Sustainable Imaging Initiative

This year marks my 30th as a professional photographer. Much of that time I’ve owned and operated my own studio, but I also worked for 8 years as a staff photojournalist for a local paper, collaboratively managed a colleague’s studio for several years and spent two incredible years in the mid 90’s immersed in the early days of the web—helping to design and launch a wedding-specific search engine. This varied experience has given me a fairly good grasp on what it takes to run a studio—not just as a creative image-maker but all the other aspects too: from graphic design to marketing, from computer retouching to managing media assets, from business analysis to bookkeeping, and from salesmanship to client psychology. We really do have a lot to manage in our Studios and it rarely gets boring, that’s for sure.

Over the last few years, as we’ve all been hearing more and more about global climate change, I’ve devoted a great deal of time to researching the issue. Because of this I’ve also been thinking more than ever about my business and its effects on, and interconnectedness with, the environment. Like many of you I’ve been conscious and careful of energy use—mostly, to be honest, because of its high cost—and have dutifully recycled things like paper, cardboard, cans and bottles for most of my life. More recently I’ve added used batteries to the list and prefer to use rechargeables whenever possible instead of single use products. And of course I’ve switched to CFL’s from regular incandescent light bulbs.

But the research I’ve been doing has brought me to a concept much deeper and more profound than simple recycling: that of sustainability. Although the elements required to fully describe and facilitate sustainability are almost unimaginably complex, a simple definition that covers all of them is:

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

In other words, being a sustainable society requires not only that we consider the needs of our own families, livelihoods, and the commons that we all share today (air, water, raw materials, public lands, etc.) but that we also consider the needs of future generations. Sustainability encompasses not just environmental issues but economic and social justice aspects of our culture as well.

It has become painfully clear that for many reasons, including population growth and our highly successful economic system, we are burning through many of our natural resources at a completely unsustainable rate. Crude oil, for example, is not just the source for the energy that runs our cars but also the petrochemicals used in everything from plastics to fertilizers, from food additives to pharmaceuticals. While there is a debate about just when Peak Oil—the point at which half of all the oil available (and a majority of the "cheap" or easy to extract oil has been pumped out and used up) will occur, most sources I have read estimate it will happen sometime in the next 10 to 20 years. Some feel we are already past this threshold. When we do hit Peak Oil it, and all the products derived from it, will become increasingly expensive. Oil is a finite resource that took millions of years for the earth to create and just about 200 years for humans to blow through—by any measure an unsustainable practice that the vast majority of scientists worldwide agree has also been a major contributor to global climate change. We’ve over-cut our forests, over-fished the seas, and have repeated the same short-sighted behavior with almost every other resource we have.

(For a GREAT little primer on sustainability and our culture check out The Story of Stuff.)

Many of the challenges we’re now facing worldwide in the natural environment (as well as in the economic and social environments) are, I believe, a direct result of our inattention to the concept of sustainability. Up until the industrial revolution we just weren’t technologically advanced enough to be able to affect the commons in the ways we have since, and humans are now awesomely adept at plundering and altering these community assets at an ever-increasing rate.

It’s understandable how we got here: our societies and industries developed in a much different time—in a world with drastically lower population, seemingly unlimited resources and natural assets that appeared too vast to be adversely affected by our human activities. But the world we live in now has changed and we’re beginning to understand the true interconnectedness of our biosphere and its limits.

Consider this statistic:

“Industry moves, mines, extracts, shovels, burns, wastes, pumps and disposes of four million pounds of material in order to provide one average, middle-class American family their needs for a year.”

