Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Earth Day: ETC Style
et cetera...: In 1969 a massive oil spill destroyed the coastline of Santa Barbara, California. In response, Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator from Wisconsin, was inspired to harness and redirect the energy of the young adults who, at the time, were protesting the Vietnam War. He knew that if he could get that same passion funneled into educating the nation on the failing state of the planet, real change could be made.
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3 comments:
I am glad to see a change for environmentalism within such a big company within the entertainment business. Small companies sometimes follow the lead of successful companies, and I think ETC are doing what any company should be doing. Whenever something is designed, it is designed with purpose. Creating the LED fixtures so you can transform an incandescent source four into an LED light fixture is incredible. Considering how many units just one venue may have, this eliminates a huge waste cost I know ETC also sells the units parts, so if one part broke they would no longer have to replace the whole unit. Taking the extra time to make these adjustments compatible even with upgrades is considerate, and unlike apple who chooses to make more things to adapt over compatibility issues. Choices like these reflect a change in mindset, which is something which must come to be seen across the board of the entertainment industry. What we “can” do is not what we should do. One of if not the biggest obstacle in making environmentally changes is for financial reasons. Sometimes there is no way around it, but choosing to take on old unused shipping containers, is a great example of being open to reduce reuse and recycle, which benefits all parties.
I love getting to read these kinds of articles that give us a glimpse behind the scenes of the companies that we know and love. ETC is one of the largest theatrical lighting companies in the world, with that kind of impact, their green influence can have a huge effect on other companies. I have always noticed the massive amount of waste that is produced by the theatre industry with scenery and expendables in shows, however, I have never really considered the energy consumption that comes with lighting. After reading this article, that form of sustainability could make a huge impact on climate change. The chart they included that compared LED fixtures to conventional fixtures and how many pounds of CO2 they produce was very informative. Additionally, the Source 4WRD program to upgrade conventionals to LED’s is a very intriguing option for theatres. Finally, the office space that ETC is developing by using old shipping containers is a smart and modern way to reduce carbon footprint and make a public statement about sustainability.
I have talked about this many times before, but for theatre to be a sustainable industry financially and culturally, it needs to become also environmentally sustainable. I am very glad to see that ETC has recognized this fact, and is making steps towards making theatre more environmentally friendly as a company. I think that the statistics that they demonstrate in this article are supportive of everything I have said about comments over the past eight months. LEDs are the future of theatre, especially since they have stopped producing par 64 lamps, one of the only alternatives left to par cans are LED Pars. LEDs are significantly better for the environment, and drastically reduce the theatre’s carbon footprint, again, as demonstrated by this article. I look forward to the future of theatrical lighting, and I hope that color selection with LEDs becomes less and less of an issue over the coming years.
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