How the Entertainment Industry Taught Me About Changing the World
Change isn’t just about knowledge. It’s about agency
By Zena Harris, President, Green Spark Group
Every memorable article, book, or movie follows the same formula: define the problem, then present the solution.
The problem? Climate change. No surprise there.
The solution? More surprising: your TV.
Not the actual device, but the content you consume. The shows you binge, the films that shape our culture, the sports broadcasts that fill stadiums and living rooms. And more importantly: How film and television are produced.
Let me take you back 20 years. I was living in Los Angeles, flying into Burbank and spotting movie studios from the sky. I had a friend in the movie business who got me onto sets, back when security was, let’s just say, a bit looser. I'd look around and see equipment everywhere, cables snaking across the floor, catering tents humming, people moving with creative intensity - it was all so cool! But I kept thinking: How much energy is this production using? How much waste is generated? What powers this equipment? What are the larger systems at play? This sparked my curiosity to understand the “why” behind the decisions I saw playing out. This curiosity stayed with me.
Five years later I was in grad school, deep in sustainability research, and I discovered reports from MIT Sloan School of Management and the Boston Consulting Group that surveyed C-suite executives about integrating sustainability into their companies. Year after year, one sector ranked at the bottom: entertainment.
That’s when I knew. If we want to change the overall climate conversation and the culture around it, we should start with the culture-makers. So I founded Green Spark Group to change the carbon-intensive practices of content creation, create industry programs to support and educate the workforce, and influence the decades old systems of Hollywood. Essentially, we set out to change the climate of entertainment.
From Binge-Watching to Bold Climate Action
Most people don’t associate movies or live events with sustainability leadership. But over the past decade, our work has shown that this industry (creative, fast-paced, resource-intensive) is fertile ground for bold transformation.
We started on the ground in Vancouver, working with productions, training teams, and helping crews shift their practices. We quickly realized that meaningful change doesn't happen in silos. It wasn’t about greening one set; we had to engage every stakeholder across the ecosystem: studios, vendors, unions, suppliers, executives and producers. It takes the concerted effort of hundreds of people, working together, to create the final product.
One of our first big breaks came while working on the X-Files reboot. We helped integrate sustainability from pre-production through wrap, and I even narrated a behind-the-scenes video on our work on that production. Around the same time, we helped Creative BC transform the BC Film Commission’s ReelGreen.ca from a stagnant website into a full-fledged industry program with training, tools, and community. It was a catalyst moment.
This is the first big lesson I want to share with fellow business leaders: Sustainability doesn’t stick unless it’s shared. If your sustainability goals just live in one department, you’ve already failed. Cross-functional engagement is not a nice-to-have. It’s your strategy.
Empowering People Changes Everything
Over the past 10-plus years, we’ve trained thousands of people – students, suppliers, executives, and producers. One of the projects I’m proudest of is the creation of the Sustainable Production for Entertainment Certification (SPEC) with our partners at the U.S. Green Building Council California and consultants Ereth Environmental. It is the first program of its kind in North America, designed to give entertainment professionals in sports, music, film, and television the skills to reduce environmental impact, measure emissions, and embed sustainability into their daily work – earning them a coveted professional certification.
Here’s the real takeaway: change isn’t just about knowledge. It’s about agency.
People want to be part of the solution. When you give your team the tools and the permission, they’ll jump onboard. When you continually engage them with updates and ideas – and encourage them to discuss their experiences with each other – they’ll lead the charge.
-
Empowered teams outperform. Training and internal storytelling are force multipliers in any sustainability journey.
Strategy to System Change
I hear a lot of executives and leaders say they’re “doing sustainability”, often meaning a few recycling bins or buying carbon offsets. That’s fine as a start. But if you’re serious, you need a strategy that moves beyond optics to operational change.
That’s what we helped CBC/Radio-Canada do.
As Canada’s national public broadcaster, CBC wanted to walk the walk, on screen and behind the scenes. We helped them build a sustainability roadmap called “Greening Our Story,” setting measurable targets for emissions, materials, and culture. This wasn’t a performative checklist; it was a blueprint to rewire how a major organization integrates sustainability, from vendor policies to internal communications to production protocols. The wonderful part? Their leadership was fully engaged from the outset, which confirmed the importance of this work and granted permission for it to become part of the culture.
-
A well-structured sustainability plan can touch every part of your operation and create efficiencies you didn’t know were possible. And, maybe most importantly, help provide a fantastic place to work.
Measuring Impact and Owning the Story
One of the most misunderstood parts of this work is measurement. Yes, I’m going to say it:
You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
But here’s the twist: data isn’t just for reports, it’s for resonance.
We’ve helped companies track their emissions, waste, water, and material use, but the real power comes when they tell these stories. Not as spin, but as transparency. Your customers, your employees, your investors: they want to know what’s going on behind the scenes. Share the journey. Show the messiness. Celebrate progress over perfection.
-
Sustainability isn’t just operational, it’s reputational. Use storytelling to invite your stakeholders into the process.
What Other Industries Can Learn from Entertainment
Yes, our work is niche, but our insights are not.
What we’ve learned in the entertainment industry applies to any sector facing complexity, speed, and public scrutiny. Which means, nearly every company.
● Empower your people
● Engage across departments
● Build a roadmap with real metrics
● Tell your story as you go
● Most important - Start now!
We're not done, not even close. But looking back on the ripple effects – tools adopted across countries, local policies informed by our training, people building careers around this work – I know we’re pushing boundaries in all the right ways.
The entertainment industry is on a journey to shift its systems, rethink its waste streams, electrify its fleets, and upskill its workforce, all while producing the content we love. My team and I are in it for the long game. And you can jump into it, too.
Because at the end of the day, this work isn’t just about emissions or checklists. It’s about how your business shows up in the world.
The climate is changing. Your company should, too.
Make this a story worth watching.
To learn more or explore collaboration, visit www.greensparkgroup.com or reach out directly at hello@greensparkgroup.com