THE EVOLVING MUSEUM: GOING GREEN IN COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND POLICY
A thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of 3 C the requirements for the Degree
TA\) s s t Master of Arts
In
Museum Studies
by
Ashley Marie Reclite
San Francisco, California
May 2016 Copyright by Ashley Marie Reclite 2016 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
I certify that I have read The Evolving Museum: Going Green in Collections Management
Practice and Policy by Ashley Marie Reclite, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts: Museum Studies at San Francisco State University.
idward Luby, Ph.D. Professor of Museum Studies
Victoria Lyall, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Museum Studies THE EVOLVING MUSEUM: GOING GREEN IN COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND POLICY
Ashley Marie Reclite San Francisco, California 2016
Over the past decade, the Green Trend, defined as the general population demanding environmentally-friendly products and practices, has become a prominent aspect of society. Museums, as cultural institutions tied to their communities, recognize the importance of protecting the environment, and have steadily transitioned into “going green” on a holistic level. In this thesis, the Green Trend and “going green” in museums is examined by assessing how this transition has impacted how museums care for collections. A literature review and survey of museums in the western United States was conducted. Key themes of strong leadership, the development of sustainability plans, and institution-specific practices are identified and discussed, and conclusions and recommendations are presented. It is concluded that museums must continue to make environmentally-friendly adjustments to collections care practices in order to ensure that they continue to care for objects and serve their communities for generations to come.
I certify that the abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis.
Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my thesis committee, Dr. Edward Luby and Dr. Victoria Lyall, for their continued support and guidance through this process. Your feedback has enabled me to become a stronger, more confident writer. Thanks are also owed to my fellow Museum
Studies graduate students who have been a great support system throughout this process.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their unwavering love and support.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Table of Contents...... vi
List of Figures...... ix
List of Appendices...... x
Chapter 1: Introduction...... 1
Chapter 2: The Green Trend...... 6
Global Warming and Climate Change...... 6
Sustainability...... 9
Green Trend...... 12
Green Trend and Museums...... 14
Sustainability Plans and Policies...... 17
Organizations and Groups...... 22
Conclusion...... 25
Chapter 3: Going Green in Museum Practices...... 26
General Green Practices...... 26
Green Buildings...... 28
Recycling and Energy Audits...... 31
Green Practices in Collections Care...... 35 Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems...... 37
Lighting Systems...... 40
Repurposing Packing Materials...... 41
Purchasing Green Products...... 42
Multi-Purpose Practices...... 44
Conclusion...... 46
Chapter 4: Green Practices and Collections Policy...... 48
History of the Collections Management Profession...... 48
Collections Management Policy...... 50
Green Practices and Policy...... 51
Conclusion...... 54
Chapter 5: Methods...... 55
Research Topic...... 55
Literature Review...... 56
Survey...... 56
Chapter 6: Survey Results...... 63
Part I: Demographic Information...... 63
Part II: Institutional Green Practices...... 68
Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care...... 71
vii Part IV: Final Questions...... 81
Conclusion...... 82
Chapter 7: Discussion...... 84
Part I: Demographic Information...... 84
Part II: Institutional Green Practices...... 85
Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care...... 85
Part IV: Final Questions...... 86
Survey Challenges...... 87
Conclusion...... 88
Chapter 8: Conclusions...... 89
Green Leadership...... 89
Sustainability and Mission...... 91
A Progressive Process...... 93
Development of a Plan and Policy and Inclusion in Existing Policy...... 94
Tailoring Green Practices...... 96
Recommendations to the Field...... 97
Provide Education and Training on Green and Sustainable Practices 97
Share Knowledge and Experience...... 99
Concluding Thoughts...... 100
Works Cited...... 102 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Responses to Type of Museum...... 64 2. Responses to Staff Size...... 65 3. Responses to Annual Budget for the Museum...... 67 4. Responses to Annual Budget for Collections Care...... 68 5. Responses to Green Practices and Mission, Vision, Goals...... 69 6. Responses to Presence of a Sustainability Plan...... 70 7. Responses to Green vs. Sustainable Practices...... 72 8. Responses to Purchasing Green Products...... 73 9. Responses to Discussion of Green Practices in Meetings...... 74 10. Responses to Interdepartmental Communication...... 75 11. Responses to Sustainability and Collections Management Policy...... 76 12. Responses to Sustainability in Collections Management Policy ...... 77 13. Responses to Sustainability and Collections Storage Space...... 78 14. Responses to Modifying Environmental Controls...... 79 15. Responses to Green Practices and Preservation Plans...... 80 16. Responses to Representation of Green Practices on Websites...... 81 LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
1. Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire...... 108 2. Appendix B: List of Survey Recipients...... 112 3. Appendix C: List of Cited Web Sources...... 118
x 1
Chapter 1: Introduction
On August 29, 2005, one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States hit New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina claimed the lives of approximately 1,200 people and resulted in over $100 billion in damage to the city of New Orleans (Thompson 2015). In addition to the destruction of homes and other historical structures in the area, cultural centers were also affected. The New Orleans Museum of Art faced structural damage to the floor that resulted in minor flooding in administrative offices and storage (ABC News 2005). The collections remained unharmed with the exception of a few pieces due to a strong disaster preparedness plan and a dedicated staff who camped out in the museum until they were forced to evacuate (ABC News 2005). This tragic event, as well as the deadly Hurricane Sandy that hit the northeast United States in 2012, led to a heightened awareness of the true effects of global warming and climate change on national and international levels.
While scientists cannot definitively prove that these devastating hurricanes are a direct result of global warming and climate change, they can conclude that the impact of the hurricanes would have been less damaging without the influence of global warming and climate change on the environment (Worland 2015). Advancements in human activity have contributed to the average temperature of the Earth increasing drastically over the past century, which has played a role in increasingly more destructive weather patterns. Scientists who have studied Hurricane Sandy, for example, believe that the hurricane hit the East Coast due to a change in direction “due to re-distribution of air masses and position of the jet stream,” which was caused by the warming of the Arctic, a result of climate change (Main 2012).
Natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, serve as a tangible manner in which to comprehend the impact of human activity on the environment. However, the relationship between humans and the environment can also be measured 2
through the concept of the ecological footprint, which is “estimated by calculating how much land and water are required on a continuous basis to produce all the goods consumed, and to assimilate all the wastes generated by that population” (Janes 2009, 32). Determining the ecological footprint of a specific population is significant because it provides perspective on how the actions of humans are impacting the earth negatively by quantifying the effect into digestible figures. People are also more likely to take action when they have a better understanding of what is taking place in ways that they can comprehend.
Noted Museum Studies scholar and Canadian Robert R. Janes exemplifies how action is directly connected to understanding by using the concept of ecological footprint to argue that museums need to do more to reduce their contributions to climate change. Janes supports this argument by noting that “in 2003, humanity’s footprint exceeded the earth’s biological capacity by over 25 percent,” and that Canadians exceeded their fair share of the earth’s resources by a whopping 75 percent (Janes 2009, 33). Overexploitation of the Earth’s natural resources is believed by many to support the idea that human activity contributes to global warming and climate change, which in turn plays a role in the increasingly more devastating impact of natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.
Over the past ten years, the concept of “going green” and adopting sustainable practices in various sectors of society has gained widespread attention. Green products saturate the market in the food and construction/architecture industries and have become a societal norm when new food products are presented or new buildings are constructed. Corporations and cultural institutions, such as museums, now commonly include sustainability in their business models as rebranding and marketing tools. For example, the San Francisco Museum of Modem Art (SF MoMA) is currently constructing a new building, with sustainability being a major component of the process (San Francisco Museum of Modem Art 2016). SF MoMA promotes its efforts to become more “green” 3
on their website by stating, “from building materials that minimize the transfer of thermal energy to lighting control systems that respond to changing daylight, every aspect of the expansion has been designed with sustainability in mind” (San Francisco Museum of Modem Art 2016). This is one example of many, as sustainability is gaining traction and becoming a major factor in the progression of society, most commonly through the construction of new buildings and the adoption of green practices in daily operations.
Society’s heightened awareness of the interaction between humans and the environment has resulted in the Green Trend, a modem movement that impacts various industries and professional fields. For the purposes of this thesis, the Green Trend is defined as the public demand for sustainable, environmentally-friendly products on an individual and corporate level. This trend can be seen in many aspects of society, ranging from the food in grocery stores to household cleaning supplies to building structures. It is common for people to question how a product or project will affect the environment when it is in the development process, signifying the level of importance for understanding and positively contributing to the relationship between human activity and the environment. The Green Trend has resulted in an increased awareness of the need to protect the environment through the integration of green and sustainable practices.
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and the resulting Green Trend, museums and other cultural institutions have acknowledged the need to incorporate green and sustainable practices into the management of their institutions holistically. As previously mentioned, museums such as SF MoMA are making sustainability a priority during the renovation process, making information about the project public knowledge, and emphasizing the importance of adopting green practices. Many other institutions are shifting practices internally by recycling, repurposing materials, and modifying lighting and HVAC systems. As cultural centers trusted by the public, museums recognize that making a commitment to “going green” is vital, and many institutions are progressively 4
becoming more “green” as more products are made available and green practices are proven to be effective.
While a developing concern with green and sustainable practices exists in the museum community as a whole, some museum departments naturally consume more energy and generate more waste than others. For example, the collections department is a unit of museums that requires vast amounts of energy for climate control and specialized materials for storage. The collections department is responsible for preserving the objects for future generations, making this department the heart of the institution, and, therefore, the area in which green and sustainable practices need to be integrated the most. This is further supported by the fact that “it is estimated that the rate of collection growth in the US is 1 to 5 percent per year, which translates into millions of additional objects annually” (Janes 2009, 84).
Over the past ten years, there has been a steady transition of “going green” in museums on a holistic level. There is a great deal of broad evidence supporting the idea that museums are concerned with sustainability, as museum professionals discuss the concept of “going green” on an institutional level, but how does sustainability work on a departmental level? What does “going green” mean when caring for collections?
This thesis will examine the Green Trend, and phrases associated with that concept, such as “going green” and sustainability, in the context of collections care. In order to address the questions above, a review of literature was conducted, as well as a survey of museums in the western United States, focusing on collections practices and sustainability.
The thesis is divided into multiple chapters with each chapter focusing on a specific component of the research conducted. First, chapter 1 provides an overview of the topics that will be presented. Second, chapters 2 through 4, which make up the literature review, discuss the following: the Green Trend in museums and society as a 5
whole (chapter 2); going green in museum practices (chapter 3); and green practices and collections policy (chapter 4). Third, chapter 5 outlines the methods used in this thesis, which included a survey of museums in the western United States. Fourth, chapter 6 presents the results of the survey. Fifth, chapter 7 presents a discussion of the Green Trend in museums in relation to the literature review and the survey results. Finally, chapter 8 outlines several conclusions and recommendations for the field.
Museums have naturally adapted to the evolving disposition of their surrounding environments for decades. However, the distress of the current environment is an ecological issue that will be extremely difficult to overcome or negate. As trusted public institutions, museums play a critical role in the growing Green Trend, and are in a vital position to enact change and to lead by example. Museum professionals are continually recognizing the social power of their institutions and are enacting change mindfully. As the New York Times recently observed, museum “administrators and architects are [increasingly] incorporating sustainable features throughout the design process, from green roofs and “living walls” of plants to subterranean passageways filled with energy- saving technologies.. ..[and] despite the challenges, museums around the country are forging ahead with new sustainable designs” (Gelles 2016). The renovation of an existing building or the construction of a new one is a powerful statement for museums to make, serving as physical representations of shifting institutional ideologies. But how, if at all, are these public facing practices integrated internally? What are the contributions of the museum’s traditional core, its collections department? Are collections units acknowledging broad museum and societal concerns regarding the Green Trend and using them as the basis for addressing issues of sustainability, and if so, how? 6
Literature Review
Chapter 2: The Green Trend
This chapter presents a brief discussion of global warming, climate change and the Green Trend, and how these global issues impact museum practices. First, a brief discussion of how global warming and climate change came to be a worldwide concern will be presented. Second, a concise history of the concept of sustainability will be provided. Third, global warming and climate change will be examined in the context of the Green Trend. Finally, a discussion of the development of the Green Trend in museums will be presented. Collectively, these components of the development of the Green Trend are essential to understanding the growing need to incorporate green and sustainable practices into the museum field, leading to further development of best practices and policies in museums.
Global Warming and Climate Change
Some of the most prevalent issues impacting humanity in the twenty-first century are global warming and climate change. Often used synonymously, the terms global warming and climate change are two distinct, but linked environmental terms: global warming describes an increase in the overall temperature within the Earth’s atmosphere; climate change is any lasting change in environmental conditions pertaining to climate, such as temperature and the amount of rainfall (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2015). According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, “climate change is the single biggest environmental and humanitarian crisis of our time” (Natural Resources Defense Council 2015). Human activity, such as automotive transportation, has resulted in a greater amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; this in turn has led to consistently warmer global temperatures in recent decades (Natural Resources Defense Council 2015). Additionally, the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contribute to more frequent extreme weather conditions such as droughts or intense 7
storms. Such events have devastated the homes and lives of thousands of people (Brophy and Wylie 2013, xv). Global warming and climate change are the direct result of the complex advancements of society over time.
Humans are the factor that has changed the most between 1950-2000 and it is their activity that has had the greatest impact on climate change. Many scientists believe that humans began to have an impact on the Earth’s climate system in the 1950s due to a significant increase in the global population; studies have shown “that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by about 20 percent” which consequently, is a drastic increase over a relatively short period of time (Ramanathan 2006, 36). Other human innovations such as industrialization have further increased levels of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, directly impacting the Earth’s climate system. This is supported by the fact that “over the long term, climate is governed by the balance between the incoming solar heating and the cooling associated with the outgoing infrared energy”(Ramanathan 2006, 36). Developments in society, such as the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity, have resulted in producing more outgoing energy than can be cooled, thus disrupting the natural balance, resulting in warmer global temperatures.
Scientists are studying the current climate system and determining how to predict future climate changes based on projected human activity; however, several factors lie outside of scientists’ control and may impact their predictions. For example, the full impact of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions on climate change remains to be determined because some infrared energy, also known as heat energy, is stored at the bottom of the ocean. Until that heat surfaces or hits the atmosphere, the full influence of global warming cannot be assessed (Ramanathan 2006, 38). Another example of a climate change factor outside of the control of scientists is the development of human activity. During the early part of the twenty-first century great strides have been made in developing sustainable environmental practices and standards for many industries. 8
However, their true level of integration is unknown, making it impossible to predict future climate change conditions based on the assumption that such practices are integrated worldwide. It is vital for influential countries to lead by example through adopting green and sustainable practices on an international level. Making this shift on a global scale has the potential to encourage other countries to “go green” and alter their practices, leading to a more sustainable environment overall.
While global standards continue to develop, individual industries, companies, and organizations need to create their own standards and practices that feed into the bigger picture. The United States Green Building Council developed a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program, which provides guidelines for the construction of and certifies existing building structures and practices that are model representations of sustainable practices (U.S. Green Building Council 2016b). The LEED program demonstrates the ability of large organizations to make profound changes that have a positive impact on the environment. In order for environmentally-friendly practices to have a lasting impression, it is critical for different types of organizations to play a part.
As trusted public institutions, museums play an essential role in preserving artifacts for future generations. Traditionally, to accomplish this, museums consumed large amounts of resources in order to ensure the proper care for and preservation of artifacts. As global warming and climate change have gained prominence in society, museum professionals have also recognized the importance of making conscious decisions about methods for altering existing practices to meet current environmental needs. Museum professionals acknowledged the importance of making this shift in practices after the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina was realized, resulting in widespread discussions about practical changes that could be made to reduce the impact of museums on the environment (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 5). This natural disaster displaced thousands of people and caused serious financial and structural damage to the city of New Orleans and the surrounding area. While the structure of the New Orleans 9
Museum of Art as well as the collections suffered only minor damage, the overall impact of the hurricane was detrimental to the institution. This museum, like many others across the country, depends on financial assistance from the city to operate. After Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans was in a poor financial situation, forcing the New Orleans Museum of Art to layoff most of its staff and raise the funds needed to support a museum in a devastated area (ABC News 2005). The museum’s visitor attendance is largely dependent on tourists, who were unable to experience the unique culture of New Orleans for many years after this event, causing further damage to the museum.
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, green practices in museums became a common topic of discussion. Many of the initial discussions among museum professionals centered on the concept of sustainability, how to understand it scientifically as well as within the context of museums, and how to apply it to museum work without compromising industry standards and best practices. However, before delving into a discussion of the Green Trend and museums, it is important to gain a better understanding of the sustainability movement.
Sustainability
Over the past twenty years, sustainability has become a greater topic of discussion due to the pressing need to make changes in human behaviors in order to ensure that the environment remains healthy for future generations. The term sustainability is a buzzword used today to signify environmentally-friendly practices, but this movement began long before the preservation and protection of the environment became a widely acknowledged international concern.
Sustainability became a recognized movement in the 1960s when the general population gained a greater awareness of humanity’s impact on the environment. This heightened awareness resulted from industrialization and a number of published works that provided evidence of the negative impact of human activity on the environment 10
(Madan 2011, 17). Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring published in 1962, discussed the environmental harm caused by the use of DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane); while six years later Garret Hardin published the Tragedy o f the Commons, which argued for the need for better resource management (Madan 2011, 17-18). These works laid the foundation for the mainstream concern for the environment in relation to human activity. Furthermore, these works inspired the environmental movement as well as the idea of sustainability: they planted the seed for a movement that would come to fruition over forty years later, when natural weather patterns reached a damaging level that could no longer be ignored.
Sustainability continued to be a topic of discussion among select groups of people during the next two decades. The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden focused on the issues related to humans and the environment (Madan 2011,19). While the term “sustainability” was not used in published documentation of the conference, the concept of human progression and the natural environment coexisting in a manner that is beneficial to all was discussed in depth (United Nations Environment Programme 1972). Conference attendees acknowledged a greater awareness of the relationship between humanity and the environment. The need to develop a better balance between human development and protecting the environment came to the forefront, leading to more frequent in depth discussions pertaining to achieving that balance.
In the 1980s, the World Commission on the Environment and Development (WCED) was created under the guidance of Gro Harlem Brundtland, furthering the sustainability movement (Madan 2011,20). The organization published the Our Common Future report, which detailed the true impact of human activity on the environment, expressing the need for all citizens to take action in reducing activities harmful to the natural environment and solidifying sustainability as a political issue (NGO Committee on Education 2016). Rather than being an issue that would affect future generations, 11
people came to realize that global warming and climate change are current issues that needed to be addressed in the present.
The United Nations took on the challenge of addressing the need for sustainable practices to combat global warming, signaling the magnitude of the issue. This resulted in The United Nations Kyoto Protocol of 1997, which established target goals for emission reductions on an international scale that committed parties would be bound to, beginning in 2008 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2014). While previous meetings had addressed sustainability and environmental concerns on a global scale, the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development focused on the integration of sustainable practices into daily life (United Nations 2002). The summit focused on simple practices that the majority of people have the ability to observe and change (United Nations 2002). These practices included monitoring and reducing water and energy use.
