The World Health Organization reveals 3.6 billion people live in areas highly susceptible to climate change. This puts nearly half of the world’s population at stake, calling for industries to collectively shift toward a sustainable planet.
QCinema, a premier film festival in the Philippines, led a study entitled “Setting the Stage for Sustainability: An Environmental Impact Baseline Study of QCinema International Film Festival.” This project, funded by the University of Glasgow - Glasgow Center for International Development in collaboration with the UPLB Foundation, Inc., explored the sustainability impact of creative industries.
229 individuals participated in a survey aimed at profiling QCinema audiences, their festival viewing habits, awareness of climate change, willingness to take climate action, and perceptions of the festival's impact.
“There is an urgent need to adopt sustainable festival practices, especially since we are a country that celebrates thousands of festivals. Many studies have shown that mounting these events considerably negatively impacts our environment,” said lead researcher Michael Kho Lim.
The study found that 70 percent of respondents had a "high awareness" of climate change issues, and almost 86 percent rated climate change as an essential issue.
While less than half or 48.03 percent of respondents were moderately involved in activities contributing to climate change solutions, 72.92 percent strongly supported climate change efforts.
The survey also revealed that 64.63 percent of respondents were willing to pay a sustainability fee. On ecological impact, data showed some 60 percent of the audience consumed food bought from establishments at the venues, producing solid waste from snacks, soda cans, and water bottles.
“It is high time other organizers followed suit and took significant steps that could drive the cultural and creative industries toward a greener and more sustainable future," Lim added.
This effort to create baseline data could serve as the first step toward creating "a possible environmental management plan and sustainability framework for the festival," highlighting the role of industries, creative included, in helping shape the world to become more habitable in the decades.