Sustainable photography — Emma Davies Photography

Like many people I swing between despair (and inaction) and hope when it comes to the climate crisis. I prefer to spend more time in a state of hope so I’ve been thinking about:

what change is needed
how change happens
what I can do

What change is needed

I don’t think there’s any doubt we need to switch from a consumable/disposable lifestyle to a sustainable one. This is more than recycling and carbon offsetting: it’s a fundamental change to using the planet in a way that allows it to replenish itself.

How change happens

My undergraduate degree and first masters degree were in psychology. I’ve had a lifelong interest in why humans do certain things and not others, and how we change behaviour. Now is the time for psychologists to speak out.

For example – I know it’s better for my health not to sit at my desk without a break, yet I constantly “forget” to get up and walk around. I know it’s bad for the planet that I drive, yet I continue to make short car journeys that I could do on foot.

Why? Pretty much only two reasons: 1. habit. 2. it’s easier to do the easy thing.

To change my behaviour I need a good reason. Psychologists have continually shown that good reasons in this context include:

financial reward for new behaviour or, more effective, financial loss for not changing
social norms (what are people I respect or feel connected to doing?)
acknowledgement of a habit, and resolution to change
resolution of conflict of self identity (eg. I can’t simultaneously identify as both an environmentally conscious person and a travel photographer who flies)
change wants/needs (ie. stop wanting more stuff and be genuinely satisfied with having/buying less)

Lincolnshire, England: I’m walking/cycling around the coast of England. This is a place I stumbled on which is an incredible and rare wilderness in our small island.

What can I do?

I can’t do everything but I can do something. Will it make a difference? I have to hope so otherwise I will just despair. These are my ideas:

Thinking twice before buying new gear. I’m not going to say “no more new gear ever”, but I will need a good reason for buying new.
Reduce cloud storage. As part of my MA Photography at Falmouth we had to do a carbon audit of our own photography practice. I was horrified to see just how much carbon cloud storage uses. I’ll be moving all my backed-up videos to an external hard drive rather than relying on the (admittedly much easier) cloud solution.
Think more about single-use resources: print only when needed, check how far things travel, stop buying from suppliers who pack in bubble wrap. And follow up with a positive action: let suppliers know about the bubble wrap issue.
Stop the negative mindset spiral and remember that lots of small actions add up to making a change. Not so long ago we all happily took free plastic bags with our shopping – now we are more likely to remember to take our own bags. We can use capitalism to our advantage: every time we spend a pound, a euro or a dollar we are casting a vote for that salesperson or supplier. We should vote for the people not using plastic, sourcing locally, being responsible.
Normalise climate-aware photography. For me this includes not flying (I can’t say I’ll never fly, but I’ll certainly take the train where I can) and promoting the idea of “close-to-home” photography. The photography industry has sold the idea that we need to travel to Patagonia or Iceland or India to take great photos. Who let that happen? Surely the reward is far greater if you make photographs you are proud of in your metaphorical back yard than if you travel hundreds of miles to take the same image as thousands of other photographers?