We live in a world of contradictions: we talk about equality in societies that are increasingly unequal, we talk about empathy and we don't stop producing weapons while we let people fleeing their countries drown very close to our shores ... The world of art also experiences this paradoxical situation. The 2030 agenda is the road map and we hold exhibitions on sustainability and how to build a better world in community, while private jets attend openings of art spaces that promote the preservation of the environment, not to mention the destruction of resources that major artistic events (fairs, biennials or blockbusters ) or, in the day-to-day life of many museums, the amount of exhibition materials that are not recycled, the energy-inefficient lighting or air conditioning systems or how we get impatient when the results of an online search take more than a second.
With the aim of providing action guides for working in terms of environmental responsibility from the world of art, Gallery Climate Coalition is born, a non-profit organization that works from New York, Los Angeles, Taiwan, London, Berlin, Italy and since a few months also from Spain, promoted by Carolina Grau and Latitudes, among others.
And since nothing beats data to visualize what can be changed, the GCC website (www.galleryclimatecoalition.org) offers a calculator that shows how much CO2 we produce when we travel for work, organize a transport, we print documents or work from home.
An institution that has already incorporated concrete measures is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which has changed the lighting system, making the most of natural light, uses recycled paper walls for temporary exhibitions, uses rental boxes for to the transport of works, reuses museum elements and is starting a network to share them with other institutions (following the model of Barder.art in the United States). This is precisely the difference between green teams and green washing . Montse Badia