The rise in the social and political importance of sustainability as a method to reduce the impacts of global warming and climate change has had a significant impact on society. This need for a shift in mentality pertaining to human activity and the environment has led to changes being made in common practices in museums. As trusted public institutions, museums are well positioned to incorporate sustainable practices into their work culture and to use them to educate the public in meaningful ways that are supported by actual applications (Brophy and Wylie 2012, 445). Museum professionals recognize the significance of their social position and are working to improve upon not only their internal sustainable practices, but also their methods for educating a dynamic audience.
People today demand more from cultural institutions; they expect greater transparency and open channels of communication. As museums incorporate more sustainable practices into their everyday activities, it is critical that they are open about 12
the changes being made. This will enable them to be recognized as a credible educational resource and model for the public (Madan 2011, 30). There are many small, but significant changes, that can be made in institutions as a whole to make them more sustainable, such as recycling, reusing materials, buying environmentally-friendly products, and reducing energy consumption. Adding recycling bins with instructions on how to use them, purchasing recycled printer paper, and slowly switching to energy efficient lighting are all small steps that any institution can take without negative effects. Such practices continue to be integrated by all types of organizations as the awareness of the need to protect the natural environment through sustainable and green practices has led to a social Green Trend.
Green Trend
The growing concern regarding society’s use of the Earth’s resources faster than they can be produced has led to the development of the Green Trend, in which people are actively seeking out materials, food products, and other resources that are good for the environment (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 7). When discussing this movement and products associated with it, people often use the terms “green” and “sustainability” interchangeably. However, these terms do not mean the same thing and have very different implications. The term “green refers to products and behaviors that are environmentally benign, while [the term] sustainable means practices that rely on renewable/reusable materials and processes that are green or environmentally benign” (Brophy and Wylie 2012,436). However, the concepts of green and sustainable practices are relatively new to the museum field, and, therefore, the terms are often used interchangeably, which will be reflected in this thesis.
As previously mentioned, recent extreme weather conditions have served as a tangible way for people to feel the true effect of climate change. In June 2012, “the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which 13
occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe” (McKibben 2012). The drastic change in global temperature reflects the steady increase in the actions of humans. For example, numerous methods of transportation, such as trains and automobiles, as well as deforestation have increased carbon dioxide levels, a direct result of human advancements. This dramatic shift in environmental conditions serves as a primary example of how human activity contributes to global warming and climate change.
A shift in societal thinking has arisen out of the environment’s violent reaction to the evolution of humanity. People are beginning to take action both on a personal and professional level, meaning green and sustainable practices are being incorporated into the activities of individuals and businesses alike. The incorporation of recycling, waste management, the purchasing of green products, and the monitoring of energy and water consumption are all low cost, high impact ways in which people are slowly integrating environmentally-friendly practices into their daily activities (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 3). As such practices have become more prevalent in society, the demand for green products has increased and come to be expected as an option for consumers. Corporations have acknowledged the positive influence sustainability can have for a company, both financially and in relation to branding due to consumer interest. This is supported by the fact that statistically, the majority of the American population has some level of knowledge of climate change: global warming is a cause of concern for 54 percent of Americans and is believed to be a real issue impacting human life and the environment by 66 percent of Americans (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 11). These facts demonstrate how people are perpetuating the Green Trend and making green and sustainable practices a standard in the modem world. 14
Green Trend and Museums
Over the past decade, the museum world has experienced a steady transition toward green practices, which has been integrated into museum structures in varying ways. For example, in 2007 the Boston Children’s Museum (BCM) embarked on a large- scale renovation project focused on sustainability, resulting in a LEED Gold rating (Madison Children’s Museum 2016). Today, the BCM continues to develop exhibits and programs to educate the public about sustainability (Building Green 2016). Other institutions choose to focus primarily on constructing completely new buildings when the opportunity is presented. The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History decided to start from scratch in 2009, demolishing their original building, recycling the demolished materials, and constructing a new building with the incorporation of sustainable elements (Fort Worth Museum of Science and History 2009). The trend of green architecture continues to be a key element of renovation and expansion projects today, as the San Francisco Museum of Modem Art has incorporated green elements into their new, multi million dollar facility that will open in May 2016 (San Francisco Museum of Modem Art 2016). This progressive movement towards the use of sustainable methods for operating museums has been nurtured by the issue of global warming and the accompanying social trend of adopting green practices. Many museums have become participants in this green movement largely through the renovation or construction of their building, as discussed above. However, green practices can be incorporated internally as well, in ways that have slowly begun to be practiced more commonly. This shift towards internal green practices is often achieved through the development of a strong green culture by the institution’s leaders, who promote the cause by working with people from every department to create a Sustainability Plan and integrate green practices.
Many institutions often feel that integrating green or sustainable practices does not connect with their vision or mission sufficiently enough to warrant integration. This hesitation may stem from a lack of knowledge about how the adoption of green or 15
sustainable practices can save money by reducing electricity bills, thus freeing up valuable funds for use by other core areas. Additionally such practices create a healthier space for the collections, staff, and guests, as well as providing museums with the opportunity to expand on their educational programming (Brophy and Wylie 2008,2).
Despite this general reticence, a significant number of institutions as well as museum organizations have begun to acknowledge that by adopting these practices and progressing with society, museums are able to take advantage of a great educational opportunity. Museums exist to serve their communities primarily by educating them about art, science, nature, or history and as a result, “are uniquely situated to lead” by example in teaching their local community about the importance of green and sustainable practices (McNeil 2013). While this may appear to be more difficult for certain types of museums to do in relation to their mission or goals, it actually enables them to expand on their educational programming by providing information about sustainable methods being integrated behind-the-scenes. For example, art museums are presented with the opportunity to inform “visitors about the dollar and environmental cost of collections care and sharing how they are responsibly managing that cost for a better bottom line and for a better environment for objects and people” (Brophy and Wylie 2012, 444). This further connects to the growing desire of museum audiences to have greater access and for museums to be more transparent.
While the integration of sustainable practices can be viewed as a valuable educational tool for the public and a positive way for museum staff to reduce their impact on the environment, there is often trouble in getting the entire staff to get on board with these changes. Green and sustainable practices often stagnate at recycling and repurposing materials without “buy-in” and support from the highest-ranking staff members who must encourage the integration of green practices wherever possible. It is often assumed that sustainability centers on dramatic changes to the building structure, which is a method of sustainability adopted by institutions such as the Exploratorium and 16
the California Academy of Sciences. However, the reality is that the majority of museums cannot realistically take this approach to “going green.” It is important for smaller institutions to recognize that sustainability needs to be incorporated throughout the institution whenever and wherever possible (Brophy and Wylie 2012,436). With this mindset, museums have the ability to make small changes over time, including starting a recycling program, reusing materials, and purchasing recycled paper for printing needs. The idea is to have people think about their actions in relation to the environment, and if small steps are all an institution can take, then it is a start, and those small steps can have a significant impact in the long run. The responsibility of getting museum staff members to think with a sustainable mindset falls to the leaders of an institution.
The benefits of integrating green practices become apparent when education on the topic is provided to staff and a sense of how such strategic changes can benefit an institution are presented, but the integration of such practices relies heavily on an institution’s leaders. In order for sustainable practices to be integrated into a museum’s culture, it is critical for there to be a strong leader present in order to provide a direction with a plan. Museum leaders, directors and administrators, must look to the mission when thinking about sustainability and draw from it to incorporate green practices within the institution, bringing sustainability into the already existing museum culture (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 4). Leaders must draw on the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, which emphasizes the importance of integrating small, simple practices. Additionally, successful leaders will need to include staff members from every department in the development of the plan, due to the fact that the leader lacks knowledge in areas that their staff excel in. A good leader recognizes “their work as being the creation of conditions in which others [can] succeed and the building of an organizational culture that support[s] risk taking and new ideas” (Light 1998,134). Sustainability is still a relatively new topic in museums with many practices currently being tested or integrated without proof of prior success. Leaders must acknowledge this and give their 17
staff the ability to fail without tough repercussions, especially collections care and exhibition design staff, who face greater challenges in integrating green and sustainable practices. While green and sustainable practices are still emerging practices in the museum profession that are often unique to each institution given differing staff sizes and budgets, there are a number of practices that are becoming more common in the field. The integration of these new practices warrants the creation of a Sustainability Plan and Policy, as discussed below.
Sustainability Plans and Policies
Once a leader has endorsed the idea that sustainability is a topic that needs to be addressed in their museum, the next step is to develop a plan. This document serves as a method of mapping out the ways in which museums will fulfill their goal of becoming more sustainable in the future. This plan should consist of creating a green team and a Sustainability Plan. The green team should be led by a single staff member who is committed to the cause, with the rest of the team consisting of “a variety of staff and board members to work, learn, and engage the rest of the institution” (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 62). It is vital to have everyone on board with the plan in order for it to be successful and provide for the future expansion of sustainable practices throughout the entire museum. One way in which to ease a museum culture into sustainability is to “begin by pursuing low-hanging fruit, such as implementing a more rigorous recycling program, and move to more complex projects” over time (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 63). Through integrating green practices slowly over time, the museum is more likely to achieve success. However, this success is dependent on the development of a Sustainability Plan in addition to a green team.
As discussed above, the incorporation of sustainability within a museum is greatly reliant on strong leadership who can articulate clear objectives, as well as the formation of a green team. However, the success of these components relies on the creation and 18
integration of a Sustainability Plan, which will serve as a guide for the entire institution by providing a clear vision of what the goals are, how they will be achieved, and who will ensure the green and sustainable practices are integrated (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 121). This critical document should be established when sustainability becomes a priority for an institution and revised annually to fit the needs of the museum and to expand into other areas if necessary. It is important to stress that each museum’s plan will differ based on what is realistic for that institution. For example, the Dumbarton House in Washington, D.C., is a historic structure whose Sustainability Plan has been created with the difficulties of being a historic site in mind. Due to the fact that their physical location limits sustainable practices that can be directly incorporated into the building, their plan focuses on reducing, reusing, and recycling as well as making any small changes when possible (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America 2013). Dumbarton House serves as a model for any institution in the beginning stages of “going green” and represents how these practices can be incorporated in seemingly minor ways that positively contribute to sustainability in a major way over time.
In 2013, Dumbarton House, which is the headquarters of the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, published a Sustainability Plan and made it available to the public through their website. While the plan is specific to this institution, the structure of the plan serves as a model for other museums that are actively in the process of becoming more sustainable and solidifying their commitment through an institutional plan. Dumbarton House’s Sustainability Plan is divided into the following sections: institutional mission, purpose, sustainability policy statement, the green team, guidelines and objectives, current and proposed sustainable initiatives, and marketing strategies (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America 2013). The plan exemplifies a practical application of the theoretical structure of a Sustainability Plan outlined by museum professionals focused on sustainability, such as Sarah S. Brophy, Elizabeth Wylie, and Rachel Madan. Additionally, Dumbarton House’s plan provides an 19
institution-specific definition of “green,” which enables the institution to articulate their justifications for making the shift to sustainable practices in a simple manner (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America 2013). While each section of this Sustainability Plan is vital to the overall effectiveness of the plan, the initiatives section proves to be the strongest. The section consists of a table with two columns: initiative and impact (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America 2013). This enables Dumbarton House to clearly present practices they are seeking to integrate and immediately provide information about the positive effect they will have. Museums that are in the beginning stages of becoming more “green” would benefit from adopting this concept and using it in the brainstorming or development process.
While many institutional plans and policies can be complex and institution- specific, the Sustainability Plan of Dumbarton House is simple in nature, partially due to the fact that sustainability is still a relatively new concept in the museum field. The simple nature of the plan further supports the argument that such a plan can be developed by any institution, regardless of staff size or budget, and furthermore, demonstrates how the key to the successful integration of green practices is justifying their incorporation in relation to the mission of the museum. The purpose of a Sustainability Plan is to solidify an institution’s commitment to “going green” by connecting such actions to the mission and goals of the museum, and Dumbarton House has accomplished this successfully through their Sustainability Plan.
The Dumbarton House plan is a prime example of the type of plan that can be developed and successfully utilized by any museum. However, there are also museums that are under the purview of a parent organization, commonly a university, which limits their ability to create plans and policies. Instead of having the freedom to develop a Sustainability Plan organically in a manner that best suits that particular museum, university museums must often follow the university’s Sustainability Plan. While the presence of any Sustainability Plan may be better than not having one at all, the broader 20
scope of a university plan lacks the ability to provide information or steps to be taken that are specific to the unique practices of museums.
This conflict is best exemplified by the Harvard University Sustainability Plan for Fiscal Year 2015-2020 (Harvard University 2015). Unlike the Dumbarton House plan, Harvard University’s Sustainability Plan relies heavily on infographics and discusses sustainable steps that will be taken within five different categories: emissions and energy, campus operations, nature and ecosystems, health and well-being, and culture and learning (Harvard University 2015). While this division makes sense for a university that has many complex components to consider, the steps being taken to become more sustainable are very broad and lack the focus needed for the unique operations of a museum. However, the responsibility of incorporating sustainable practices should not fall to only the university. Museum staff, specifically directors or senior staff, should evaluate the university Sustainability Plan, extract the sections that are relevant to the museum and use this as the basis to create a plan for the museum. Further steps should then be taken to determine additional practices or components that need to be added to the plan, and meetings should be held between museum staff and university staff to ensure the museum’s plan coincides with the university’s plan. While the plan developed by a university is effective and encompasses a university museum, the museum staff need to further the progression of sustainability and play an active role in developing a plan that coincides with that of the university, but also ensures that the museum is being as sustainable as possible.
While a Sustainability Plan serves to guide museum professionals on how to achieve an institution’s green and sustainable goals, a Sustainability Policy clearly explains the circumstances under which the goals will be achieved within the museum structure (Madan 2011, 89). The plan provides information on how the actions will be carried out, and the policy provides structure for the actions. When museums are beginning to develop a Sustainability Policy, they must first make a decision about how 21
strict they want to be: some institutions may choose to make suggestions for green and sustainable practices, while others may choose to enforce mandatory green and sustainable practices to be incorporated into existing practices (Madan 2011, 91). It is critical for each individual museum to decide which method works best for their institution and work culture. Institutional “buy-in” is a key component of any successful Sustainability Plan or Policy and such documents should be written in a way that is effective, both for the goals of becoming more environmentally-friendly as well as making the transition to such practices clear and easy for staff to integrate (Madan 2011, 94). Without support from the entire museum, a Sustainability Plan or Policy while be more challenging to enforce and may become stagnant due to a lack of support. Additionally, an unfocused policy that is not directly connected to the mission, vision, or goals of the museum can be ineffective.
The Sustainability Policy will be unique to each institution for a variety of reasons including staff size, budget, mission, and parent organizations, but each policy should consist of three basic components in addition to any institution specific information. These three basic components consist of the following: a statement connecting green and sustainable practices to the museum’s mission, vision, or goals; a statement of purpose explaining why certain practices need to be integrated; and a statement explaining who has authority to ensure green and sustainable practices are carried out (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 127). This basic structure for a Sustainability Policy serves as a starting point for institutions that are in the beginning stages of integrating green and sustainable practices into their institutions, which is the case for the majority of the field.
While Sustainability Plans are becoming more common in the museum profession, Sustainability Policies are still quite rare in the field (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 28). Sustainability continues to be a growing topic of discussion within museums, but budgetary and staff restrictions often inhibit the full development of plans and policies. Most professionals recognize that success is largely dependent on policy in this situation, 22
but face challenges in creating the policy (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 25). These challenges mostly consist of internal factors including a lack of institutional “buy-in,” financial resources, and staff resources. However, a lack of standards and best practices for a Sustainability Policy across the field due to the diverse nature of museums presents another challenge. Additionally, some institutions that do have Sustainability Policies have not shared them with the public due to the assumption that the policies are not interesting enough to share (Madan 2011,96). While museums are not required to make such documents public knowledge, they would greatly contribute to the development of standards for Sustainability Policies in museums and provide direction for those seeking guidance. Institutions looking to begin the process of sustainability are often overwhelmed by the complex nature of the topic, as new innovations and practices are constantly coming into play, further complicating the issue. It is important for museums in this position to take a step back and think critically about why they want to make this change by viewing the connection to their mission or vision as a starting point and expanding their efforts from there.
Organizations and Groups
Museum professionals seeking guidance on how to begin or improve upon methods for integrating green and sustainable practices often look to other institutions in the field as well as professional museum organizations. This has resulted in these organizations developing committees and strategies for “going green.” Such efforts are still in the beginning stages of tackling this complex issue in a way that is beneficial to the environment, while not impacting standards and best practices for the field in a negative manner. Many of the changes that need to be made in museum practice require scientific knowledge of proposed alternative green practices, and additionally depend on available staff time, which is a common limitation. Often times, museum professionals lack the time to research alternative green or sustainable materials and instead purchase what they know works for them. Professional museum organizations are striving to 23
combat this common issue by developing online resources that will provide information about green and sustainable practices and products in an easily accessible manner.
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), for example, is a national organization supporting “30,000 museums, individuals and companies by: developing standards and best practices, providing resources and career development, [and] advocating for museums to thrive” (AAM 2016b). The AAM provides an abundance of resources for museums that are members of the organization, and the website serves as a common reference point for many museum professionals. As sustainability has gained greater recognition by museum professionals, the AAM has worked to serve the growing demand for information by developing PIC-Green in 2007, a volunteer committee made up of AAM members. The group’s goals include to “develop signature programs to educate, facilitate, and encourage green practices [and to] position museums as leaders in environmental sustainability on a local, regional, national and global level” (AAM 2016c).
In order to achieve these goals, the professional network has developed a strategic plan and is currently working towards becoming a quick reference resource for museum professionals seeking guidance. The plan is to create a website where many different types of resources can be found, ranging “from basic information to advanced materials and can include how-to manuals, posting of current trends, research and best practices in the sustainable fields, and interactive sharing of ideas. Additional materials will include a Sustainable Operations Tool Kit, with practical how-to guides for sustainable operations that are often not easy to find” (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 13). Additionally, PIC-Green has been vocal about the need to include green and sustainable practices in the AAM accreditation process (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 75). This would not only represent the seriousness of the need to integrate green and sustainable practices, but also provide incentive for institutions where “buy-in” is currently an inhibiting factor. While great strides have been made in the development of green committees or resources by 24
professional museum organizations, they are still in the beginning stages and further developments need to be made before becoming truly effective across the industry.
PIC-Green serves as the AAM’s main method of tackling the need for green and sustainable practices. However, the organization also works with the Green Museums Initiative (GMI), a program of the California Association of Museums (CAM) established in 2006 (California Association of Museums 2016). GMI serves to provide guidance for museums that are striving to be greener in their practices. In 2013, A AM and GMI worked together to create a best practices guide for museums entitled Small(er) and Green(er) Sustainability on a Limited Budget. This document provides information about simple changes that can be made in any sector of the museum, from administration to collections to education. While simple in nature, this document served as a groundbreaking resource for this shift in museum practices and will improve as demand for discipline specific green and sustainable practices continues to increase in the coming years.
