[EN] Since its foundation, People’s Palace Projects has investigated how people from fragile territories transform their worlds through creativity and the arts.
The climate crisis is a defining moment in history. We can no longer afford to frame specific contexts as isolated worlds, disconnected from one another.
The harsh realities that our partner artists and community organisations are fighting to transform, in urban or rural settings, in Brazil, in the UK, and in many countries around the world, do not result from social and economic inequalities alone. They are also tangible consequences of environmental policies. Environmental injustice impacts lower-income communities the most, and makes them even more vulnerable to the climate crisis.
Social justice and environmental justice are indivisible to achieve a far-reaching systemic change, and PPP strongly believes the cultural sector has an essential role in effecting the change we need to achieve sustainable development.
Our declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency is just the beginning of our commitment to rethink how we operate locally and globally, our systems, structures, values, partnerships and projects, and how we can support and inspire artists, communities and cultural organisations to respond to one of the greatest challenges of our time.
*
[PT] Desde a sua fundação, a People’s Palace Projects pesquisa como pessoas que vivem em territórios de alta vulnerabilidade transformam os seus mundos através da arte e da criatividade.
A crise climática é um momento decisivo na história. Nós não podemos mais tratar contextos específicos como universos isolados, desconectados um do outro.
A dura realidade que nossos parceiros – artistas e organizações comunitárias – lutam para transformar, em áreas urbanas e rurais, no Brasil, Reino Unido, e em outros países do mundo, não é resultado apenas das desigualdades socioeconômicas. Eles são consequências tangíveis de políticas climáticas. A injustiça ambiental impacta principalmente as populações de baixa-renda e as tornam ainda mais vulneráveis à crise climática.
Justiça social e justiça ambiental são indivisíveis para alcançarmos uma mudança sistêmica profunda, e a PPP acredita que o setor cultural tem um papel fundamental para realizar as mudanças necessárias para alcançar um desenvolvimento sustentável.
Nossa declaração de Emergência Climática e Ecológica é apenas o início do nosso compromisso de repensar como trabalhamos local e globalmente, os nossos sistemas, estruturas, valores, parcerias e projetos, e de buscar maneiras de apoiar e inspirar artistas, comunidades e organizações culturais a encarar um dos maiores desafios dos nossos tempos.
*
We, People’s Palace Projects, declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency.
We pledge to work with and support the communities and local governments in tackling this Emergency, and we call on others to do the same. These are our intentions:
- We will tell the Truth
Governments, and their public broadcasters and cultural agencies, must tell the truth about the Climate and Ecological Emergency, reverse inconsistent policies and communicate the urgency for far-reaching systemic change. We will communicate with citizens and support them to discover the truth about the Emergency and the changes that are needed.
- We will take Action
Governments must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels. We pledge to work towards reducing our emissions to net zero* by 2025. We will challenge policies and actions of local and national governments and their agencies, where we interact with them, that do not help to reduce emissions or consumption levels. We will actively work to imagine and model ways that our organisation can regenerate the planet’s resources.
- We are committed to Justice
The emergency has arisen from deeply systemic injustices. Arts and Culture can imagine and forge shifts in the ways we relate to one another and the world, in our values and behaviours. We will do what is possible to enable dialogue and expression amidst our communities about how the Emergency will affect them and the changes that are needed. We will support demands for more democracy within our civic institutions and government. We believe that all truth-telling, action and democratic work must be underpinned by a commitment to justice based on intersectional principles*, led by and for marginalised people.
*Net zero means that on balance one’s activities are zero emissions, taking into account all possible Greenhouse Gas emissions and actions taken to mitigate or offset those emissions. *Awareness of how systems of power combine to multiply the impacts on those who are most marginalised in society.
Join us – declare a Climate & Ecological Emergency, which constitutes making a commitment to tell the truth about climate change and define a set of actions to stop global warming.
Culture Declares Emergency is a community of artists & cultural sector individuals & organisations who have declared a climate & ecological emergency. Our mission is to tell the Truth, take Action & seek Justice. We are now a community of over 1000 and our call to action has been taken up by many sectors including Architects Declare & Music Declares, with whom we collaborate on leveraging change.