Earth Day 2022

‘Earth is Your Best Friend’ illustration series by Peter Phobia

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Originally concerned with air and water pollution, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson announced the idea of a teach-in on college campuses on 22nd April 1970 to maximise student participation, and secured activist Denis Hayes and Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey to help demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development. Fast forward 50 years, and Earth Day still brings together many environmental movements to tackle one shared goal.

The Earth Day 2022 Theme is #InvestInOurPlanet, focused on accelerating solutions to combat climate change.

A commitment to the planet: How is Jelly contributing?

As part of our ongoing drive to become a BCorp, we are measuring our carbon impact to see how and where we can make significant reductions to our company’s carbon footprint, from there we will set targets year on year.

We know that for companies like us, the biggest contributor is usually energy – powering our computers, keeping our artists cosy in the studio, and creating the bold and exciting work we’re known for. Being in a managed building we’re unable to control our supply, but we are able to control our efficiency. We ask all our team to turn off computers/monitors not rendering overnight, we’ve installed light sensors in relevant areas and made sure our equipment is up to date so it doesn’t guzzle energy inefficiently.

The other biggest factor is business travel. We will be agreeing a travel policy with our staff, re-assessing why and when we need to travel and how we get there, including a blanket ban on domestic flights (only in exceptional circumstances) and more emphasis on online meetings.

While we are working to create positive-planet change from a business standpoint, there are plenty of things we can all do on an individual level. Below, we’ve compiled a list of tips and resources that we’ve found useful, should you wish to take action yourselves.

5 practical tips to make a difference this Earth Day:

1. Measure your personal carbon footprint and see where you can have the most positive impacts. You might be doing lots already!
2. Check your pension! Take the 21x Challenge. Making sure your pension is invested in an ethical fund is 21x better than being veggie, never flying & your home being on renewably sourced energy put together.
3. Build planet-positive thinking into your creative ideas. Pre-planning a location shoot will save your time, energy and carbon so get those storyboards perfect! You could even use our very own Three Blind Mice to help 😉
4. If you do have to fly, turn the ‘greener choice’ filter on your Skyscanner search. It gives you the most energy efficient flight looking at routes, how many people are already booked on and what type of plane is going. Then you can offset it with Atmosfair.
5. Book on to an AdGreen Sustainable Production Training session and get to know more about the progress being made in the production industry and how you could get involved too.

5 resources to visit if you’re looking to delve further into podcasts, books, videos, and more.

1. Outrage and Optimism – the perfect mix of information and inspiration led by Christiana Figueres (one of the key figures behind the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement), Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson.
2. How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything. By Mike Berners-Lee. A digestible insight into what in our day to day lives has the greatest impact, followed up by tangible things we can change about them. The perfect remedy for those looking for things to DO.
3. The Climate Question – BBC World Service. 30 minute episodes on a multitude of concerns, including ‘how quickly is battery tech advancing?’ ‘are we putting too much faith into electric vehicles’ and ‘Is carbon the new calorie?’
4. Earth Shot Prize Serious provider of inspiration and motivation in the vital race to protect the planet we love. A global competition providing grants of £1mil to the winners in 5 categories, all finding innovative solutions to the unfathomable challenge of the climate crisis.
5. TED Climate – specific TEDTalks geared at solutions to the climate crisis from a wide range of voices and experiences. Bitesize chunks of information to help cure the overwhelming dread that can come over us all when we delve too deep.

Find out more at earthday.org