The American Alliance of Museums and its partner organizations are a key resource for many museum professionals working in different sectors of the field. AAM serves as an excellent starting place for museums seeking guidance on how to begin the process of “going green,” but there are also many other professional museum organizations that are doing important work in developing green and sustainable practices. Such organizations include the Getty Conservation Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, the Balboa Park Sustainability Program, and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Each organization has a different approach and focus on how to go about the process of becoming more environmentally-friendly due to their own mission and goals. It is important for museums beginning the process of “going green” to think about how making this change will relate to their mission and goals and develop a plan from there. Additionally, museums should acknowledge that they do not have to follow all of the practices proposed by an organization, but rather can 25
pick and choose practices from many different organizations to create a plan and policy that suits the needs of their specific institution.
Conclusion
The growing need to incorporate green and sustainable practices into the museum field will continue to be an important topic of discussion in the coming years. The relationship between human activity and global warming and climate change has been proven by scientific research and recent extreme weather conditions. This has led to a global societal concern regarding the health and preservation of the natural environment, resulting in the Green Trend and the integration of green and sustainable practices into many different human activities. Naturally, museums, being a resource often looked to by the public for information, are in the perfect position to greatly contribute to the environmental sustainability movement through leading by example. Professional museum organizations will continue to develop standards and best practices for “going green” as the demand for such practices continues to increase. This will lead to further development of best practices and policies in museums. While best practices are still developing in the field, there are a number of current green and sustainable practices being integrated in museums that will influence the development of these best practices and the formation of policy. 26
Literature Review
Chapter 3: Going Green in Museum Practices
This chapter presents a brief discussion of general green and sustainable practices in museums, green and sustainable practices specific to collections care, and how these practices impact evolving standards and best practices for collections care. First, a brief discussion of general green practices, including green architecture and energy audits will be presented. Second, a concise overview of green practices in collections care will be provided. These two complex components are critical to understanding the growing importance and use of green and sustainable practices in the museum field. The result is a need to reflect such critical changes in best practices for the museum field and institutional policies.
General Green Practices
Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing concern regarding the impact of human activity on the environment. Many steps have been taken in everyday human activities to reduce the negative impact on the environment, such as recycling, reusing materials, and purchasing locally made products. As the presence of green practices has gained increased recognition in society, a demand for environmentally- friendly products has come to the forefront. This awareness of environmental impact and consumer demand has resulted in shifting practices in cultural heritage institutions, including museums. Professionals in the field have acknowledged that museums require the use of great amounts of energy and materials to carry out their missions and provide valuable, educational experiences for the public. They realize that global warming and climate change have led to the need to reevaluate the traditional methods used for preventive conservation (Podany 2012, 242). This has resulted in the growing integration of green and sustainable practices into museum practices. 27
While the emergence of green and sustainable practices is a positive step for the museum field to take, sustainability is a complex topic that appears daunting to many museum professionals who are already faced with budgetary restrictions and time constraints. Furthermore, many museum professionals struggle to begin integrating sustainable practices into museum activities due to the lack of a library of literature about such practices in the field (Abbey 2012, 98). However, museum professionals such as Sarah S. Brophy and Elizabeth Wylie have taken great strides in providing resources about greening museums through their books, blogs, and websites. Additionally, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), a leading professional organization for North American museums, has begun to tackle the issue; it is currently in the process of developing standards for sustainability with the understanding that such standards need to be flexible due to the unique nature of each museum (McGraw 2013 a, 4). Proposed standards would be effective, but the AAM argues that standards for sustainability will have a greater impact if they are developed through individual museums sharing their experiences of integrating green practices successfully with the field (American Alliance of Museums 2013, 3).
The growing awareness of the need to become more sustainable as an institution is gaining prominence in museums. Staff recognize that the actions required to fulfill their daily activities demand many resources for lighting, climate control and storage, and transportation for objects and employees (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 6). Therefore, steps have been taken to reduce the amount of environmental resources used to carry out these actions, which vary from simple to complex based on what is realistic for each museum. The integration of many green practices is expensive, but in the long run save both money and natural resources. There are a wide range of green and sustainable practices used within the field based on the circumstances of individual museums. The practices discussed in the following sections represent those that are currently commonly practiced. 28
Green Buildings
When the Green Trend is discussed in the context of museums, green architecture is most often the main topic of discussion. Museums are institutions that traditionally have required the use of a large amount of energy, water, and other resources that have directly contributed to global warming and climate change. These necessary components of operation mean that museum buildings are extremely expensive to create. David Grabitske reports that when constructing new buildings, “the cost for each square foot averaged $771.69” for museums, while “new residential construction can average between $120.00 and $380.00 per square foot” (Grabitske 2010). He further explains how “the greater cost for museums reflects the specialized climate, security, exhibits, and furniture (such as shelving) that other kinds of construction do not require” (Grabitske 2010). However, the innovation of machinery and the development of environmentally- friendly building equipment have contributed to museums making the decision to construct new buildings that incorporate sustainable elements into their daily operations. This shift is less damaging to the environment and reduces operational costs for museums.
One of the most drastic steps museums can take when deciding to become greener is to construct a new building. The past ten years has been a period of advancement in energy-efficient buildings that dramatically reduce the cost of operations, which often consumes a significant portion of an institution’s annual budget. Therefore, green buildings have become a practical method of “going green” for institutions looking to remodel or construct new buildings (Brophy and Wylie 2012, 438). For example, the California Academy of Sciences made sustainability a priority when deciding to create a new space, with their primary objective being to minimize their carbon footprint as much as possible (California Academy of Sciences 2016). The museum worked with the U.S. Green Building Council to develop a structure that utilizes natural light and the airflow of the surrounding environment to help heat and cool the building (California Academy of 29
Sciences 2016). Since the opening of the new building in 2008, the California Academy of Sciences structure has earned a distinct LEED rating as “the world’s first Double- Platinum museum—and the largest Double Platinum building in the world” (California Academy of Sciences 2016).
Green buildings are a way to significantly reduce energy usage and costs, making them budget friendly and allowing for more money to be spent in a way that benefits the goals of the museum. Additionally, these structures are natural environments that provide a tangible method of educating the public about sustainability. It is commonly believed that the construction of green museum buildings is something that can only be accomplished by large institutions, but there are many ways in which smaller institutions are making similar changes with the assistance of the LEED program.
The ability of a wide range of museums to integrate green elements into their brick and mortar structures is due to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program, a government organization within the United States Green Building Council that has created guidelines for rating and constructing green buildings (Brophy and Wylie 2012,438). The LEED program was developed in 2000 and since then has played an important role in the construction or renovation of buildings across the country. Additionally, it has become an expectation of the public and local governments when a project for updating a building arises. This has resulted in thousands of LEED-certified buildings and LEED being “referenced in project specifications for 71 percent of projects valued at $50 million and over” (U.S. Green Building Council 2016a). In the near future, green and sustainable buildings will likely become a part of building codes, making the LEED program a pioneer in this industry.
The success of LEED buildings has resulted in them becoming a global standard for the construction of new buildings. As of August 2015, “LEED is the most popular and widely used green building rating system globally...[with] more than 72,500 LEED 30
building projects located in over 150 countries and territories” (U.S. Green Building Council 2016a). LEED buildings with a Gold rating, which is the average certification, generally:
• Consume 25 percent less energy and 11 percent less water • Have 19 percent lower maintenance costs • 27 percent higher occupant satisfaction • 34 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions (U.S. Green Building Council 2016a)
LEED buildings have become more prominent in the museum field due to their proven success. While some museum professionals believe that the cost of constructing a LEED- certified building is too expensive, the reality is that advancements in the process have made the cost of constructing green and non-green buildings the same (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 2-3). Additionally, the U.S. Green Building Council is aware of the financial burden of constructing an entirely new building and therefore, they have created different categories in which structures can be rated and certified depending on the type of work being done. The three categories relevant to museum buildings are “building design and construction,” “interior design and construction,” and “building operations and maintenance” (U.S. Green Building Council 2016b). Each category consists of criteria for rating a building at a different level of renovation: building design and construction caters to those creating a new structure; interior design and construction caters to those renovating the interior of their museum; and building operations and maintenance caters to those doing minor improvements or small construction projects (U.S. Green Building Council 2016b). With so many options presented, museums of any size and budget have the potential to make changes leading to a LEED rating, which results in reduced operational costs and the potential for greater institutional “buy-in” or support from the public. This provides a greater level of support for the integration of even more green and sustainable practices in the future. 31
While the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Program is the leader in the field of green buildings, there are other organizations that provide a similar service, such as the Living Building Challenge (LBC) and the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES). The LBC was created in 2006 and “defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today” with certification requirements split into seven categories; it is continuing to grow and gain recognition in the green building field (International Living Future Institute 2015). While the LBC focuses on the physical structure, SITES works to “align land development and management with innovative sustainable design” and works to provide certification for land and structures, making them an ideal candidate for national parks (Sustainable Sites Initiative 2016). Ultimately, it is critical for each individual institution seeking to green their building to choose which organization suits their needs best. All museums must think about ways to green their building in present or future plans because as the green movement continues to develop, sustainable practices that are voluntary now will become required through codes and regulations in the future. Many museum professionals recognize this developing shift in operations and are actively exploring sustainable practices that can be integrated into their institutions.
Recycling and Energy Audits
The adoption of a green building is an expensive process that is not realistic for every museum as such projects are often multi-million dollar capital campaigns that are out of reach for many institutions. However, there are small scale, simple changes that can be made in behaviors that contribute to the gradual integration of green practices over time. This can be a daunting task due to the complex nature of figuring out what is both good for the environment and practical for daily operations within a museum. Furthermore, there is an assumption that drastic, expensive actions must be taken in order for green practices to be truly effective. However, there are a number of simple and relatively cheap practices that can be easily incorporated into museums that are collectively just as effective as constructing a green building. 32
Small steps can yield great results when they are successfully carried out. One such step is recycling, which is being incorporated into many museums due to the minimal cost and simplicity of the practice. While easy to incorporate, recycling can be complex and time consuming in the beginning, which is the case for many green practices being integrated for the first time. If an institution is merely recycling cans and bottles discarded by the public and using recycling bins for paper in administrative offices, the process is quite easy, but not as effective as it might appear to be. In order for this practice to have the greatest impact, it must be incorporated into the institution wherever possible. When this occurs, it requires a great deal of staff time, as the person responsible has to separate the materials, find space to store the sorted materials, and create contracts with vendors for removal (Brophy and Wylie 2013,109). Additionally, research has to be done on the return on investment, as the amount of money gained through recycling material may not outweigh the cost of producing it. For example, recycling aluminum cans can be beneficial in more than one way, as it can result in receiving “from $350 to nearly $1,000 per ton” and “recycled aluminum reduces energy use by 90 percent,” meaning the process may be labor intensive, but yields environmentally-friendly results that may make the process worth it based on institutional goals (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 110). It is important to note that any adopted green practice will require time and money to be developed and integrated into the institution. However, certain practices, such as recycling, are drastically less expensive than constructing a green building.
Recycling can take many forms within a museum based on the institution’s mission and goals. Long before the green movement moved into the museum field, recycling products was a part of the educational goals of a small number of museums. This is best exemplified through the Boston Children’s Museum, which developed an educational program called “The Recycle Shop” in 1970 (Abbey 2012,98). This program is still a major part of the museum’s educational program today and involves repurposing 33
materials no longer needed for their intended purpose for art projects in the museum (Abbey 2012, 98). The Exploratorium serves as another example of a museum publicizing a long time practice that represents green practices. From the beginning, the Exploratorium has designed its own exhibits, modified them over time, and repurposed parts of retired exhibits when developing new ones, demonstrating how museums have the ability to be sustainable, but innovative and educational all at the same time. The repurposing of materials has been a practice within museums for a long time out of necessity, due to a lack of funding or mission related reasons. However, such practices are now being integrated into educational programs at museums across the United States due to the current societal concern about the state of the environment.
The heightened awareness of the impact of museum operations on the environment has resulted in museums performing an audit of energy use throughout their buildings. Many institutions have performed this audit independently, while others have sought the advice of a professional, such as those that can be hired through the U.S. Green Building Council (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 53). These professionals provide greater awareness of where energy consumption is occurring and where it can be reduced. Performing audits is an easy way for museums to determine their levels of consumption and alter their practices to reduce those levels. Museums have the ability to “audit just about anything: energy use, water consumption, waste and recycling, daylight levels, traffic levels, lighting use, or consumption of supplies,” making this process achievable for any institution looking to integrate sustainable activities (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 51). Minimizing the amount of documents printed, the number of printers and computers in administrative offices, placing recycling bins in multiple locations, and being conscious of switching off the lights in unoccupied spaces are all small steps that many institutions have taken to reduce energy use in a manner that does not cost a lot of money or require a great deal of time to complete. Sometimes these steps are all an institution is able to take on, but if the museum is successful in carrying these activities out, it creates 34
institutional “buy-in” and can open the door for a discussion about further steps that can be taken.
The auditing process is time consuming, but necessary in order to become more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. Museum staff have to closely monitor their areas of high consumption and make modifications or repairs when necessary. This can be a daunting task for facilities managers and other staff who have minimal knowledge of the most current methods of increasing energy efficiency in a sustainable manner. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Energy Star are organizations that provide guidance and rating systems to aid people in this change. ASHRAE has a number of programs to assist people with energy audits, such as the 90.1 program, which “establishes the minimum standards for saving energy and is the basis for many state and local codes” (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 65). Another helpful resource available to aid in the process of increasing energy- efficiency is Energy Star, a creation of “the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy,” which has a rating system of its own as well as professional advisors to aid people in the process of sustainable energy use (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 67-68).
Performing audits of consumption levels also provides a greater awareness of the amount of money being spent on operational costs in an impactful way and has led to greater institutional “buy-in” for many museums. This increased level of institutional “buy-in” is often due to the fact that the majority of the museum staff are unaware of the true cost of the energy and materials being consumed inefficiently (Madan 2011, 48). While an audit may not lead to any immediate changes, it brings awareness to museum staff and serves as a method of getting the conversation started about “going green,” which should be a topic of conversation for any collecting institution. Green practices including auditing and adjusting energy use reduce the level of risk to the objects and 35
aids in the development of preventive conservation practices that do not contribute to climate change (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 8).
Green Practices in Collections Care
While many museums are just beginning to integrate sustainable practices into their institutions, it is important for them to think about how they will integrate different practices over a long period of time. The process should begin with simple practices that can be incorporated throughout the institution, and gradually progress to more complex practices that target departments that require large quantities of resources. One such department is collections management. Collections are the heart of any institution and provide the primary resources necessary to carry out the museum’s mission, and as a result, “museums undoubtedly spend a significant amount on storing and caring for collections to a high standard so that they will be available to future generations” (The Museums Association 2008). These collections consume a large amount of resources, including energy, in order to be preserved for those future generations. However, traditional preventive conservation practices are no longer practical for the changing state of the environment, as “higher capacity HVAC systems, which consume large amounts of energy to reach and maintain the target environmental parameters for a collection, are no longer a sustainable, or even reasonable, answer to collections care” (Podany 2012, 244). It is critical for there to be adaptations in standards and best practices for collections care in order to decrease the risk to objects and allow preventive conservation to evolve with the changing environment in which objects are being preserved for future generations.
Collections care is a specialized field in which collections managers, registrars, and conservators have a deep knowledge of the objects within the collection and how to care for such objects. Therefore, it is critical to have someone from the collections department present on the green team as well as involved in the creation of a Sustainability Plan and Policy, as “collections require strict and energy-intensive climate 36
and humidity controls, pest-management, and potentially toxic preservation techniques and supplies” (McNeil 2013). There are a significant number of factors to consider when brainstorming about how to incorporate green practices into collections care and it is vital to have someone from the collections department present in discussions if an institution wants to make successful, practical changes that benefit the environment, the institution and the collection simultaneously.
The use of green practices in collections care is a complex issue due to the unique nature of the collections of each museum and the variety of factors impacting the proper care of objects. Threats to protecting objects from harm can be the result of many different components including “building climate controls, lighting systems, architectural design, outdoor- and indoor-generated air pollutants, collections management supplies and procurement, and disposal and waste management” (McGraw 2013b, 10). While many collections professionals recognize the importance of integrating sustainable practices into their care of objects, they are hesitant to make any drastic changes due to a lack of evidence proving that such practices would be both a good method of preventive conservation and good for the environment. They are aware, however, that not adapting their practices to correspond with the changing climate is ultimately detrimental to the objects. Looking forward, collections managers and conservators realize the possible implications of human activity and its impact on the environment, as stated by James M. Reilly, director of the Image Permanence Institute: “We expect the average temperatures to increase nearly everywhere; but another common consequence will be an increased frequency of extremes of temperature and RH. Higher average temperatures mean faster rates of chemical decay; more dramatic extremes of heat, humidity and dryness increase the risks of physical change and biological attack, in the form of mechanical damage or mould growth” (Reilly 2008). In recent years, there has been growing support to collaborate with scientists to create green products that will inhibit future damage to collections and the environment alike (Reilly 2008). 37
A number of green practices have been integrated in collections departments across the country. The following discussion will focus on the most widely practiced methods of “going green” in collections care. The most common, and effective, ways to integrate sustainability into collections care are to modify collections storage HVAC systems and lighting systems in museums. These two areas require a lot of energy and are both areas in which changes can be made that will significantly contribute to sustainability while also preserving the collection in a sufficient manner. While these changes may appear to fall under the role of the facilities manager, it is key to have a collections professional present “as part of the team from the beginning of a project, rather than bringing one in just to provide the usual recommendations about environmental parameters...to make the project as “green” as possible” (Himmelstein and Appelbaum 2008). This increased level of communication will ensure the best outcome for the collection, the institution, and the community at large. The updating of the HVAC and lighting systems appear to be easy modifications that the museum can make in order to improve sustainability early on in their overall process of “going green.” However, both methods of improvement can be extremely expensive and may not be realistic for many smaller institutions, although as discussed below, there are ways in which to improve upon already existing systems that are significantly cheaper than purchasing a new system.
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems
The best way to practice conservation of a collection is through the use of a system that monitors the environment in which the collection is stored. This system must control the relative humidity as well as the temperature of the room, which “puts conservators and green advocates on somewhat opposite sides, since strict environmental control uses a great deal of energy” (Himmelstein and Appelbaum 2008). However, there are ways in which these two groups can reach a compromise by working together to research ways in which Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems can 38
be modified to become more energy efficient. There is a common belief that one of the most effective, but also most expensive, ways in which to become more sustainable in collections care is to install a new, more energy efficient HVAC system. Over the past couple of years, “improvements in HVAC systems have made them more energy efficient and there is a growing recognition that proper choices of systems as well as their tuning and maintenance can improve performance significantly” (Podany 2012, 246). While new HVAC systems are more environmentally-friendly and the installation of such systems is taken on by many institutions in their remodeling process when “going green,” many smaller museums lack the funding to do so; nevertheless, there are ways to improve upon a museum’s current HVAC system in a way that can reduce energy consumption.