This sobering information, taken from visionary carpet industry leader Ray Anderson’s company website (http://www.interfaceinc.com/), highlights the crux of the problem. While the United States only has about 5% of the world’s population it consumes about 25% of the resources extracted worldwide each year. China, India and other developing nations are catching up quickly, however, and they crave the same creature comforts we have: flush toilets, central heating and cooling, reliable transportation, a plentiful variety of food—all part of a lifestyle we in America take for granted. But unfortunately there just aren’t enough resources to go around at this point in our history and as these 21st century economic powerhouses expand we’re going to start to see shortages of many resources (such as oil, wood, concrete, steel, food and water) in the west, and dramatically rising prices. We already have. And our resource depleting industries are polluting the commons for everyone in the bargain.

In spite of this gloomy forecast there are many (myself included) who feel there is a huge economic opportunity offered by this crisis. By creating products and processes that “reduce, reuse and recycle” our resources and waste we can move towards a much more sustainable business model while also rewarding the entrepreneurs. In addition, necessity will spawn whole new industries and marketing models (such as leasing, rather than selling carpet—then returning it to the factory for re-manufacture).

I recently came across this wonderful quote from the website www.worldchanging.com:

“Business doesn't have to be destructive. At its core, business is about livelihoods and service: providing for our needs by providing what others need. Increasingly, all sorts of people, from CEO's and economists to consumers and small investors, are realizing that we can remake business to truly serve the public good - and make a lot of money in the process. We can build businesses that embrace sustainability, openness, and fairness not as a sideline ethical consideration, but as the path to profits. Indeed, millions of people are involved in efforts to capture the profit that's available through healing the planet.”

This last point was confirmed for me personally at the Bioneers (www.bioneers.com) convention last Fall when speaker after speaker spoke eloquently of the successes (financial and otherwise) they had realized by working in emerging sustainable fields (such as renewable energy, organic food production and restaurants, green chemistry or biomimicry) or by integrating sustainable practices into their businesses. The inspiring message came across loud and clear: by discovering what positive new models and practices can and are being developed or achieved, integrating what we learn into our personal lives and businesses, and sharing these with others, needed changes will take place. Eventually a paradigm shift hopefully will occur and the sustainable ethic will be the rule, rather than the exception, in our culture.

So, what does all this have to do with my photography business, or your studio? I’ve come to the conclusion that you and I CAN make a difference, that we hold the keys as business owners, employees and/or consumers to begin shifting our small section of the economy (the imaging industry) towards a more sustainable ethic by carefully choosing what we buy and who we do business with.

This will be done first by educating ourselves about the many products we use and how their manufacture, use, and disposal affect the environment. Becoming aware of the existing green options and alternatives will then allow us to make purchasing choices supporting companies offering the alternatives or practices we want to encourage, driving the market as a whole in the right direction. Some companies are already well on their way to green awareness, others are just starting the process. (We do need to beware of greenwashing—the practice of companies making token green efforts as marketing ploys—but the journey towards sustainability will be made one step at a time. We all have to start somewhere.)

Right now it’s true that many green alternatives are more “expensive” when compared in the traditional sense to existing products—without taking into consideration the environmental externalities (google the term for lots of information) paid by the public and the economic subsidies that give many entrenched industries an unfair advantage. Some green alternatives are very competitive even today, but the reality is many of us just won’t be able to afford go totally green until economies of scale in production drive costs down to make them competitive. This is starting to happen, but it will take time. There are still many things we can do today, however, and that’s why I have chosen to start this Initiative, and forum.

So I am hereby challenging everyone in the photographic industry who is interested in sustainability to help move this idea forward. If you want to help, get in touch with me at sustainablephoto@gmail.com.

In the next post I’ll start outlining things I have learned that we can do as photographers, or those involved in the imaging industry, which I hope will facilitate an ongoing discussion regarding sustainability and green alternatives. I certainly do not have all the answers and am not 100% green by any means. I don’t think that’s possible in today’s developed society anyway. But I’m working on it, and what I’ve learned, as well as what I will learn from others, might be helpful to the larger community.

Raymond Baltar
raymond@sustainableimaging.com

The Challenge

So, what are we talking about here? What can I, or you do, to make photography more sustainable? The amount of "low hanging fruit" at this point is just astounding. Where shall I start?

