–Life as a Motion Picture Industry Sustainability Consultant–
With increased awareness and acknowledgement of change being required as per lifestyle and general life and living issues relating to the environment, it should come as no surprise that workplaces are also feeling pressures to conform.
Companies are increasingly being either scrutinized or praised by the public for the way they operate their businesses.
And rightfully so, in that if we as caretakers of this planet wish to remain thriving as a species, the reconsideration and challenging of previously accepted norms has now become a necessity.
Thankfully, education and industry have adapted to allow for new disciplines specializing in this environmental consulting to take shape.
Resultantly, eco-shepherds—if you will—have been found guiding all sorts of enterprises towards more sustainably minded methods and practices.
Their efforts have allowed companies and certain industries to become more effective in critically examining their own best practices. This has helped to create new modes of operandi which are surely better aligned for creating a greener pathway forward. On today’s show, my guest is such a consultant and she has been lending her voice and efforts to an industry that is in much need of change as per its traditionally negative environmental footprint that it has been leaving.
Introducing
Zena Harris is the bold visionary, founder and president of the Green Spark Group, a Vancouver based sustainability consulting firm that serves the motion picture industry in the United States and Canada.
Background & Accomplishment
Zena has worked with studios such as AppleTV, Amazon, Disney, Fox, HBO and others to implement sustainable practices on film and TV shows.
She also works with the PGA Green – Sustainable Production Alliance consortium under the Green Production Guide banner. Zena holds a master’s degree from Harvard University in Sustainability and Environmental Management and applies her 15+ years of experience in sustainability in several sectors to the motion picture industry.
She is the creative director of the Sustainable Production Forum and participates on several industry committees in the USA, Canada, and internationally.
Reasons to Listen
In this fascinating conversation, listeners are treated to a discussion centred not only on Zena’s own professional development and experiences, but also a break down of this industry in so far as how it is developing to cope with the environmental challenges we all presently face.
Zena’s stories and insights are inspiring on many levels. As an aside, she also shares how an early work experience on the set of “The X-Files” truly solidified her belief in the possibility of this industry being utterly capable of finding ways to be more effective in producing content in a more environmentally responsible manner.
The talk is full of insight start to finish and I’d encourage anyone looking to better understand this industry and its future to have a listen!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
“As the (motion picture) industry has been collecting data over the years, what was talked about early on from a sustainability perspective was waste because that was what we could see. But then as data was being collected, what we now see through the data is that we really have a problem with our transportation and energy consumption.”
-Zena Harris
Check out the Video Conversation:
For those who desire to view the full video conversation of this discussion, you can do so via Youtube.
Words of Wisdom:
Hear from Zena as she shares advice to those with an interest in both sustainability and film in terms of breaking into this burgeoning field.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Zena and her work, you can find out more about it all at her company website, at the Sustainable Sustainable Production Forum where she is the creative director. Zena and her company can also be found via these social platforms:
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!