One way in which museums can improve upon the efficiency of this system is to monitor the amount of moisture in the air, which is known as the dew point and requires a significant amount of energy to be adjusted. For institutions that want to integrate sustainable practices, but are constrained by funds, monitoring “dew point is the best way to track and manage moisture in an HVAC system” and reduce energy consumption and costs in a practical manner (Image Permanence Institute 2015). While monitoring dew point is an easy way for all museums to increase their energy efficiency, there are other methods as well. One such method is to install variable frequency drives (VFDs) within the HVAC system. The VFDs “operate at the specific required load of the system,” meaning their cycling is controlled, based on the need for it, thus reducing energy use (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 96). While this method is more expensive than monitoring dew point, it still reduces energy use dramatically and is a way to improve upon an existing HVAC system. It is key for museums to seek out alternative ways to improve upon existing systems or methods of operation before assuming that greater energy efficiency can only be achieved through the purchase and installation of a completely new HVAC system. 39
When plans have been made to either adjust an existing HVAC system or purchase and install a brand new one, it is critical to take a holistic approach. The HVAC system affects the entire museum, therefore staff from every department, including collections and administration as well as HVAC professionals need to be included in the discussion of how to adapt an existing system or the decision to purchase a new one.
As discussed above, improvements have been made in the operation of HVAC systems in recent years as a method of increasing energy efficiency. To further this method of reducing energy consumption, collections managers and conservators have begun to reevaluate the accepted standards of 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 50% relative humidity for the environment of objects, questioning if these strict conditions are actually necessary for storage and preservation. Many collections managers and conservators are also conscious of the fact “that we do not know whether a change from the 50 percent/70 degree standard will realize energy efficiency improvements and maintain the integrity of collections care” (McGraw 2013b, 11). Despite these justified reservations, collections professionals have found “that some collections have survived quite well in conditions less than what has been defined as “ideal””(Podany 2012, 247). There is currently no proven method for determining the true effect of climate on museum objects. Traditionally, conservators have referenced climate graphs and standards for the field, but with the growing need to become more sustainable, their involvement “in systematically monitoring museum objects...is essential in developing more rational guidelines for climate specifications” that meet the needs of the objects as well as the environment (Van Duin 2014, 13). While the safety and preservation of collections is the primary objective, steps are being taken by conservators and scientists to perform studies that identify the true climate control needs of individual collections and object types. Museums need to look to modifying temperature and relative humidity standards to maximize the care of the collections as well as energy efficiency. 40
Lighting Systems
Improvements to HVAC systems are the best way to achieve the highest levels of energy efficiency in collections care, but there are other areas in which changes need to be made in order to become greener. One such area involves the lighting used in exhibition spaces. Some institutions have chosen to develop spaces more open to natural light in order to reduce energy use and costs, but the “high proportion of UV energy in normal daylight” can harm collections, and when this method is being used, often an Ultra Violet (UV) light filter needs to be placed on the windows to minimize harm to objects from natural light (Philadelphia Museum of Art 2015). However, the light filter does not eliminate the risk to the objects; therefore, they often have to be displayed for shorter periods of time. Many museums are switching to light-emitting diodes (LED) light bulbs as they are very energy efficient, but many collections managers object to their high cost, which both collections staff, and conservators, consider to be prohibitive (Himmelstein and Appelbaum 2008). However, LEDs prove to be a fairly simple manner in which to improve upon sustainability practices for collections and their use is a method of improvement that can be integrated slowly, focusing on one room or space at a time. While the initial investment may prove to be a hardship, the benefits far outweigh the costs, as “LEDs have an extremely long lifespan when compared to incandescent lighting - in many cases lasting 20 times longer...consume considerably less energy and are clean burning, thus reducing carbon emissions significantly,” therefore, LED lighting should be considered in the sustainability process (Gatzow 2012, 37E). The switch to an LED lighting system proves to be a financial challenge for many institutions and a concern for collections managers, but there are ways in which to reduce costs during this transition.
In order to integrate the LED system while remaining within the museum’s budget, an institution should consider adding these lights slowly over time. This will enable the green team “to test their feasibility at [the] museum, and to distribute installation costs over a longer period” (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 94). Additionally, the 41
museum can look into installing sensors in each space that turn on whenever someone enters the room, thus reducing energy use and costs by switching the lights off when nobody is in the room. The use of sensors proves to be extremely beneficial in that it reduces light exposure for objects as well as the amount of work for the HVAC system (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 91-92). Despite their initial cost, there has been a growing demand for motion sensor systems in museums in recent years. Companies such as Watt- Stopper “specialize in dual-technology sensors that sense motion but also occupancy through changes in space temperature from body heat” (Brophy and Wylie 2008, 94). The combination of the use of LED lighting and motion sensor technology provides maximum energy efficiency and care for objects on display as the limited use of full lighting reduces the amount of work required by the HVAC system, which in turn reduces energy use.
The progressive integration of an LED lighting system as well as the use of motion sensors are effective ways in which museums can integrate change to become more sustainable in ways that coincide with the needs of collections care. The cost of integrating these systems can be a point of contention between the collections department and the administration, but as long as there is room for discussion and compromise in a way that does not harm the collection, green practices should be seriously considered and adopted whenever possible.
Repurposing Packing Materials
While HVAC and lighting systems are the main ways in which to become more sustainable in collections care, another component is the repurposing of packing materials for objects. Whenever an object comes into the museum or is removed from storage and unpacked, those materials often cannot be used to house that object anymore. Traditionally, these materials would be discarded, thus producing a considerable amount of waste. However, with the green movement came a greater initiative to recycle or reuse 42
materials whenever possible. This has carried over into collections care and become a major part of green efforts in this area. Many institutions strive to repurpose the materials in house by using them to pack purchased items in the museum store or for educational purposes. For example, some institutions give the materials to the education department, who in turn use them in crafts in which children learn about conservation (Arab American National Museum 2015). Thus the practice is mutually beneficial in that it integrates green methods while also educating the community. In addition to the repurposing of materials within the museum, many institutions look to donate these materials elsewhere. For example, museums in the San Francisco Bay Area donate to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, which operates “by collecting and redistributing discarded goods as low-cost supplies for art, education, and social services” (East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse 2010). Organizations such as this exist elsewhere around the United States and should be recognized by collections departments, and museums in general, seeking out ways in which to recycle their materials in an environmentally- friendly manner.
Purchasing Green Products
While the repurposing of materials is a positive method of continuing to use products beyond their intended purpose, such products are often made in an environmentally irresponsible manner. With the continuing development of the Green Trend and the growing demand for green products, collections managers have the ability to seek out and purchase green materials. A lack of knowledge about green products that also serve the purpose of properly preserving objects is a hindrance in the switch to the use of green products in collections care for many collections professionals. Museum objects require acid free tissue and boxes for proper storage, which is not a common component of green products marketed to the general public. Additionally, there is not a wide range of green products for museum object storage saturating the market as the development of such products are still in the early stages. Products that do exist have yet 43
to be scientifically proven to provide the same protection as the standard products currently used, providing another challenge.
While green products for collections care are still in the development stage, nationally recognized companies that specialize in producing packing and storage materials for museum objects have acknowledged the impact of their work on the environment. As these companies already strive to aid in the preservation of cultural heritage for the future, the adoption of sustainable practices was a natural progression. Gaylord Archival is a reputable company that provides archival supplies as well as exhibit cases to museums across the United States. They are a go-to company for many museum professionals to purchase collections care products due to their reputation of producing some of the highest quality archival products on the market. Gaylord Archival has made the institutional commitment to “going green” through the creation of their “Our Commitment to the Environment” statement, which can be found on their website (Gaylord Archival 2015). The company has pledged to reduce their levels of waste, conserve energy, and promote sustainable products to museum professionals (Gaylord Archival 2015). Another reputable company producing conservation supplies is Conservation By Design Limited, a company based in the United Kingdom that produces conservation equipment, storage furniture, storage products, and paper materials (Conservation by Design Limited 2011). In September 2014, the company created an Environmental Policy Statement that pledged to reduce the amount of pollution created and decrease the amount of waste generated in the production of materials (Hendrickx 2014). While the creation of sustainable commitments in the manufacturing of museum products by large-scale reputable companies is a positive step in the right direction, collections professionals need to take accountability and begin to shift into the mindset of seeking out green products when purchasing new materials.
The initial process of researching green products that are acid free and archival is time consuming due to a current lack of demand, but enables collections managers to 44
continuously make smart, environmentally-friendly purchasing decisions in the future. However, not all collections professionals have the ability to research and purchase green products in the present, but they do have the ability to, and should, research ways in which they can extend the life of materials and products currently used. The green movement is at such an early stage in the museum field that creative thinking can be just as effective as the integration of drastic changes. For example, the packaging of objects is a necessary preventive conservation practice that cannot be eliminated. However, collections managers can educate themselves on the types of materials being used to carry out that task and think about ways to protect the object while minimizing the amount of materials used to do so. For example, when plastic is deemed necessary to properly pack an object, collections managers should pay attention to what type of plastic they are purchasing and if possible, “choose types 1 and 2 because they are the most often accepted high-density polyethylene (HDPE) forms for recycling” (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 107). Ultimately, the use of green products in collections care is dependent on institutional commitment and self-education. While companies are working to develop sustainable products for museum practices, museum professionals have to seek them out and create a demand for them.
Multi-Purpose Practices
The purchase of green products for collections care practices is one of many steps that can be taken to become more sustainable in caring for objects. Collections practices for different purposes can be combined to reduce the use of resources while still properly caring for the object. One area in which this multi-purpose practice is being incorporated into collections care practices is with the packing and storing of objects. Museums are beginning to incorporate the practice of creating packing and storage methods that can be used in the transportation and permanent storage of objects, reducing the amount of waste generated and materials used. This emerging practice is a current topic of discussion for museum professional organizational committees such as the American Institute for 45
Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Committee for Sustainable Conservation Practices (American Institute for Conservation 2015). This committee is working to understand the exhibition loan process on a technical level in relation to product use and energy consumption and uncover areas in which green practices can be incorporated.
While some organizations are creating committees to discuss the use of sustainable practices in the transportation and storage of objects, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) is actively integrating such practices. The MIA does so by constructing and repurposing “custom-made interior padding in art shipping crates for art storage” (Minneapolis Museum of Art 2016). Additionally, they reuse shipping crates in other areas of the museum when they cannot be used for the proper storage of objects, making their collections care practices truly sustainable in a way that is realistic for the institution. Another museum serving as a primary example of sustainability in collections care is the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which reuses “transport packaging as permanent storage packaging” (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 107). Additionally, the exhibition department has created a relationship with other museums in the area, and this growing community works together, exchanging exhibit cases and other furniture when it is needed by a specific museum for an exhibition (Brophy and Wylie 2013,107). These institutions represent innovative thinking in the process of “going green” in a sector of the museum that faces many challenges in doing so. While the approaches taken by the MIA and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston are effective in carrying out multiple practices with limited and conscious material use, they are not practical for every museum. Collections managers need to step back and think critically about how emerging sustainable practices can be modified to be integrated into their own institution in a realistic manner or develop their own innovative approach that better suits the needs of their museum.
In the multi-purpose collections care practices integrated by the MIA and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, crating for transportation was a component of the 46
process. While green materials specific to the needs of museum practices are currently in development, sustainable products that can be used in the construction of crates for the transportation of exhibition loan objects already exist. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that takes on the responsibility of managing forests in a way that will prevent deforestation and preserve forests for the future (Forest Stewardship Council 2016). The FSC certifies products, such as paper and wood, which are heavily used in many museums. Collections managers and other museum staff working on packing objects for transportation are becoming more conscious of the materials being used in the process and are seeking out FSC certified wood when constructing crates for objects to further their commitment to sustainability.
Conclusion
This chapter has presented green practices that are currently widely integrated in museums. The use of green practices in museums is a new trend, providing museums with the opportunity to be innovative and develop creative methods of addressing sustainability in a way that suits the unique needs of their institution. This creative freedom contributes to the further development of standards and best practices. Museum professionals ultimately need to research green practices themselves and determine which emerging practices can be realistically integrated into their institutions as well as develop innovative practices that may not exist yet, but will cater to their needs more effectively. Green practices are already being incorporated into many museums, but for many more, the process has yet to begin. At this stage, the focus should be on getting the discussion going and brainstorming possible methods of future integration. The adoption of sustainable practices is a necessary shift for museums and such critical changes need to stem from in-depth discussions among museum staff who need to develop plans and policies. 47
While many emerging practices to “going green” in collections care have been presented, collections managers should evaluate their own needs and incorporate green practices in ways that are practical, given the circumstances of their institution. Collections managers would benefit from being proactive in researching green practices that can benefit both the collections and the environment, evolving with the changing climate of the earth and ensuring the preservation of objects for future generations. The practices adopted may be simple at first, but should provide room for growth as green products become more widely available and have scientific studies to support their use. It is the duty of collections managers to mitigate risk as much as possible and to alter preventive conservation practices to suit the needs of objects in a changing climate. This can be achieved through the use of green products, which must be developed through the collaborative efforts of collections managers, registrars, conservators, and conservation scientists in order to produce sustainable products that will effectively preserve objects for the future. 48
Literature Review
Chapter 4: Green Practices and Collections Policy
This chapter outlines key areas in collections management practice and policy, including the integration of green practices into collections management policy. First, a brief history of the development of the collections management profession will be presented. Second, a concise overview of collections management policy will be provided. Finally, the inclusion of green practices in collections management policy will be discussed.
History of the Collections Management Profession
Collections management is a necessary component of daily operations for collecting museums. The objects held by an institution serve as the main way in which a museum is able to carry out their mission and educate the public. Therefore, the proper care of these objects by trained professionals is critical to effective preventive conservation, which consists of taking steps to prevent or slow down the process of change or harm to objects (Podany 2012, 240). While the presence of a collections management professional is standard in most museums today, this position was not present at the foundation of museums; as the position “has roots in the 18th century, but it was not until the last half of the 19th century that the title” came into common use (American Association of Museums 2010, 2).
In the beginning stages of development, the formation of the organizational systems and record keeping of objects in museums were influenced by those used in the field of science (American Association of Museums 2010, 3). By the beginning of the 20th century, ‘registrar’ became an official position within a museum, as staff at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held this title (American Association of Museums 2010, 3). The responsibilities of the registrar were to 49
be in charge of loans, accessioning objects into the collection, assisting with the shipping and receiving of objects, and making sure object records remained up to date (American Association of Museums 2010, 3). Modem collections professionals are responsible for the care of the collections in addition to the duties originally assigned to the position.
The development of standards for collections care set by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, played an important role in the added responsibility of preventive conservation for collections management. This is supported by the fact that “during its first 50 years, the American Association of Museums worked to establish standards for care and use of museum permanent collections and to apply those standards, as needed, to museum activities other than accessions” (American Association of Museums 2010, 5). The AAM emphasized the importance of caring for collections and the need for museums to employ and train specialized staff. In 1958, the AAM published the Museum Registration Methods Handbook, which remains a seminal reference tool (American Association of Museums 2010, 5). Since the initial publication of Museum Registration and Methods, it has become the primary resource for collections specialists. The creation of this publication solidified the need for collections specialists in all museums to ensure collections are properly cared for and preserved.
As the field of collections management continued to develop, professionals in this sector of museum work continued to gain recognition. The AAM developed an accreditation process, beginning in 1971, accelerating “everything professional in museums, including creation of more positions for collections managers, collection technicians, exhibition managers, registrars, and curators” (American Association of Museums 2010, 6-7). The AAM held meetings to discuss the problems museum professionals were facing in their institutions. Sessions addressed specific areas of concern, such as conservation and registration, and “there was that urgent sense that registrars needed more recognition and that the profession needed to move forward” 50
(American Association of Museums 2010, 7). Collections professionals created their own professional organizations, which worked to further refine standards and best practices for collections care. Ultimately, these efforts resulted in the establishment of collections management policies.
Collections Management Policy
With the professionalization of collections management, collections management policies became commonplace. These policies serve to guide museum professionals on how to properly care for objects under the standards and best practices accepted by the field. The work of museum professionals specializing in collections management consists of any task that is done to properly care for an object, including documentation, storage, and preventive conservation (American Association of Museums 2010, 24). These tasks require strict guidelines to be in place, designating responsibility and ensuring that the collection is cared for in an ethical manner that aligns with the museum’s mission as well as industry standards and best practices. These guidelines are represented in collections management policy, which is “a set of policies that address various aspects of collections management, including acquisition, accession, registration, cataloging, control, security, and storage, as well as the museum’s other collections-related activities” (Simmons 2006, 2). In addition, the policy should state which staff member is primarily responsible for specific tasks to ensure that the various practices that must be carried out for the proper care of collections are completed regularly. It is important to note that the details of each component of the policy will be specific to each museum due to institutional mission, budgetary restrictions, and staff constraints.
While the circumstances surrounding the operation of each institution varies, creating a collections management policy is necessary “to define areas of responsibility and to set forth guidelines for those charged with making certain decisions,” ensuring success in caring for collections, which should be the primary concern for all museums 51
(Malaro 2012,47). Collections management policies include a set of standard categories to organize practices and responsibilities. These categories include: a statement of purpose and description of collections, acquisition of objects, deaccessioning, loans (incoming and outgoing), objects placed in the custody of the museum, care of the collections, records, insurance, inventories, and access to the collections (Malaro 2012, 47-56). Each category provides valuable information for the collections department and the institution as a whole by discussing critical aspects of customary collections practices. Every one of these categories is equally important in the successful operations of a collections department and must be updated annually as the museum continues to progress in conjunction with evolving industry standards and best practices.
Green Practices and Policy
One area in which conscious changes need to be made in policy are with the growing use of green and sustainable practices in collections care. As previously discussed, during the past ten years society has become more aware of the impact of human activity on the environment and steps have been taken to reduce this impact. Many museums have adopted green and sustainable practices that suit the needs of their institution. These museums “seek to preserve their collections in ways that are environmentally safe and sustainable and economically prudent,” often in relation to collections care, as it is a department that requires large amounts of many resources to operate (American Association of Museums 2010, 287). While industry standards and best practices for sustainability in collections care are still in development, it is important to incorporate green and sustainable practices currently present in museums into institutional collections management policies in order to emphasize their growing importance and ensure that such practices are carried out. It is vital for museum professionals to think critically about where it makes the most sense to add these practices to policy, contributing to the further development of sustainability standards. 52
When evaluating the current structure of a collections management policy and considering where to add green practices, there are two areas that immediately stand out: statement of purpose, and care of the collections. Before green practices are consciously integrated into collections practices, the museum staff must have a discussion about how these green practices connect to their mission and goals. The reasoning behind the adoption of green practices in relation to mission should then be incorporated into the statement of purpose of the collections management policy, immediately signifying why such practices are an institutional focus. Additionally, detailed information about the specific green practices being adopted by the collections department should be outlined in the care of the collections section of the policy. While all museum operations are cost expenditures, collections care demands large amounts of energy and materials for preserving objects within the standards of the field, making it one of the most expensive departments to operate (Malaro 2012,445). It therefore not only makes sense for collections professionals to adopt green practices, but also to include the practices in policy to ensure they are integrated into the operations of caring for the collections. This is a critical step in the trend of “going green” in museums, as it solidifies an institution’s commitment to the integration of green practices and furthers the progression of evolving museum practices.
In addition to decreasing energy consumption and operational costs, collections professionals adopt green practices as a method of furthering their responsibility to carry out actions that protect objects. Collections managers and registrars are trained to recognize and adjust collections care practices to increase the success of preventive conservation and “their awareness of the connections between behavior and its intentional and unintentional consequences is a vital resource for understanding and implementing sustainable practices” (American Association of Museums 2010, 381). This heightened awareness of the changing environment and the resulting impact it has on the proper preservation of objects makes the collections department of museums the 53
ideal sector in which to integrate green and sustainable practices and to solidify commitment to such practices through policy. John E. Simmons emphasizes how through “policy the museum demonstrates its commitment to providing its collections with an optimal storage environment, continuous environmental monitoring, and protection from the agents of deterioration by means of a preventive conservation program” (Simmons 2006, 97).