While I am counting on all of you, as creators, consumers, and suppliers to the image creation field to contribute most of the ideas, news and content herein, let me outline a few ideas to get things started. Many of you may have already started down this path, and if so I hope you'll write in to let us know of your experiences, and successes (or not-so-successes). It is NOT going to be smooth sailing, and we will make mistakes. Some ideas will just not work. Others will look good initially but won't gain traction. Still others will just plain hurt (economically) to adopt, but may be necessary.

Anyway, here goes:

First, do a sustainability inventory of your business AND your home. Start with energy use. Most of you have probably already changed out your light bulbs to Fluorescents, but have you asked your local energy provider to assess other ways you could save energy? In my area of California, the local provider is P G & E, and they provide free (limited) energy audits of your home or business. They might recommend things like ceiling or basement insulation, newer, more energy efficient appliances, double-paned windows, more efficient water heaters, better thermal seals around your doors, etc. Whether or not you own your house or commercial location, there are still many things that can be done to save yourself money in energy costs. If you have a landlord who is environmentally conscious, they might even be willing to help pay for any improvements to the building itself (well, you can dream, right?). And in many areas there are even rebates and incentives to help defray some of the upfront costs. In almost all cases, the money saved in heating and cooling costs will, over time, pay many times over for the cost of the improvements. Energy efficiency upgrades are among THE most cost efficient ways to save energy, and therefore to reduce greenhouse gases.

After you've done all of the efficiency upgrades you can, and if you own your home or commercial building, then look into installing solar. In many states there are now amazing rebate programs and incentives that can bring down the cost of a residential system by as much as half, and a commercial system by up to 80 or more. There are even companies that will install solar systems on your home or business, at zero cost to you, and all you will need to pay is the same amount you were paying to your utility before. Called Power Purchase Agreements (or PPA's), these and other creative financing mechanisms are sweeping the industry and allowing many who didn't think they could afford to go solar to do so. The really cool thing about these PPA's is that you get to lock in your electrical rates at current prices, and these prices can remain constant over the life of the contract. But do your homework on these and shop around. DO NOT just jump at the first offer that comes your way. As in any new, emerging industry, there are good deals and better deals. So just be sure that you understand all of the details.

Next post: Folders, albums and frames

Become A Photography Change Agent

This Blog's purpose is simple: foster a dialog within the photographic industry about sustainable business and lifestyle practices. I am truly hoping we can develop this conversation in a constructive and beneficial way, but I'm also well aware of the entrenched position many stakeholders will have in this discussion, and that much of the changes will necessarily need to come from the bottom up as a grass roots movement, rather than from the industry players down.

I have, however, been amazed at the dialog that is already happening among the business community, at least in my area (Sonoma County, California), and how there seems to be a growing consensus that the way we've been "doing business" is simply not sustainable. And, most importantly, that it makes good business sense on every level to become educated about what needs to be done and to help make the necessary changes and adaptations.

So many indicators in my life are causing me to step back and analyze just what our actions as photographers, consumers, families and citizens are doing to our environment—to the very systems that sustain us. Every one or our important human support systems, from food production to health care, from the economy to housing, from education to the environment, from energy production to transportation, is in peril and even at risk of collapse.

These huge problems often seem so large, and so dysfunctional on the systemic level, that we can't do anything as individuals to change them. For the most part, I would agree. But I also believe that we can affect change on the individual level, on the family level, with our friends, and in our communities. In this particular community, the community of photographers that I so respect and am proud to be a part of, I'm betting that individual actions will matter, and that collectively all of our individual actions will cause a shift, a "sustainable shift" if you will.

So, please join in at whatever level you feel comfortable, and let's challenge ourselves to see what changes we can make that will contribute to the solutions we so desperately need.

You're welcome to contribute and are encouraged to do so.

Raymond Baltar