Forum for the Future

The creative industries are in danger of being caught “napping” on sustainability, according to Lord Puttnam. They risk waking up too late to find the world “has changed out of all recognition”.

The filmmaker and politician was speaking at our Creative Industries Sustainability Beacon event, last week – the launch of a challenging project to bring together leaders from the world of fashion, performing arts, film, architecture, design and all the other creative industries, to examine the future of their businesses in a rapidly changing and uncertain world.

Lord Puttnam was “personally convinced that climate change is already the single greatest challenge facing all of us – ultimately dwarfing our present economic woes…” But he said climate change and other sustainability challenges present a raft of opportunities for all creative industries and their “attitudes and skills… can really help stimulate change.”

This project sets out to help the creative industries understand and seize those opportunities. Water scarcity; energy security; sustainable consumption; population growth; social wellbeing are just a few of the issues which need to be tackled urgently – and, we believe, creatively – for societies near and far to thrive.

Following Puttnam’s opening address, Jonathon Porritt led a Talkaoke debate from the “donut of chat”, surrounded by an impressive line-up of contributors (giving Glastonbury a run for its money).

Click here to watch the video

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 8:34 am. It is filed under Past Events, Talkaoke. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.