Collections professionals are very aware of the effects of the changing environment on their collections, and therefore are more likely to shift their practices to reflect current environmental needs. Making conscious, environmentally-friendly changes in collections care practice also demonstrates to other departments of the museum the benefits of integrating green practices, which in turn leads to greater institutional “buy-in.” Furthermore, the rate of success for the integration of green practices has the potential to increase when these practices are included in policy, making their adoption mandatory for museum staff.
As discussed in Chapter 3, Going Green in Museum Practices, many museums are currently in the process of slowly integrating green practices into their institutions. Collections managers and registrars have adapted their lighting systems and are now using LED track lighting in exhibition spaces, in addition to recycling or repurposing materials they can no longer use for objects. While such practices are simple and may not appear to warrant being included in policy, the decision to do so will lead to a quicker progression of standards and best practices for green practices in the museum field. Currently, many museums are integrating green and sustainable practices into their activities, but are not including them in policy or sharing these changes publicly. This is not only detrimental to their credibility with the public, but stagnates the progression of standards and best practices for sustainability in museums, as it fails to contribute to the creation of a demand for green products and downplays the importance of the topic. It is therefore critical for museums integrating green practices to not only formally 54
acknowledge that they are doing so, but also to make their commitment to sustainability more concrete through including adopted practices in policy. Institutions that make the choice to take this important step will further the progression of sustainable standards and best practices, not only for collections care, but also for museums as a whole.
Conclusion
The advent of the collections management profession and subsequent collections management policy to provide direction are critical components in the proper preventive conservation of objects within collections. The growing use of green practices in collections care warrants an amendment to current standard collections management policy in order to reflect the changing nature of preventive conservation and further the development of evolving standards and best practices for museums. 55
Chapter 5: Methods
This chapter will present the methods used in conducting research for this thesis. First, a brief discussion of the topic being researched will be presented. Second, a concise overview of the literature reviewed in the museum field that is relevant to the topic will be presented. Finally, the process for composing the survey sample size of content experts and the questions posed will be presented.
Research Topic
As discussed in the Introduction chapter of this thesis, this research addresses two main concerns: green practices in collections care and the inclusion of such practices in collections management policy. The Green Trend has steadily been integrated into museum practices over the past decade on an institutional basis with the field lacking a set of standards and best practices for the integration of green and sustainable practices in museums. Global warming and climate change are prominent issues that have resulted in a demand from the general public for environmentally-friendly products and practices. Museums are in a unique position to take charge of this critical societal shift by educating the public about global warming and climate change through their institutional practices. The collections department is a sector within museums that consumes a great deal of energy to properly care for objects. Making changes in collections management has the potential to pave the way for sustainable best practices in museums by developing green practices and policy.
As this thesis examines, museums should develop standards and best practices for green and sustainable practices in collections care, and such practices must be reflected in policy, to ensure they are carried out effectively. The review of literature from the museum field on collections care included academic essays, books written by experts in the field and published works by professional museum organizations, as outlined below. Literature such as scientific papers on the topic of global warming and climate change 56
was also reviewed. In addition, a survey mailed to 125 museums was conducted to assess the types of green and sustainable activities taking place in collections departments throughout the United States and to discover emerging best green and sustainable practices in the field.
Literature Review
The literature review is divided into three chapters. The first chapter supplies a brief overview of global warming and climate change, sustainability, the Green Trend in society, and the Green Trend in museums. This chapter lays the foundation for the second chapter, which provides a detailed discussion of emerging best green and sustainable practices in museums as a whole as well as practices specific to collections care. The third chapter of the literature review focuses on the history and importance of collections management policy and how green and sustainable collections practices should be included in existing collections management policy.
Literature reviewed in these chapters included scientific papers, books, and web pages about emerging green practices published by professional museum organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums and websites of individual museums.
Survey
A survey of 125 institutions managing permanent collections was conducted for this thesis. The survey was sent to institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) because such organizations have made a commitment to aligning with professional standards and because they seek to serve as models for how museums should be organized and operated (American Alliance of Museums 2016b). Moreover, many institutions strive to be AAM accredited, as AAM sets the standards for the museum field in many respects. 57
While AAM is a national organization, the survey was distributed to museums in the Western United States because it was assumed from green media accounts and a review of general museum literature that green and sustainable practices are prevalent in this part of the United States, meaning the institutions in this region have a greater chance of already being in the process of integrating such practices into their museums.
The institutions the survey was sent to were located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. The institutions selected had AAM accreditation as of December 13,2015, according to the organization’s website (American Alliance of Museums 2015). This set of Western states was selected because it was considered important to survey as many AAM accredited museums as possible within the selected region. Of the 125 accredited museums to which the survey was mailed, 7 were located in Alaska, 10 were in Arizona, 59 were in California, 3 were in Idaho, 4 were in Nevada, 14 were in New Mexico, 6 were in Oregon, 5 were in Utah, and 17 were in Washington. In some states, including California, botanical gardens, zoos, and aquariums were excluded from the final survey list, as they have living collections, which have a different set of standards and best practices than nonliving collections, which are the focus of this thesis.
After the list of 125 museums to be surveyed was developed, each museum’s website was visited, verifying that each institution had a permanent collection, as this was a vital factor in the institution’s ability to contribute to the survey. The review of museum websites took place between October 1st, 2015, and January 3rd, 2016. It is important to include this detail as museum websites are constantly changing and updating information, meaning the information used to form the survey list for this thesis may not be represented on the websites in the future.
Once it was determined that an institution had a permanent collection, a staff directory or staff information page was located, if it was available on the website, and the 58
name and position title of the person it was most appropriate to contact was recorded. Different museums have different titles for employees, which complicated the process of identifying to whom the survey should be addressed. To help with this hurdle, a list of position titles that were encountered was created, and a priority list was developed. First priority was to send the survey to a collections manager, second to a curator of collections, third to a director of collections, and lastly, to a registrar. When an appropriate staff member could not be located, the survey was addressed to ‘Collections Manager.’ After identifying a position in the museum to whom the survey should be mailed, the address of the museum was recorded. This information was found by viewing the ‘visit’ and ‘contact’ sections of each institution’s website. The ‘contact’ page was visited first, and if no address was provided there, the ‘visit’ page was visited, where a physical address was located.
The survey itself consisted of twenty-one questions divided among four sections: demographic information, institutional green practices, green practices and collections care, and final questions. The structure of the questions varied, with fifteen providing options to circle lettered options, and the remaining six questions providing a blank space for the respondent to write in an answer. Letter options were provided when the question warranted it, and a blank space was provided when the question required an institution- specific response. While the focus of the survey was green practices in collections care, it was important to ask additional questions that would provide a greater understanding about the different factors that contributed to the level of commitment to green practices of various museums.
Part one, demographic information, posed five questions. These questions collectively sought to gauge the size and budget of each museum and its relationship to the presence, or lack thereof, of green and sustainable practices. The first question asked, “What type of museum do you work in?” This question was asked to provide a cooperative baseline to assess if green practices varied among museum sectors. The 59
second question asked, “How many full-time paid employees are on staff at your institution?” This question was asked to determine if staff size is a factor that contributes to the ability of the museum to integrate green and sustainable practices. The third question asked, “What is the staff size of your collections department?” This question was asked to determine if the staff size of the collections department has an impact on how much work can be accomplished in integrating green and sustainable practices. The fourth question asked, “What is the annual budget of your institution?” This question was asked to determine if the budget of an institution is a major factor in what green and sustainable practices the museum is able to integrate. The fifth, and final, question in this section asked, “What is the average annual budget for collections care? If an exact figure in unknown, please provide an estimate.” This question was asked because budget often proves to be a hurdle when attempting to integrate green and sustainable practices, and it is important to know the baseline budget. Overall, this section sought to provide general demographic information on respondents.
The second part of the survey, institutional green practices, asked three questions. These questions were asked to assess the presence of green and sustainable practices throughout the museum as a whole. The first question asked, “Is sustainability and/or green practices in general a part of your museum’s mission, vision, or goals?” This question was asked because museums are mission driven, and it is critical to establish the connection between green and sustainable practices and the overall purpose of the museum. The second question asked, “Is there a sustainability plan in place, either formally or informally for the institution as a whole?” This question was asked because based on research, many institutions begin the process of integrating green and sustainable practices through an institutional Sustainability Plan. The third, and final, question asked, “In general, what types of sustainable and/or green practices does your museum employ?” This question was asked because many institutions have already incorporated green and sustainable practices into their institutions without recognizing it, 60
and further, to make the point that such practices can be as simple as recycling, which was one of the lettered options provided. While the focus of this thesis is green and sustainable practices in collections care, many green practices that help create institutional “buy-in” for collections care stem from simple practices incorporated into the institution holistically.
Part three, green practices and collections care, posed eleven questions. The questions asked in this section sought to obtain a greater understanding of the green and sustainable practices that are currently a part of collections care and how such practices are incorporated into collections policies. The first question asked, “Are sustainable and/or green practices incorporated into collections care? If so, how?” This question was asked to see if green and sustainable practices are currently being utilized in collections care and in what capacity. The second question asked, “Does your museum distinguish between sustainability and green practices in collections care? If so, how?” This question was asked because there is a clear distinction between the two practices. It was important to see if institutions are making that distinction and if there is a greater focus on one type of practice. The third question asked, “When purchasing collections materials, do you look for manufacturers that are committed to sustainability and that make green products?” This question was asked to determine if there is a demand for green and sustainable products within the museum field. The fourth question asked, “In administrative meetings that collections staff are involved in, are sustainable and/or green practices a regular (meaning at least biannually) topic of discussion? In what capacity?” This question was asked to see if collections professionals are at least talking about such practices, even if they might not be currently practiced in the institution. This is an important question to ask, as many museums are still likely in the beginning stages of the process of “going green.” The fifth question asked, “Does the collections department communicate with other institutional departments when looking to repurpose materials that can no longer be used to care for objects?” This question was asked as a way to see if 61
collections departments are creating “buy-in” for “going green” through including other departments in their practices.
The third part of the survey continued with questions pertaining to green practices and collections care. The sixth question asked, “Are sustainable and/or green practices included in collections management policy? If so, on a formal or informal basis?” This question was asked to gauge the level of commitment institutions are making to include these practices. The seventh question asked, “If sustainable and/or green practices are included in collections management policy, what are the main areas the policy covers?” This question was asked to gain an understanding of how, if at all, and where collections departments are choosing to include green and sustainable practices in policy, as there is no current standard for where to include them. The eighth question asked, “Was your museum’s collection storage space designed with sustainable and/or green practices in mind, or were these practices retrofitted into an existing system? If so, in what ways was the existing system modified?” This question was asked because collections storage consumes a great deal of energy and retrofitting is one of the most common, and most effective, ways to reduce energy use. The ninth question asked, “Has your institution considered modifying its environmental controls in your collections storage space as a method of reducing energy consumption (a common sustainability practice)?” This question was asked because research indicates that this is a common practice. The tenth question asked, “Are green practices in collections care included in the long-term (multi year) preservation plan for your institution, if not, is it a current topic of discussion?” This question was asked to gain an understanding of how collections departments view green and sustainable practices fitting into their long term goals, which in turn impacts the level to which they commit to integrating such practices. The eleventh, and final, question in this section asked, “Are green practices incorporated into collections care represented on the museum’s website? In what capacity?” This question was asked to see how transparent institutions are being in relation to their internal practices. Overall, this 62
section served as the main focus of the survey, posing questions that were designed to obtain a greater understanding of the current use of green and sustainable practices in collections care and how they are being incorporated into modem standards.
Part four, final questions, posed two questions. These questions served the purpose of characterizing the challenges that museum professionals face in integrating green and sustainable practices. The first question asked, “When seeking advice on incorporating sustainable and/or green practices into collections care, where does your unit look for guidance?” This question was asked to gain knowledge about where museum professionals are looking for information when they are beginning the process of “going green,” which can be daunting and complicated. The second, and final, question asked, “If sustainable and/or green practices are not currently a topic of discussion in your institution, what is preventing its inclusion?” Once again, this question was asked to determine where museum professionals are facing the biggest challenges.
The results of this survey will be discussed in the following chapter. The chapter will provide a detailed explanation of the results for each question individually. Results for questions will be supported by a pie chart visually representing the responses for that question when appropriate. 63
Chapter 6: Survey Results
This chapter presents the results of the survey. Each question will be addressed individually, and, when appropriate, will be accompanied by a chart. Details of the answers provided by the respondents will be presented and discussed within the context of the specific question. First, the questions asked and responses provided in “Part I: Demographic Information” will be presented. Second, the questions posed and answers from the respondents in “Part II: Institutional Green Practices” will be provided. Third, a discussion of the questions asked and the subsequent responses in “Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care” will be presented. Finally, the questions posed and responses given in “Part IV: Final Questions” will be provided. The results of the formal survey will collectively lead to a discussion about the current state of the Green Trend in the museum field and ideas on how to further its progression. As previously discussed, the formal survey was sent to 125 AAM accredited museums in the western United States. Out of the 125 surveys mailed out, 42 responses were received, resulting in an acceptable response rate of 33.6%. The following discussion provides the answers supplied by respondents.
Part I: Demographic Information
The first question of the survey asked, “What type of museum do you work in?” and provided four letter options with which to answer: A. Art, B. Science, C. History, and D. Other. Option D “Other” included a blank line on which the respondent could add any additional categorizations. Out of the 42 respondents, 40.5% answered Art (17), 2.4% answered Science (1), 16.6% answered History (7), and 40.5% answered “Other” (17) (Figure 1). The institutions that circled “Other” provided the following categorizations for their museums: Archaeology; Science, History; Natural History; Aviation; Anthropologic and Ethnographic; Art, History; Paleontology and Archaeology; Art, University; Art and History; History, Aviation and Aerospace; Archaeological Site and 64
Repository; and Art, Science. Therefore, the scope of the institutions contributing to the survey was quite diverse.
Figure 1. Responses to Type of Museum
■Art (40.5%) ■Science (2.4%) ■History (16.6%) ■Other (40.5%)
The second question of the survey asked, “How many full-time paid employees are on staff at your institution?” and provided four letter options with which to answer: A. 1-25, B. 50-100, C. 100-150, and D. 150-200. Of the 42 respondents, 52.3% answered 1- 25 (22), 21.4% answered 50-100 (9), 4.8% answered 100-150 (2), and 4.8% answered 150-200 (2) (Figure 2). Additionally, some respondents supplied a number that provided a more accurate representation of their institution. Of the 42 completed surveys, 11.9% of respondents (5) provided a number between 25-50, which is represented by option “E”, and 4.8% of respondents (2) provided a number greater than 200, which is represented by option “F” (Figure 2). These findings represent the vast difference in staff size among the institutions contributing to the survey. 65
Figure 2. Responses to Staff Size
■A. 1-25 (52.3%) ■B. 50-100(21.4%) ■C. 100-150(4.8%) ■D. 150-200(4.8%) ■E. 25-50 (11.9%) ■ F. 200+ (4.8%)
The third question of the survey asked, “What is the staff size of your collections department?” and provided four letter options with which to answer: A. Full-time Paid Staff, B. Part-time Paid Staff, C. Temporary Position Staff, and D. Volunteers. Each letter option was followed by a line on which respondents could record a figure. All 42 respondents provided a figure for at least one category. Out of the 42 respondents, 97.6% provided an answer for Full-time Paid Staff (41), 38% provided an answer for Part-time Paid Staff (16), 26% provided an answer for Temporary Staff Position (11), and 52.3% provided an answer for Volunteers (22). Additionally, 2.4% (1) answered by stating that the curators are currently responsible for collections care until funding for a full-time person is available. Within the answers provided for each letter option, a range of responses was recorded: answers for the Full-time Paid Staff ranged from 1-40; answers for Part-time Paid Staff ranged from 1-10+; answers for Temporary Staff Position ranged from 1-50+; and answers for Volunteers ranged from 0-200+. These results indicate that 66
staff size varies drastically from institution to institution, which greatly impacts their ability to integrate green and sustainable practices. The fourth question of the survey asked, “What is the annual budget of your institution?” and provided four letter options with which to answer: A. $50,000- $100,000, B. $100,000-$500,000, C. $500,000-$ 1,000,000, and D. $1,000,000- $5,000,000. Out of the 42 respondents, 4.8% answered $50,000-$ 100,000 (2), 9.5% answered $100,000-$500,000 (4), 16.8% answered $500,000-$ 1,000,000 (7), and 50% answered $l,000,000-$5,000,000 (21) (Figure 3). Additionally, 7% of respondents (3) left the open text section blank, and 11.9% of museums (5) provided a figure greater than $5,000,000 (Figure 4). These additional responses included the following: $1,00,000- $5,000,000+; over $5,000,000; $12,000,000- $15,000,000; more than the options provided; and $55,000,000- $60,000,000. The significant discrepancies between the annual budgets provided by the institutions surveyed provides a greater understanding for how finances might correspond to green practices. 67
Figure 3. Responses to Annual Budget for the Museum
■$50,000- SI00.000 (4.8%) ■$100,000- $500,000 (9.5%) ■ $500,000- $ 1,000.000 ( 16.8%) ■ $ 1.000,000- $5,000,000 (50%) ■$5,000,000* (11.9%) ■Blank (7%)
The fifth question of the survey asked, “What is the average annual budget for collections care? If an exact figure in unknown, please provide an estimate” and provided a dollar sign followed by a blank line on which to answer. The 42 respondents each provided a unique answer. After the data was collected, the responses were divided into 9 lettered categories: A. 0-$20,000; B. $20,000-$40,000; C. $40,000-$60,000; D. $60,000- $80,000; E. $80,000-$ 100,000; F. $100,000-$200,000; G. $200,000+; H. Blank; and I. Other. Out of the 42 responses, 38% answered 0-$20,000 (16), 14.3% answered $20,000- $40,000 (6), 7.2% answered $40,000-$60,000 (3), 2.4% answered $60,000-$80,000 (1), 2.4% answered $80,000-$ 100,000 (1), 2.4% answered $100,000-$200,000 (1), 11.9% answered $200,000+ (5), 19% answered “Blank” (8), and 2.4% answered “Other” (1) (Figure 4). While 81% of museums (34) provided a specific financial figure or percentage, it is unclear what the figure actually represents: some institutions provided a figure for collections care supplies, while others provided a figure for the collections 68
department as a whole, representing staff salaries and supplies. This makes it difficult to interpret the data consistently. However, it will be assumed here that institutions that supplied a number regularly invest in collections care, whether through supplies, staff, or both.
