FEED Autumn 2022 Web

Words by Neal Romanek

Sustainability org Greening of Streaming hosted a launch event at the UK Houses of Parliament, imploring us all to tackle the environmental crisis through cooperation

othing brings opposing political parties together like the imminent collapse

head of new business development at id3as – in his parliamentary address. “Members develop and share best practice, collectively innovating to ensure power efficiency is promoted to engineers and technology designers. It’s a pillar of architecture as important as price and performance.” The genesis of Greening of Streaming was an article Robinson wrote for Streaming Media magazine, which had the catchy phrase as its title. This feature led to more opinion pieces, then conversations with peers in the industry, and finally the founding of a stand-alone non-profit organisation by Robinson and his colleagues at id3as. Adam Curwin, brimming with experience as a business analyst and financial manager – and with a bachelor’s degree in zoology – was ultimately brought in as Greening of Streaming’s executive director. GETTING THE NUMBERS RIGHT Help Me Stream Research Foundation’s Tim Siglin, also a Greening of Streaming founding member, presented the parliamentary gathering with responses collected from a specially commissioned public survey on consumer awareness and streaming habits. The poll, conducted via UK market research and data analytics firm YouGov, asked questions generated by Greening of Streaming members. This provided a snapshot of understanding about streaming’s environmental

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of organised society. Parliament was the site of an event held by media industry trade body Greening of Streaming, to put the environmental impact of streaming before members of the British government. On 8 June, Greening of Streaming’s parliamentary public launch was attended by representatives from the industry, including participant companies, UK broadcasters and various politicians. Matt Warman, Conservative MP and former parliamentary under-secretary of state for digital infrastructure, appeared alongside Labour MP Dr Alan Whitehead, shadow minister for the Green New Deal and energy. They introduced the assembled policymakers and parliamentarians to the organisation, which is helping businesses and government work together to initiate reform. Greening of Streaming set out with a firm grasp on the fact that the climate crisis – which is exacerbated by almost everything we do – can only be solved with intensive cooperation. Hence the emphasis on cross-party participation at the parliamentary shindig – and the organisation’s ethos of bringing together companies who would normally be competitors. “Fundamentally, Greening of Streaming is about saving the planet, not competitive advantage,” according to co-founder Dom Robinson – also

BBC NEWS REPORT ON THE EVENT IN PARLIAMENT

YOU CAN SWITCH OFF YOUR TELEVISION TO SAVE POWER, BUT EVERYTHING UP TO YOUR FRONT DOOR IS ALWAYS RUNNING

impact – and what people were willing to do about it. “Viewers feel that the obligation to address the problem is with the streaming industry,” Adam Curwin told FEED . “At an individual level, there’s not much you can do. If you chose not to stream at all, the infrastructure is still switched on. You may only influence what happens on your device.”

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