in CD and vinyl manufacture

• Manufacturing vinyl records using eco-mix (where possible)

• Running pre-orders to reduce over ordering and scrappage

• Encouraging listeners to download streamed playlists for offline listening

• Sustainable and/or recycled packaging for physical and merchandise sales

• Adding additional donation options for all customers on our online stores which will be spread out among a handful of charities with social impact at their core

Touring

• Responsible tour routing to limit emissions

• Fewer tour dates and a reduction on exclusivity clauses

• Greening the hospitality riders of our acts

• Neutralising carbon emissions of tours

• Asking promoters and venues to source rider items and catering from local farms

• Encouraging fans to car share or take public transport when travelling to shows

• Using rechargeable batteries on all equipment where possible and using proper battery disposal where not possible

• Encouraging venues and promoters to be more green

• Using green transport methods, where possible, and always researching new forms of transport.

• Limiting short-haul flights

We are continually working to do better, so if you have suggestions, then please email jen@thebothysociety.com

For those wanting to look through research linked directly to music and its environmental impact, you can do so on some of the links below:

https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2019/april/headline_643297_en.html

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/landreman2/docs/BFF_Radiohead_Final.pdf

https://www.popsci.com/environmental-impact-movie-netflix/

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014019/pdf

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2304/52837d241128d714df71c14fefc9d6ee186d.pdf?_ga=2.108513670.506233657.1613939356-510161305.1613939356

Some quick reads/watches:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/environmental-impact-streaming-music-835220/

https://youtu.be/XfbyWZxmkLo

https://vimeo.com/330024432

Books:

Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music by Kyle Devine - The MIT Press https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/decomposed

Current Directions in Ecomusicology: Music, Culture, Nature by Aaron S. Allen, Kevin Dawe

https://www.routledge.com/Current-Directions-in-Ecomusicology-Music-Culture-Nature/Allen-Dawe/p/book/9781138062498