Figure 4. Responses to Annual Budget for Collections Care
■0-S20.000 (38%) ■ S20.000- $40,000 (14.3%) ■ S40.000- $60,000 (7.2%) ■ $60,000- $80,000 (2.4%) ■ $80,000- $100,000 (2.4%) ■$100,000- $200,000 (2.4%) ■ $200,000» (11.9%) ■Blank (19%) ■Other (2.4%)
Part II: Institutional Green Practices
The sixth question of the survey asked, “Is sustainability and/or green practices in general a part of your museum’s mission, vision, or goals?” and provided four letter options with which to answer: A. Mission, B. Vision, C. Goals, and D. Not a Part of Mission, Vision, or Goals. Out of the 42 respondents, 2.4% answered Mission (1), 7.2% answered Vision (3), 45.1% answered Goals (19), and 33.3% answered Not a Part of Mission, Vision, or Goals (14) (Figure 5). Additionally, 3 respondents circled more than one option and 2 respondents (4.8%) left the question blank (Figure 5). Of the 69
respondents that circled more than one option, 2.4% answered Mission and Vision (1); 2.4% answered Mission, Vision, and Goals (1); and 2.4% answered Vision and Goals (1) (Figure 5). This data represents the fact that 45% of institutions (19) do not consider sustainability and/or green practices to be a part of their mission, and such practices arise from mission based on research.
Figure 5. Responses to Green Practices and Mission, Vision, Goals
■ Mission (2.4%)
■ Vision (7.2%)
■Goals (45.1%)
■ Not a Part of Mission, Vision, or Goals (33.3%) ■ Mission and Vision (2.4%)
■ Mission, Vision, and Goals (2.4%) ■ Vision and Goals (2.4%)
■Blank (4.8%)
The seventh question of the survey asked, “Is there a sustainability plan in place, either formally or informally for the institution as a whole?” and provided three letter options with which to answer: A. Formally, B. Informally, and C. We Do Not Currently Have a Sustainability Plan. Out of the 42 respondents, 11.9% answered Formally (5), 26% answered Informally (11), and 55% answered We Do Not Currently Have a Sustainability Plan (23) (Figure 6). Additionally, 2 respondents (4.8%) circled options A. Formally and B. Informally, and 1 respondent (2.4%) stated that they had to follow the policies of their parent organization, which is represented by “Other” in Figure 6. The 70
respondents that chose both Formally and Informally stated that this was due to the fact that their parent organization has a formal sustainability plan, which the museum is mandated to follow. In addition, the respondents indicated that the museum has its own informal sustainability plan.
Figure 6. Responses to Presence of a Sustainability Plan
■Formally (11.9%)
■ Informally (26%)
* We Do Not Currently Have a Sustainability Plan (55%)
■Formally and Informally (4.8%)
■Other (2.4%)
The eighth question of the survey asked, “In general, what types of sustainable and/or green practices does your museum employ? (Circle all that apply)” and provided six letter options with which to answer: A. Recycling, B. Repurposing Materials, C. Purchasing Recycled Materials, D. Lighting (LED, UV, CFLs, etc.), E. Updated HVAC System, and F. Other. Option F. “Other” included a blank line on which the respondent could add any additional practices. Each of the 42 respondents circled more than one option, which is represented by the following data: out of the 42 respondents, 90% answered Recycling (38), 88% answered Repurposing Materials (37), 40% answered Purchasing Recycled Materials (17), 79% answered Lighting (LED, UV, CFLs, etc.) 71
(33), 50% answered Updated HVAC System (21), and 11.9% answered “Other” (5). For those that circled F. “Other,” answers provided included the following: compost, restroom equipment, donating supplies to other institutions, and having a sustainable landscape. The results of this question indicate that museums are integrating green and sustainable practices into their institutions in some capacity.
Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care
The ninth question of the survey asked, “Are sustainable and/or green practices incorporated into collections care? If so, how? (Circle all that apply)” and provided six letter options with which to answer: A. Purchasing Green Packing Materials, B. Repurposing Materials, C. Recycling, D. Lighting (LED, UV, CFLs, etc.), E. A New or Modified HVAC System, and F. Other. Option F. “Other” included a blank line on which the respondent could add any additional practices. Each of the 42 respondents circled more than one option, as is indicated through the following: out of the 42 respondents, 23.8% answered Purchasing Green Packing Materials (10), 76% answered Repurposing Materials (32), 79% answered Recycling (33), 76% answered Lighting (LED, UV, CFLs, etc.) (32), 50% answered A New of Modified HVAC System (21), and 2.4% answered “Other” (1). Additionally, 2 respondents (4.8%) left the question blank. The 1 respondent that circled option F. “Other,” stated that they are using all materials as much as possible and working to eliminate the amount of waste generated. Once again, the results of this question reflect how museums are actively incorporating green practices into collections care and are becoming more conscious of the relationship between museum practices and the environment.
The tenth question of the survey asked, “Does your museum distinguish between sustainability and green practices in collections care? If so, how?” and provided a blank space in which to answer. While the space provided was intended for a short, one sentence response, most respondents answered with a Yes, No, or left the space blank. 72
Out of the 42 respondents, 9.5% answered Yes (4), 81% answered No (34), and 9.5% left the question blank (4) (Figure 7). While 9.5% of respondents (4) provided definitions of sustainable and green practices, they were all dramatically different from each other, signaling that these terms do not have set definitions yet and that such practices are integrated by museums in different manners.
Figure 7. Responses to Green vs. Sustainable Practices
■Yes (9.5%) ■No (81%) ■Blank (9.5%)
The eleventh question of the survey asked, “When purchasing collections materials, do you look for manufacturers that are committed to sustainability and that make green products?” and provided two letter options with which to answer: A. Yes and B. No. Out of the 42 respondents, 23.8% answered Yes (10) and 76.2% answered No (32) (Figure 8). These results reflect the fact that collections professionals in the museum field are not currently demanding green or sustainable products for collections care practices. 73
Figure 8. Responses to Purchasing Green Products
■ Yes (23.8“ .)) ■ No (7f>.2° <>)
The twelfth question of the survey asked, “In administrative meetings that collections staff are involved in, are sustainable and/or green practices a regular (meaning at least biannually) topic of discussion? In what capacity?” and provided a blank space in which to answer. While the space provided was intended for a short, one sentence response, respondents answered with a Yes, No, Sometimes, or left the space blank. Out of the 42 respondents, 9.5% answered Yes (4), 69.1% answered No (29), 11.9% answered Sometimes (5), and 9.5% left the question blank (4) (Figure 9). Additionally, 7% of respondents (3) further stated that a green team or sustainability committee occasionally presents reports at administrative meetings. While the formation of these groups demonstrates progressive steps being taken in the sustainability movement, the results indicate that more institutions need to include the topic of sustainability in administrative meetings in order to integrate green practices effectively. 74
Figure 9. Responses to Discussion of Green Practices in Meetings
The thirteenth question of the survey asked, “Does the collections department communicate with other institutional departments when looking to repurpose materials that can no longer be used to care for objects?” and provided two letter options with which to answer: A. Yes and B. No. Out of the 42 respondents, 85.7% answered Yes (36), 9.5% answered No (4), and 4.8% left the question blank (2) (Figure 10). The results of this question indicate that many institutions are taking the initiative to repurpose materials internally, which represents a simple practice that can potentially lead to the integration of more complex green and sustainable practices over time. 75
Figure 10. Responses to Interdepartmental Communication
Yes (85.7°,,)
■ No (9.5°,,)
Blank (4.S°«)
The fourteenth question of the survey asked, “Are sustainable and/or green practices included in collections management policy? If so, on a formal or informal basis?” and provided three letter options with which to answer: A. Formal Basis, B. Informal Basis, and C. These Practices are Not Currently Included in Our Collections Management Policy. Out of the 42 respondents, 0% answered Formal Basis (0), 23.8% answered Informal Basis (10), and 73.8% answered These Practices are Not Currently Included in Our Collections Management Policy (31) (Figure 11). Additionally, 2.4% of respondents (1) stated that their institution is currently revising their collections management policy and considering sustainability in the process (Figure 11). These results indicate that green and sustainable practices are not considered to be a priority for many institutions due to the lack of the inclusion of such practices in formal policy. 76
Figure 11. Responses to Sustainability and Collections Management Policy
1 Formal Basis (0%)
1 Informal Basis (23.8%)
Not Currently Included in Collections Management Policy (73.8%) 1 Policy Under Revision (2.4%)
The fifteenth question of the survey asked, “If sustainable and/or green practices are included in collections management policy, what are the main areas the policy covers?” and provided a blank space in which to answer. While the space provided was intended for a short, one sentence response, respondents commonly answered with N/A, No, left the space blank, or provided a short answer. Out of the 42 respondents, 29% answered N/A (12), 4.8% answered No (2), 52.3% left the space blank (22), and 14% provided an answer (6), which is represented by “Other” in Figure 12. For the respondents that provided an answer, the responses included the following: printing less and encouraging digital alternatives; reusing and recycling materials; and repurposing materials both internally as well as with other museums in the area. While many institutions are slowly beginning to integrate green practices in a realistic, institution- specific manner, the progression of the Green Trend in museums has yet to reach the 77
level where industry standards require green and sustainable practices to be included in policy.
Figure 12. Responses to Sustainability in Collections Management Policy
■ N/A (29%) ■ No (4.8%) ■Blank (52.3%) ■Other (14%)
The sixteenth question of the survey asked, “Was your museum’s collection storage space designed with sustainable and/or green practices in mind, or were these practices retrofitted into an existing system? If so, in what ways was the existing system modified?” and provided a blank space in which to answer. While the space provided was intended for a short, one sentence response, respondents commonly answered with a Yes, No, Retrofitted, or left the space blank. Out of the 42 respondents, 9.5% answered Yes (4), 66.7% answered No (28), 21.4% answered Retrofitted (9), and 2.4% of respondents left the question blank (1) (Figure 13). While 66.7% of respondents (28) answered No, many stated that retrofitting an existing storage system is a current topic of discussion, and others stated that storage systems in new buildings are being designed with sustainability in mind. These results demonstrate how reevaluating collections storage 78
systems is a current topic of discussion in many museums, and sustainability is a major force behind this shift.
Figure 13. Responses to Sustainability and Collections Storage Space
The seventeenth question of the survey asked, “Has your institution considered modifying its environmental controls in your collections storage space as a method of reducing energy consumption (a common sustainability practice)?” and provided two letter options with which to answer: A. Yes and B. No. Out of the 42 respondents, 57.1% answered Yes (24), 40.5% answered No (17), and 2.4% of respondents (1) left the question blank (Figure 14). These results indicate that collections professionals are modifying environmental controls and not strictly sticking to accepted industry standards for temperature and relative humidity, a practice that was discussed in Chapter 3, Going Green in Museum Practices. This action supports the reduction of energy usage in collections storage, contributing to sustainability in a major way. 79
Figure 14. Responses to Modifying Environmental Controls
The eighteenth question of the survey asked, “Are green practices in collections care included in the long-term (multi-year) preservation plan for your institution, if not, is it a current topic of discussion?” and provided four letter options with which to answer: A. Yes, Included in Preservation Plan, B. No, Not Included in Preservation Plan, C. A Current Topic of Discussion, and D. Not a Current Topic of Discussion. Out of the 42 respondents, 2.4% answered Yes, Included in Preservation Plan (1), 11.9% answered No, Not Included in Preservation Plan (5), 43% answered A Current Topic of Discussion (18), 28.5% answered Not a Current Topic of Discussion (12), 7.2% left the question blank (3), and 7% circled more than one option (3) (Figure 15). The respondents that chose more than one option circled the following: 4.8% of respondents (2) circled B. No, Not Included in Preservation Plan and D. Not a Current Topic of Discussion, and 2.4% of respondents (1) circled B. No, Not Included in Preservation Plan and C. A Current Topic of Discussion (Figure 15). These results indicate that while green practices are not 80
currently a part of long-term preservation plans for many institutions, museum professionals are discussing how to include green practices in these plans, representing the developing nature of the Green Trend in museums.
Figure 15. Responses to Green Practices and Preservation Plans
■Yes, Included in Preservation Plan (2.4%)
■N o. Not Included in Preservation Plan (11.9%)
■ A Current Topic o f Discussion (43%)
■Not a Current Topic o f Discussion (28.5%)
■No, Not Included in Preservation Plan and Not a Current Topic o f Discussion (4.8%)
■No, Not Included in Preservation Plan and A Current Topic o f Discussion (2.4%)
■Blank (7%)
The nineteenth question of the survey asked, “Are green practices incorporated into collections care represented on the museum’s website? In what capacity?” and provided a blank space in which to answer. While the space provided was intended for a short, one sentence response, respondents commonly answered with a Yes, No, N/A, or left the space provided blank. Out of the 42 respondents, 4.8% answered Yes (2), 83.3% answered No (35), 2.4% answered N/A (1), and 9.5% left the space blank (4) (Figure 16). The results of this question indicate that many museums are not sharing the green and sustainable practices being integrated into the museum with the public through the website. 81
Figure 16. Responses to Representation of Green Practices on Websites
■ No (83.3%) N A (2.4%)
■Blank (9.5%)
Part IV: Final Questions
The twentieth question of the survey asked, “When seeking advice on incorporating sustainable and/or green practices into collections care, where does your unit look for guidance?” and provided six letter options with which to answer: A. Literature, B. Blogs, C. National Professional Organizations, D. Regional Professional Organizations, E. Discipline Specific Organizations/Groups, and F. Other. Option F. “Other” included a blank line on which the respondent could add any additional resources. Many of the 42 respondents circled more than one option, demonstrating how museum professionals are seeking information from a number of valued resources. Out of the 42 respondents, 64% answered Literature (27), 19% answered Blogs (8), 76% answered National Professional Organizations (32), 55% answered Regional Professional Organizations (23), 55% answered Discipline Specific Organizations/Groups (23), 19% answered “Other” (8), and 7% respondents left the question blank (3). For those that 82
answered “Other” (8), and 7% respondents left the question blank (3). For those that circled “Other,” answers provided included the following: university resources or sustainability plans, consultants, colleagues, and experts. These results indicate that museum professionals are actively researching green practices and want to integrate them when and where it is appropriate.
The twenty-first question of the survey asked, “If sustainable and/or green practices are not currently a topic of discussion in your institution, what is preventing its inclusion?” and provided five letter options with which to answer: A. Staff Time, B. Budget, C. Institutional Buy-In, D. Parent Organization, and E. Other. Option E. “Other” included a blank line on which the respondent could add any additional sources. Many of the 42 respondents circled more than one option. Out of the 42 respondents, 43% answered Staff Time (18), 50% answered Budget (21), 31% answered Institutional Buy- In (13), 4.8% answered Parent Organization (2), 9.5% answered “Other” (4), and 29% respondents left the question blank (12). For those that circled “Other,” answers provided included the following: museums housed in old buildings that present a challenge and green and sustainable practices are a low priority. The results of this question indicate that staff time and budget are the two greatest inhibitors of the integration of green and sustainable practices in museums.
Conclusion
Overall, the results of the formal survey detailed in this chapter provide insight into the reality of the integration of green and sustainable practices in museums. Many institutions recognize the importance of making the shift to sustainable practices and are slowly adopting such practices over time. While great strides have been made in getting museum professionals to be conscious of the relationship between museum practices and the environment, there is more work to be done. In order to become truly sustainable for the long-term, developments need to be made in altering accepted standards and best 84
Chapter 7: Discussion
In this chapter, the results of the survey will be discussed in light of the Literature Review. Each of the four sections of the survey will be reviewed and then some broad observations will be made about each section. First, a discussion of the results of “Part I: Demographic Information” will be presented. Second, the answers provided by respondents in “Part II: Institutional Green Practices” will be synthesized and analyzed. Third, a discussion about the results in “Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care” will be provided. Fourth, the responses provided for “Part IV: Final Questions” will be analyzed. Finally, a discussion of the challenges associated with the survey will be presented. Overall, as mentioned in the last chapter, the survey resulted in an acceptable response rate of just over one-third, indicating that the survey is reflective of developments of the Green Trend in the museum sector.
Part I: Demographic Information
In the first section of the survey, basic demographic information was gathered. Survey results indicate that the typical respondent was a medium-sized art museum (40%). This proves to be an interesting statistic, as literature suggests that art museums face greater challenges in shifting to sustainable practices. Additionally, survey results suggest that the average respondent works in a medium-sized museum, with a staff size of 1-25 people (52%) and operates under an annual budget of $1,000,000- $5,000,000 (50%). Research conducted for the literature review indicated that the biggest inhibitors of the adoption of green practices are staff size and budget, and the results of this section of the survey suggest that the reality is quite different. Museums of all types and sizes are actively incorporating green and sustainable practices into their institutions in some capacity, supporting the argument that any museum can become more sustainable and integrate green practices under the right circumstances. 83
practices for the museum field to protect objects in a manner that is mutually beneficial to the objects as well as the environment. This topic will be discussed further in the following chapter. 85
Part II: Institutional Green Practices
In the second section of the survey, respondents provided information about holistic green practices. The typical respondent stated that green practices are a part of institutional goals (45%), but most respondents (55%) do not currently have a Sustainability Plan. These results suggest that museum professionals recognize the importance of becoming more sustainable and are actively making efforts to become more “green,” but have yet to make their commitment a standard museum practice through a formal written plan. The growing adoption of green practices is further supported by the fact that all of the respondents (100%) indicated that they are incorporating green practices into their institutions in some capacity by integrating both simple practices, such as recycling and repurposing materials, and complex practices, such as updating lighting systems, or modifying HVAC systems. Collectively, these results demonstrate the level of awareness of the need to alter daily operations to make them more environmentally-friendly.
Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care
In the third section of the survey, information pertaining to green practices in collections care was collected. This was the main section of the survey, as it sought to gain insight into the green practices specific to the care of collections. The results suggest that the integration of green practices is a topic of concern for many museums, as all of the respondents (100%) indicated that they are incorporating green practices into their collections department in some capacity by recycling, repurposing materials, updating lighting systems, or modifying HVAC systems. Survey results further indicate that many institutions (86%) repurpose materials internally by offering them to other departments within the museum when possible and that 57% of respondents have considered modifying environmental controls. Additionally, some museum professionals are taking the process of “going green” one step further by initiating conversations about 86
incorporating green practices into preservation plans, as was indicated by 43% of respondents. These results demonstrate the impact of the Green Trend on collections care practices and the positive steps collections professionals are taking to make their institutions more sustainable.
While the survey results discussed above represent that museum professionals are actively making changes to become more sustainable, some responses demonstrate how the process of “going green” is progressive and how there are further steps that need to be taken. Survey results suggest that the typical museum (81%) does not distinguish between the terms “green,” referring to activities that do not harm the environment, and “sustainable,” referring to actions that enable society to evolve without irreparably damaging the environment. This is a direct reflection of the fact that the Green Trend in relatively new in museums. Furthermore, the average museum professional (76%) does not actively seek out green products or discuss integrating green and sustainable practices in administrative meetings (69%). These results suggest that green practices are integrated when possible, but that their integration is not always a calculated decision.
As previously discussed, the average museum does not have an institutional Sustainability Plan where green practices are made concrete. This concept of not including sustainable practices in institutional documents is further reflected by the fact that 74% of respondents do not include these practices in collections management policy. The lack of documentation contractually committing a museum to utilizing green practices signifies that museums are not yet ready to take this step.
