How motorsports, cinema and museums are fighting climate change

From cutting down on waste at racing events to reducing energy on film sets, we speak to people working in various public fields about their sustainability initiatives

In Gurugram’s Museo Camera, lights come on when you step in and fade out as you leave. Launched in 2019 and built on the principles of sustainability, the crowd-funded museum, which houses over 5,000 photographic equipments, installed solar panels in April 2022 to power their energy needs.

Elsewhere in Kochi, debutant director Shruthi Sharanayam came up with a manual for sustainable cinema ahead of the shooting for B32 Muthal 44 Vare in March 2022. As a maiden step, she wrote down notes on eco-friendly behaviour on the film set — from using energy efficient measures to the use of organic and sustainable products.

Meanwhile, JK Tyres appointed a waste management company, Unwaste Network, in November 2021 to clear solid waste at the JK Tyre Motorsports Rally, at Kari Motor Speedway at Chettipalayam, in Coimbatore. As a result, over 1200 kilograms of waste was clear from the site.

As the climate emergency creeps closer to home, individuals and organisations across fields are adopting sustainable measures to fight climate change.

“Museums can involve in climate change action in many ways. Sustainable practices must be employed in their everyday operations. These can be reducing water and electricity wastage, repurposing packaging materials, switching to LED lighting, composting waste, etc. They can then make a larger impact by educating their visitors about the climate crisis,” says Tejshvi Jain, founder ReReeti, a Bangalore-based organisation that is redefining the role of museums in tackling climate change.

One of their latest projects is IMACC (Indian Museums Against Climate Change), an attempt to create a forum where museums can collectively come together to create an impact, through knowledge sharing of their best practices and building awareness through their collections.

The Indian Music Experience Museum (IME), Bengaluru, has an exhibition called Birdsong all through June. The museum’s director Manasi Prasad, also part of IMACC, says, “It is all about creating ecological awareness by understanding the role birds play in our ecosystem. The impact of noise pollution, birdsong and why birds matter to us.”