Part IV: Final Questions
In the fourth section of the survey, information regarding where museum professionals seek advice and inhibitors to “going green” was gathered. Survey results suggest that the typical museum professional looks to literature, national professional organizations, regional professional organizations, and discipline specific organizations 87
for information about the Green Trend in museums. These results demonstrate how museum professionals are aware of the need to shift practices in order to protect the environment and are actively seeking advice on how to do so. However, the average museum also faces challenges in finding the necessary staff time, financial resources, and institutional “buy-in” to support this transition, indicating that there is still progress to be made.
Survey Challenges
While the survey provided valuable information about the current state of green and sustainable practices in museums, there were challenges in developing the questions and interpreting the answers provided by respondents. One example of this was question five, “What is the average annual budget for collections care? If an exact figure in unknown, please provide an estimate.” The question was seeking to gain an understanding of the amount of the collections department budget dedicated to supplies for collections care. However, respondents interpreted the question in different ways, with some providing a figure for supplies, as intended, and others providing a figure for the collections department as a whole. To generate a response better suited to this thesis, the question should have been phrased as, “What is the average annual budget for collections care supplies'? If an exact figure in unknown, please provide an estimate.”
How to phrase questions to gamer the best result continued to be a challenge with questions eight and nine, which asked, “In general, what types of sustainable and/or green practices does your museum employ? (Circle all that apply)” and “Are sustainable and/or green practices incorporated into collections care? If so, how? (Circle all that apply)” respectively. Both questions resulted in multiple responses, indicating that museums are actively incorporating green practices into their institutions. However, a follow-up question asking respondents to expand on their response to the previous question would have been beneficial. While obtaining a sense of the number of museums integrating 88
common green practices is valuable, asking about the specific ways in which these simple practices are actually being integrated would have provided further support. This follow- up question should have replaced question nineteen, “Are green practices incorporated into collections care represented on the museum’s website? In what capacity?” as based on further research, this question proved to be premature with the typical respondent answering no (83%) or leaving the question blank (10%).
Conclusion
Overall, the survey results indicate that green practices are slowly being integrated into museums. While this is a positive step towards becoming a more sustainable institution, further actions must be taken in order for museums to reach the next phase in the process. This will be discussed further in the following chapter, which will present five main conclusions based on the literature review and survey results. Additionally, recommendations for the field will be presented. 89
Chapter 8: Conclusions
This chapter presents five main conclusions that emerged from the research conducted for this thesis. First, strong leadership and advocacy for sustainability in museums is necessary. Second, a direct connection between institutional mission and the concept of sustainability must be developed in museums. Third, museums must integrate green practices over time in a step-by-step, progressive manner. Fourth, plans and policies must be developed to solidify the reasons for adopting green practices. Fifth, museums must tailor green practices to fit the specific needs of their institution. Finally, recommendations for the field will be presented.
As previously discussed, the past ten years have been a period in which the impact of human activity on the environment has gained greater recognition on a societal level. This has resulted in a global sustainability movement represented by the Green Trend. As this movement has progressed, the development of green and sustainable practices has advanced, and such practices have been integrated by many sectors of society, including museums. While the focus of this thesis is analyzing the use of green and sustainable practices in collections care, the research conducted demonstrates that the process of “going green” is still in its infancy in museums: green and sustainable practices have not developed enough holistically to be at the level where individual departments can fully adopt such practices successfully. However, collections managers are in a prime position to take the lead and advocate for the need to integrate sustainable practices throughout their institution and to use the collections department as an example of the steps that can be taken.
Green Leadership
The successful shift towards sustainability in museums relies heavily on the presence of strong leadership. Without strong leadership advocating for the adoption of green and sustainable practices, the process of “going green” becomes increasingly more 90
difficult and will stagnate at an early stage in the process. While many museum professionals may assume that a champion for the adoption of sustainable practices should be a senior staff member, such as the director, other staff members are often more aware of the daily operations of departments that consume materials and generate waste. Moreover, research conducted by Sarah S. Brophy and Elizabeth Wylie, leading scholars on the Green Trend in museums, suggests that any member(s) of staff can be an advocate for sustainability. Any staff member has the ability to advocate for the integration of green practices and demonstrate the importance of such practices to executive staff, which in turn has the potential to lead to the development of a Sustainability Policy.
In light of this, the first conclusion presented here is to recognize that someone from the museum staff must take the initiative and present the need to integrate green practices into daily operations. A collections manager is well suited to take on this leadership role due to their heavy use of materials and resources for the proper care of collections. Collections managers can advocate for more flexible budgets and the use of quality environmentally-friendly materials, while arguing from first-hand experience about levels of waste consumption. In particular, collections managers witness and contribute to the amount of waste generated more than many other museum departments and can advocate from a very practical position. Their main objective is to preserve the collections for future generations, and creating a sustainable environment for the Earth is directly related to creating a sustainable environment for the objects.
As discussed in Chapter 5, the survey was sent to collections professionals, and the results support the idea that collections managers are slowly beginning to play a part in the incorporation of green practices into museums, making them a strong candidate for an institutional green leader. Many respondents indicated that green practices are a topic of conversation, but the survey results also indicated that collections professionals are not actively seeking green products or looking for supply companies committed to sustainability, an act that is time consuming up front, but is extremely beneficial in the 91
long run. This serves as a concrete example of the reality of the integration of green practices and demonstrates how it is a slow process that is partially dependent on the desire for such practices by collections professionals. Additionally, 69% of respondents noted in the survey that green and sustainable practices are not commonly a topic of discussion in administrative meetings, which is a missed opportunity. A green leader must ensure that green practices are discussed in some capacity during administrative meetings. This could be as simple as reporting the impact of a practice previously integrated or proposing the adoption of a new, more complex practice. The point is that in order to be truly effective, a sustainability leader needs to make sure such issues are a constant topic of discussion in order to not only demonstrate their importance, but also to ensure that such practices are successfully integrated and built upon.
Sustainability and Mission
The development of strong leadership is a key factor in the successful integration of sustainable practices in museums. However, green leaders have to advocate for sustainable practices in accordance with the institution’s mission, which is the second conclusion of this thesis. Without this direct connection, it is difficult to justify adopting such practices and even harder to create institutional “buy-in.” Every action taken by a museum must connect back to its mission in order to have the greatest impact and become a part of the museum in a permanent way.
Museums of all types are slowly beginning the process of becoming sustainable by acknowledging the need to “go green” and remain a stable institution evolving with the times. Different institutions are at different levels of the sustainability process due to unique, institution-specific circumstances. For some, the decision to become more sustainable is inherently a part of their mission, making the transition natural, while other institutions struggle to clearly justify the need to make such changes. As museums exist to serve the public and to preserve objects for future generations, it can be argued that 92
sustainability is inherently connected to the mission of all museums whether it is explicitly stated in the mission statement or not. However, the different interpretations of the term “sustainability” make it difficult to assess how individual institutions are shifting practices: some approach the term from an economic or social position, while others perceive the term as referring to environmental concerns. This leads to greater confusion in the process of defining “green” and “sustainable” in relation to standards and best practices for museums.
While research indicates that sustainable practices must align with an institution’s mission, the results of the survey conducted here suggest that this is not always the case. Sustainability was a part of the mission for 2% of respondents, though it was a goal for 45% of respondents in the survey, meaning that although it is a topic that many museum staff feel needs to be addressed, it is not considered an immediate concern, likely due to the lack of a perceived direct connection to the mission.
The absence of the Green Trend in museum mission statements is important to note, because it makes it more difficult to create “buy-in” and to justify the initial expense of transforming museum practice in this area. However, the survey responses also indicated that sustainability is a goal in a sizeable number of museums. An important question to consider, therefore, is how can green issues become integrated into museum mission statements?
While survey respondents recognized the need to discuss the Green Trend within their institution, many barriers currently inhibit addressing and integrating green issues in museums. For example, only 2% of survey respondents noted that sustainability is a current topic of discussion. Without this internal discussion, it will be challenging for museums to develop plans and policies relevant to green issues in accordance with institutional mission. These internal discussions could help solidify the status of the “Green Trend” and enable sustainability to become a priority during a period of natural 93
change in an institution. While not all museums instantly make the connection between mission and sustainability, they inherently have to be sustainable in order to successfully serve their audience.
One way to address the absence of the Green Trend in museum mission statements is to ensure that internal discussions occur at a holistic level, including museum staff and governing authorities. These governing bodies, usually a museum’s board, are responsible for approving institutional policy, making it critical to include them in the process from the beginning. These important figures should be educated about green and sustainable practices alongside museum staff, ensuring that they gain an understanding of the relationship between the integration of such practices and the museum. This point is discussed more in depth in the recommendations section below.
A Progressive Process
When sustainability and green practices are discussed within the context of museums, large-scale capital campaign projects for LEED-certified buildings are often the focus. Research indicates, however, that the majority of museums are taking less drastic, more realistic approaches by integrating practices slowly over time. This approach is more supportive of financial constraints and limited staff time, and can create institutional “buy-in.” It is therefore important for museum staff to acknowledge that small steps can contribute in a large way over time. Small steps can slowly educate staff and have them become part of the process, leading to larger, more comprehensive, green- based initiatives in the future. Additionally, beginning the process of “going green” with simple practices such as recycling enables staff to determine what types of practices can realistically be integrated and in which departments), leading to a greater level of effectiveness.
Once again, collections departments serve as an excellent place to test out green practices, as many of the activities involved with collections care require a great deal of 94
resources. According to the survey results, most collections managers are repurposing materials, recycling, seeking out green products, updating lighting systems to LED, and either retrofitting or replacing the HVAC system in some capacity, as 100% of respondents circled at least four of the six options provided in questions with these options. This indicates that green and sustainable practices are already being integrated to a certain extent in a large amount of museums and at a pace that is realistic for each institution.
In light of the above points, the third conclusion presented here is to recognize that integrating green practices into museums is a step-by-step, progressive, and fluid process, and that sustainability itself is in constant development due to advancements in technology and price reductions of green products that arise out of demand. In general, while some museums find it challenging to integrate best practices into all areas of their operations, because of budgetary restrictions or time constraints, it is important for museums to be aware of recent trends in practices that can impact their operations and reputations, to evaluate these trends, and to determine if they warrant being integrated into museum practice.
While “going green” is often discussed in a physical sense, as is represented by practice, “going green” can impact both a museum’s operations in a financial sense, as well as their reputations as responsible stewards of collections. Because change often stems from a shift in thinking, either from broader society or from the museum profession’s desire for best practices, it is important to acknowledge that museum collections staff are beginning the important, step-by-step process of considering integrating green practices into museum practice.
Development of a Plan and Policy and Inclusion in Existing Policy
Once a green leader has successfully advocated for the adoption of sustainable practices, connected the need to adopt such practices to institutional mission, has begun 95
the step-by-step process of leading the integration of green practices into museum practice, and demonstrated the value of “going green” in tangible ways, it is vital to develop a Sustainability Plan and Policy. Therefore, the fourth conclusion presented here is that museums need to develop Sustainability Plans and Policies because such documents signify the importance of “going green” for an institution and make their commitment to sustainability concrete. Furthermore, these documents dictate who is responsible for ensuring that green practices are carried out, leading to a greater level of effectiveness. Significantly, the creation of a plan and policy also has the potential to lead to funding for future projects related to sustainability.
While the benefits of creating a Sustainability Plan and Policy are clear, the reality is that most institutions have not reached this stage yet. According to the survey results, most museums currently lack a Sustainability Policy, which contributes to the seemingly static nature of the Green Trend in museums today. Many museums are recycling, repurposing materials, purchasing recycled materials, installing LED lighting, updating HVAC systems, and composting. While these practices are furthering the progression of sustainability in museums, the lack of a Sustainability Plan implies that such practices are not consistently integrated, limiting their actual impact. Additionally, some institutions appear to be integrating green practices when it is convenient, without a clear motive or sense of direction, and not from within a context of planning, which contributes to the lack of standards and best practices for green and sustainable practices in museums. This inchoate approach becomes structured and effective with the development of a Sustainability Plan or Policy.
The development of a Sustainability Plan and Policy is a daunting, time- consuming task that many institutions are currently unable to complete due to institution- specific circumstances; however, most museums have a collections management policy, and the inclusion of sustainable practices relating to collections care could seemingly be 96
easily integrated into this policy. The survey results indicate, however, that nearly three- fourths of institutions are not including such practices in policy.
While a collections management policy and a Sustainability Plan and Policy serve different purposes, the integration of sustainable collections care practices into the collections management policy has the potential to serve as a starting point and can exemplify the importance of explicitly stating practice in policy. As discussed in the literature review, collections professionals are already recycling, reusing and repurposing materials, modifying HVAC systems, and switching to LED lighting systems. It clearly makes sense for such practices to be included in policy in order to highlight their importance and ensure that they continue to be a part of daily activities. By including such practices in collections management policy, collections professionals would arguably be creating the basis for a Sustainability Plan and Policy in a way that contributes to the necessary progression of the institution on multiple levels.
Tailoring Green Practices
The complex nature and cost of some green and sustainable practices can make incorporating them into existing museum operations challenging. The unique circumstances governing how an institution operates on a daily basis can also directly impact the level at which museum professionals are able to consider integrating sustainable practices into their activities. This is supported by the fact that more than 40% of the survey respondents circled staff time, half circled budget, and nearly one-third circled institutional “buy-in” as factors preventing the integration of green and sustainable practices.
These results indicate that there are many administrative barriers inhibiting the use of green practices. However, in reality, many museum professionals are finding creative ways to integrate such practices in a manner that meet the needs of their specific institution in a realistic manner. The survey questions addressing this topic were 97
structured in a multiple choice format, but many respondents provided details on the unique manner in which they were approaching the integration of green practices. While the progression of the development of green and sustainable practices in museums should lead to the development of standards and best practices, for now, the use of green practices in museums is dependent on each institution. The conclusion presented here is that there are general practices that are adopted by many different types of institutions, which are then altered in distinct ways to fit the needs of an individual institution, increasing their level of success.
Recommendations to the Field
In view of the above conclusions, two major recommendations are offered below to enhance efforts to integrate green practices into museum practice: staff education, and sharing information within the museum community about efforts to “go green.”
1. Provide Education and Training on Green and Sustainable Practices
The adoption of green and sustainable practices is more likely to be taken seriously when museum staff are educated about what the terms “green” and “sustainable” mean in general and how they connect to institutional mission. Therefore, it is critical for the green leader of any institution beginning the process of “going green” to educate the entire staff about what this process entails and why certain practices are being integrated.
If an institution integrates a recycling program, staff needs to be taught what is being recycled, how, and why. It is not enough to merely place recycling bins in rooms throughout a museum with a sign indicating what can be recycled: staff need to be made aware of why it is important to recycle those specific materials and what the end result is, such as reducing waste consumption. This information should be presented to staff when it is announced that a green practice will be integrated and can take the form of a handout 98
or short presentation. Ultimately, proper education leads to greater institutional “buy-in” and has the potential to garner support and funding for large-scale sustainable practices that truly benefit both the environment and the museum simultaneously.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) serves as an exemplary model of proper staff education on sustainability. Nancy Steuber became president of OMSI in 2000 and immediately made incorporating sustainable practices into the museum a priority. Under the guidance of The Natural Step, an international group focused on aiding various types of organizations in becoming more sustainable through providing courses and training on the topic, Nancy Steuber developed a Sustainability Plan for OMSI (The Natural Step 2016). Furthermore, she ensured that the OMSI staff received training from The Natural Step partners (The Natural Step 2008). This inclusive approach to institutional sustainability resulted in certain staff members taking the initiative to integrate green practices into their departments on a complex level. In 2005, the exhibitions department began developing guidelines for constructing exhibits, making the use of green products a priority (Madan 2011,249). This resulted in the creation of the Green Exhibit Checklist, an innovative document that enables museums to measure the “greenness” of an exhibition. The checklist is used by many institutions across the country and is recognized as a useful tool by the American Alliance of Museums, a reputable national organization. The work of the OMSI exemplifies the power of educating museum staff, making them feel included in the process and enabling them to further the progression of sustainability in museums.
As previously discussed, the process of “going green” must include educating as many people as possible involved with operating the museum in order to ensure success. Therefore, it is vital for museums to include those who approve policy in museums, usually the board or other governing authorities, in internal discussions about green and sustainable practices from the outset in order to educate them about the significance of making this change. The absence of museum board members in the process from the 99
beginning stages makes it increasingly more difficult for them to understand why a Sustainability Policy needs to exist. As Sarah S. Brophy explains, “because museum boards are designed to be representative of the communities they serve, the chances of your board being "true-blue green" from the outset are relatively slim. The lawyers, financiers, corporate leaders, accountants, and others who sit on most museum boards don't start out green; they become green” (Brophy 2007). Green practices are a learned set of skills that require a physical and mental shift in operations. While the focus of this shift typically centers on changes in physical structure and staff integration of green daily operational practices, the work of a green leader or team to establish that level of commitment is greatly inhibited without the support and understanding of the museum board.
2. Share Knowledge and Experience
The Green Trend is continually evolving, with new practices constantly being created based on technological and scientific advancements. While professional museum and science organizations publish information about this topic, museums in general would benefit from sharing their experiences. Every museum takes a different approach to the process of “going green,” exemplifying how there is not just one correct method for the successful integration of sustainable practices. The process is often overwhelming in the beginning, with museum professionals struggling to figure out where and how to begin.
It is vital for museums at any stage in the process to be transparent about the changes they are making through their websites, professional organizations, and conferences. For example, museum professionals interested in sustainability could meet with the communications department or staff member at their institution to discuss how to effectively convey sustainable activities within the museum to the public and other museum professionals. First hand testimonials and proof of concept for innovative 100
practices provide valuable evidence that has the ability to demonstrate to those who are hesitant that the transition is manageable and pays off in the long run. The more museum professionals share their successful integration of green practices and the challenges faced along the way, the more the Green Trend will continue to grow and evolve within the museum field.
Professional organizations, such as the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), have aided in developing modes of communication about “going green” for museum professionals by encouraging them to present their unique sustainable practices at professional conferences and to join professional groups designed to deal with the issue of “going green” in museums. The 2016 AAM conference in Washington, D.C. will host four sessions dedicated to sustainability and the challenges of “going green” (American Alliance of Museums, 2016a). It is critical for museum professionals seeking or struggling to integrate green practices into their institution to attend these sessions, gaining insight into how to be successful and understanding that the process is challenging for all. Furthermore, museum professionals would benefit from joining groups organized by the AAM, including PIC Green, and sharing their experiences in integrating green practices, whether they are successful or not. Hearing about the struggles of one institution can lead to the success of another through problem solving and innovative thinking.
Concluding Thoughts
As Sarah Brophy wrote in Philanthropy Digest, “being green for a museum is not just about smart buildings, sustainable product choices, or environmentally aware practices. It's about commitment to the future at the board and staff level. It's about communicating that commitment to external as well as internal audiences. And, for each and every one of us, it's about how we choose to live our lives” (Brophy 2007). It is vital 101
for society as a whole, as well as individual organizations, such as museums, to play an active role in being “green” and contributing to the developing nature of humanity.
Sustainability in the modem museum community is an evolving process that progresses, for museums, on an institution-specific level. The circumstances surrounding the decision to become more sustainable are dependent on each institution, but there are general components of the process of “going green” that can be integrated into any museum culture. The development of strong leadership, a direct connection to institutional mission, slowly integrating green practices over time, and creating a Sustainability Plan and Policy are all critical steps in effectively becoming “greener” as an institution. While any staff member has the right to advocate for the adoption of sustainable practices, collections managers are in a unique position, being aware of material use and waste consumption and arguably being the biggest contributors to it due to the standards for the care of collections. Therefore, collections professionals have the potential to be the best advocates for sustainable practices and can shift their daily operations to demonstrate the impact of making such changes, and in turn creating “buy- in” and representing the need for change in a tangible way.
This need for museums to adapt to modem environmental conditions is best summarized by Sarah S. Brophy and Elizabeth Wylie in The Green Museum: A Primer on Environmental Practice:
Museums are uniquely positioned to lead change as one aspect of the journey. That is why it is so important to embrace the evolutionary process, and to share our knowledge and experience to help one another (not just among museums, but in our local, regional, national, and global communities). The world is relearning sustainability at a very great pace. Global climate conditions demand a response by institutions that are here for the long haul, as museums are: to collect, preserve, and interpret in perpetuity (Brophy and Wylie 2013, 251). 102
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International Living Future Institute. 2015. “Living Building Challenge 3.0” Accessed January 29, 2016. http://living-future.org/lbc/about.
Janes, Robert R. 2009. Museums in a Troubled World: Renewal, Irrelevance or Collapse? New York: Routledge.
Light, Paul C. 1998. “Changing the Leader’s Work.” In Sustaining Innovation: Creating Nonprofit and Government Organizations That Innovate Naturally, 131-170. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
McGraw, Adrienne. 2013a. “Introduction.” In Museums, Environmental Sustainability and Our Future: A Call to Action from the Summit on Sustainable Standards in Museums, edited by Ellen Hirzy, 4-6. Washington, DC: American Alliance of Museums. 105
______. 2013b. “The Summit Discussion.” In Museums, Environmental Sustainability and Our Future: A Call to Action from the Summit on Sustainable Standards in Museums, edited by Ellen Hirzy, 7-14. Washington, DC: American Alliance of Museums.
McKibben, Bill. 2012. “Global Warming ‘s Terrifying New Math: Three Simple Numbers That Add Up to Global Catastrophe—and That Make Clear Who the Real Enemy Is.” Rolling Stone, July 19. Accessed January 17,2016. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math- 20120719.
McNeil, Tim. 2013. “Small(er) and Green(er) Sustainability on a Limited Budget.” Accessed April 6,2015. http://aam-us.org/docs/default-source/professional- resources/small(er)-and-green(er)-sustainability-on-a-limited- budget.pdf?sfVrsn=0.
Madan, Rachel. 2011. Sustainable Museums: Strategies for the 21st Century. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: MuseumsEtc Ltd.
Madison Children’s Museum. 2016. “Green Buildings Case Studies: Boston Children’s Museum.” Accessed March 13,2016. http://www.greenexhibits.org/dream/ buildingsbostoncmcasestudy.php.
Main, Douglas. 2012. “Hurricane Sandy Damage Partly Caused By Climate Change, Scientists Say.” Huffington Post, November 6. Accessed March 27,2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/ll/06/hurricane-damage-climate- change_n_2081960.html.
Malaro, Marie C., and Ildiko Pogany DeAngelis. 2012. A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections. Third edition. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
Minneapolis Museum of Art. 2016. “Sustainability at MIA.” Accessed January 31, 2016. http://new.artsmia.org/about/sustainability-at-the-mia/.
The Museums Association. 2008. “Sustainability and museums: Your chance to make a difference.” Accessed April 7,2015. http://www.museumsassociation.org/ download?id=16398.
NGO Committee on Education. 2016. “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future.” Accessed January 10,2016. http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm. 106
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. 2013. “Dumbarton House Sustainability Action Plan: Supplemental to the Master Site Plan, October 2013.” Accessed April 10, 2015. http://dumbartonhouse.org/wp- content/uploads/2015/03/Dumbarton-House-Sustainability-Plan-2013 .pdf.
Natural Resources Defense Council. 2015. “Global Warming.” Accessed January 9, 2016. http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/default.asp.
The Natural Step. 2008. “OMSI- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon, USA.” Accessed March 26,2016. http://thenaturalstep.nl/omsi-oregon- museum-of-science-and-industry-portland-oregon-usa/.
______. 2016. Homepage. Accessed March 26, 2016. http://www.thenaturalstep.org.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2015. “What effect does exposure to light have on a museum’s collection?” Accessed May 10, 2015. http://www.philamuseum.org/conservation/10.html?page=2.
Podany, Jerry. 2012. “Sustainable Stewardship: Preventative Conservation in a Changing World.” In Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift, edited by Gail Anderson, 239-249. New York: Altamira Press.
Ramanathan, Veerabhadran. 2006. “Global Warming.” Bulletin o f the American Academy o f Arts and Sciences 59(3): 36-38.
Reilly, James M. 2008. “Climate Change and the Care of Museum Collections.” Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Congress, London, England, September 14-17.
San Francisco Museum of Modem Art. 2016. “A Sustainable Building.” Accessed March 5, 2016. http://future.sfin0ma.0rg/#transf0rmati0n-sustainable-building.
Simmons, John E. 2006. Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums.
Sustainable Sites Initiative. 2016. Homepage. Accessed January 29, 2016. http ://www. sustainablesites.org.
Thompson, Andrea. 2015. “10 Years Later: Was Warming to Blame for Katrina?” Climate Central, August 27. Accessed March 5,2016. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/katrina-was-climate-change-to-blame-19377. 107
United Nations. 2002. “Highlights of Commitments and Implementation Initiatives.” Accessed January 10, 2016. http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/ highlightsofsummit.pdf.
United Nations Environment Programme. 1972 “Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.” Accessed January 10, 2016. http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?documentid=97&article id=1503.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2014. “Kyoto Protocol.” Accessed January 10,2016. http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2015. “Glossary of Climate Change Terms.” Accessed January 9,2016. http://www3.epa.gOv/climatechange/glossary.html#C.
U.S. Green Building Council. 2016a. “Green Building Facts.” Accessed March 12, 2016. http://www.usgbc.org/articles/green-building-facts.
______. 2016b. “LEED.” Accessed January 9,2016. http://www.usgbc.org/leed.
Van Duin, Paul. 2014. “Climate Effects on Museum Objects.” In Conservation Perspectives: The GCINewsletter, Collection Environments 29(2): 13-15.
Worland, Justin. 2015. “Why Climate Change Could Make Hurricane Impact Worse.” Time, August 27. Accessed March 27, 2016. http://time.com/4013637/climate- change-hurricanes-impact/. 108
Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire
Part I: Demographic Information 1. What type of museum do you work in? a. Art c. History b. Science d. Other
2. How many full-time paid employees are on staff at your institution? a. 1-25 c. 100-150 b. 50-100 d. 150-200
3. What is the staff size of your collections department? a. Full-time paid staff______c. Temporary position staff______b. Part-time paid staff______d. Volunteers______
4. What is the annual budget of your institution? a. $50,000-$ 100,000 c. $500,000-$ 1,000,000 b. $ 100,000-$500,000 d. $ 1,000,000- $5,000,000
5. What is the average annual budget for collections care? If an exact figure in unknown, please provide an estimate. $ ______
Part II: Institutional Green Practices 6. Is sustainability and/or green practices in general a part of your museum’s mission, vision, or goals? a. Mission c. Goals b. Vision d. Not a part of mission, vision, or goals
7. Is there a sustainability plan in place, either formally or informally for the institution as a whole? a. Formally c. We do not currently have a b. Informally sustainability plan 109
8. In general, what types of sustainable and/or green practices does your museum employ? (Circle all that apply) a. Recycling d. Lighting (LED, UV, CFLs, etc.) b. Repurposing materials e. Updated HVAC system c. Purchasing recycled materials f. Other______
Part III: Green Practices and Collections Care 9. Are sustainable and/or green practices incorporated into collections care? If so, how? (Circle all that apply) a. Purchasing green packing materials d. Lighting (LED, UV, CFLs, etc.) b. Repurposing materials e. A new or modified HVAC system c. Recycling ' f. Other______
10. Does your museum distinguish between sustainability and green practices in collections care? If so, how?
11. When purchasing collections materials, do you look for manufacturers that are committed to sustainability and that make green products? a. Yes b. No
12. In administrative meetings that collections staff are involved in, are sustainable and/or green practices a regular (meaning at least biannually) topic of discussion? In what capacity?
13. Does the collections department communicate with other institutional departments when looking to repurpose materials that can no longer be used to care for objects? a. Yes b. No 110
14. Are sustainable and/or green practices included in collections management policy? If so, on a formal or informal basis? a. Formal Basis c. These practices are not currently b. Informal Basis included in our collections management policy
15. If sustainable and/or green practices are included in collections management policy, what are the main areas the policy covers?
16. Was your museum’s collection storage space designed with sustainable and/or green practices in mind, or were these practices retrofitted into an existing system? If so, in what ways was the existing system modified?
17. Has your institution considered modifying its environmental controls in your collections storage space as a method of reducing energy consumption (a common sustainability practice)? a. Yes b. No
18. Are green practices in collections care included in the long-term (multi-year) preservation plan for your institution, if not, is it a current topic of discussion? a. Yes, included in Preservation Plan c. A current topic of discussion b. No, not included in Preservation Plan d. Not a current topic of discussion
19. Are green practices incorporated into collections care represented on the museum’s website? In what capacity? Ill
Part IV: Final Questions 20. When seeking advice on incorporating sustainable and/or green practices into collections care, where does your unit look for guidance? a. Literature d. Regional professional organizations b. Blogs e. Discipline specific organizations/ c. National professional groups organizations f. Other______
21. If sustainable and/or green practices are not currently a topic of discussion in your institution, what is preventing its inclusion? a. Staff time d. Parent organization b. Budget e. Other______c. Institutional buy-in Appendix B: List of Survey Recipients
Alaska
Alaska State Museum
Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository Anchorage Museum Pratt Museum
Sheldon Jackson Museum
Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center University of Alaska Museum of the North
Arizona Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona
Desert Caballeros Western Museum
The Heard Museum Phoenix Museum of Art Pueblo Grande Museum
Museum of Northern Arizona Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Sharlot Hall Museum Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block University of Arizona Museum of Art California
Art, Design & Architecture Museum (University of California, Santa Barbara) Asian Art Museum (San Francisco) Autiy Museum of the American West Bakersfield Museum of Art Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive Bowers Museum California Academy of Sciences
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
California Science Center
Crocker Art Museum De Saisset Museum Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Fresno Art Museum
Getty Villa Haggin Museum Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument History San Jose J. Paul Getty Museum
Japanese American National Museum Long Beach Museum of Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art March Field Air Museum and Foundation Mingei International Museum Monterey Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles)
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Museum of Latin American Art Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego) Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Oakland Museum of California Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits
Palm Springs Art Museum
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology
Riverside Metropolitan Museum Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art
Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art
San Bernardino County Museum
San Diego Air & Space Museum San Diego Model Railroad Museum San Diego Museum of Art San Diego Museum of Man San Diego Natural History Museum San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park Research Center San Francisco Museum of Modem Art San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum San Jose Museum of Art San Mateo County Historical Association
Sanchez Adobe Historic Site
Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Southwest Museum of the American Indian Ty Warner Sea Center
University of Southern California Fisher Museum of Art
University of Southern California Pacific Asia Museum University Art Museum (California State University, Long Beach) William S. Hart Ranch & Museum Woodside Store (San Mateo County History)
Idaho
Boise Art Museum
Idaho Museum of Natural History
Idaho State Historical Museum Nevada
Las Vegas Natural History Museum
Nevada Museum of Art
Nevada State Museum (Carson City) Nevada State Museum (Las Vegas) New Mexico Albuquerque Museum of Art & History Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Maxwell Museum of Anthropology Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Museum of International Folk Art Museum of New Mexico 116
New Mexico History Museum New Mexico Museum of Art New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science New Mexico Museum of Space History
New Mexico State Monuments and Historic Sites Roswell Museum & Art Center Silver City Museum Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian Oregon
Columbia Gorge Discovery Center
Columbia River Maritime Museum
High Desert Museum Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Oregon Historical Society Portland Art Museum Utah Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum Natural History Museum of Utah Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art University of Southern Utah Eastern Prehistoric Museum Utah Museum of Fine Arts
Washington
Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture
Frye Art Museum Henry Art Gallery Maryhill Museum of Art
Museum of Flight Museum of Glass
Museum of History and Industry
Naval Undersea Museum
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture Puget Sound Navy Museum Seattle Art Museum Seattle Asian Art Museum
Tacoma Art Museum
Washington State Capital Museum Washington State History Museum Whatcom Museum Yakima Valley Museum 118
Appendix C: Listing of Cited Web Sources
C.l ABC News. 2005. “New Orleans Museum of Art Fighting to Survive.” (Excerpt) C.2 American Alliance of Museums. 2015. List o f Accredited Museums. C.3 American Alliance of Museums. 2016a. 2016 Annual Meeting Schedule. C.4 American Alliance of Museums. 2016b. “About Us.” C.5 American Alliance of Museums. 2016c. “PIC Green Network.” C.6 American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 2015. “Sustainability.” (Excerpt) C.7 Arab American National Museum. 2015. “Green Free Craft Sundays.” C.8 Brophy, Sarah S. 2007. “Board & Staff: Welcoming the Green Revolution in Your Museum.” (Excerpt) C.9 Building Green. 2016. “Boston Children’s Museum Renovation.” C.10 California Academy of Sciences. 2016. “Our Green Building.” (Excerpt) C.l 1 California Association of Museums. 2016. “Green Museums Initiative.” (Excerpt) C.l 2 Conservation by Design Limited. 2011 .Homepage. C.l3 The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. 2010. Homepage. C.l4 Forest Stewardship Council. 2016. “What We Do.” C.l5 Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. 2009. “Museum Architecture- A Sustainable Building.” C.l6 Gaylord Archival. 2015. “Our Commitment to the Environment.” C.l7 Gelles, David. 2016. “Art Museums Seek A Green Palette.” (Excerpt) C .l8 Grabitske, David. 2010. “Museums Cost How Much?” (Excerpt) C.19 Harvard University. 2015. “Harvard University Sustainability Plan Fiscal Year 2015-2020.” (Excerpt) C.20 Hendrickx, Dirk. 2014. “Environmental Policy Statement.” (Excerpt) C.21 Himmelstein, Paul, Barbara Appelbaum. 2008. “Going Green in Museums: a Conservator’s View.” (Excerpt) C.22 Image Permanence Institute. 2015. “Ten Surprising Things about HVAC and Sustainable Environmental Management.” C.23 International Living Future Institute. 2015. “Living Building Challenge 3.0.” (Excerpt) C.24 McKibben, Bill. 2012. “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math: Three Simple Numbers That Add Up to Global Catastrophe—and That Make Clear Who the Real Enemy Is.” (Excerpt) C.25 McNeil, Tim. 2013. “Small(er) and Green(er) Sustainability on a Limited Budget.” (Excerpt) C.26 Madison Children’s Museum. 2016. “Green Buildings Case Studies: Boston Children’s Museum.” C.27 Main, Douglas. 2012. “Hurricane Sandy Damage Partly Caused by Climate Change, Scientists Say.” (Excerpt) 119
C.28 Minneapolis Museum of Art. 2016. “Sustainability at MIA.” C.29 The Museums Association. 2008. “Sustainability and museums: Your chance to make a difference.” (Excerpt) C.30 NGO Committee on Education. 2016. “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future.” (Excerpt) C.31 The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. 2013. “Dumbarton House Sustainability Action Plan: Supplemental to the Master Site Plan, October 2013.” C.32 Natural Resources Defense Council. 2015. “Global Warming.” (Excerpt) C.33 The Natural Step. 2008. “OMSI- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon, USA.” (Excerpt) C.34 The Natural Step. 2016. Homepage. C.35 Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2015. “What effect does exposure to light have on a museum’s collection?” C.36 San Francisco Museum of Modem Art. 2016. “A Sustainable Building.” C.37 Sustainable Sites Initiative. 2016. Homepage. C.38 Thompson, Andrea. 2015. “10 Years Later: Was Warming to Blame for Katrina?” (Excerpt) C.39 United Nations. 2002. “Highlights of Commitments and Implementation Initiatives.” (Excerpt) C.40 United Nations Environment Programme. 1972 “Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.” (Excerpt) C.41 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2014. “Kyoto Protocol.” (Excerpt) C.42 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2015. “Glossary of Climate Change Terms.” (Excerpt) C.43 U.S. Green Building Council. 2016a. “Green Building Facts.” (Excerpt) C.44 U.S. Green Building Council. 2016b. “LEED.” C.45 Worland, Justin. 2015. “Why Climate Change Could Make Hurricane Impact Worse.” (Excerpt) 120
C.l ABC News. 2005. “New Orleans Museum of Art Fighting to Survive.” (Excerpt) ^ N E W S J Election U.S. World Entertainment Health Tech New Orleans Museum of Art Fighting to Survive
By ABC HEWS f Share with Facebook I * 0 Share with Twitter November 16,2005
The baseball-sized French glass Mardi Gras beads still dangle on SHARE live oak trees outside the New Orleans Museum of Art. Somehow, they defied Hurricane Katrina's fury.
o The Degas, Monet and Gauguin paintings, the jeweled Faberge eggs, the Ansel Adams photographs, they're all safe inside. Even o though storm winds uprooted 60-foot-tall trees nearby and 8-foot- deep floodwaters surrounded the museum like a lake with an o island castle, the art treasures were spared.
But the museum wasn't and its scars are just beginning to show.
The New Orleans Museum of Art has been forced to lay off most of its 86 workers, it must raise millions of dollars to survive the next few years and it will not reopen its doors for months. And that's just for starters.
"It's going to take years to get back to where we were," says Jackie Sullivan, the museum's deputy director. "The toughest time is definitely now." 121
C.2 American Alliance of Museums. 2015. List o f Accredited Museums.
American Alliance of Museums About Us Events Resources Membership About Museums Advocacy
Museums Comm itted to ExceUertce slituiions are part of the Continuum ordrng to ^atior-ai standards a^d Pi i tins search tod to fed museums that have: . Taken the Pledge of Excellence
. Participated in MAP (smoe 2002) • Completed Core Documents VenSeatioft
Search by museum name or designator! Alt museums on this hit ha ve taken the Pledge
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Alberta
AiOerta Central Raitway Musaum Wetaskivwn. A8
The Calgary Stampede Archives Calgary, Afl
Sealaska Heritage institute Juneau. AK
Seward Community Library Museum H Seward, AK
Aiaska Botanical Garden Inc Anchorage. AK
A)ut#q Museum and Archaeological Repository ■ ■ I Kodiak. AK
Carrie McLain Memorial Museum Nome, AK
Palmer Museum of History and Art ■ Palmer, AK
Sheldon Jackson Museum VI ■ Sitka, AK
Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center ■ ■ Haines. AK
Simon Paoeak Memorial Museum ■ Anaktuvuk Pass. AK
Alaska Museum of Science & Nature * Anchorage. AK
Ketchikan. AK
University of Alaska Museum of 8»e North I Fairbanks. AK
VWdez Museum & Historical Archive Valdez, AK
Juneau. AK
Anchorage Museum ■ ■ Anchorage. AK
Baranov Museum Hi Kodiak. AK
Cordova Historical Museum Cordova. AK
Homer, AK
Am*no»r AI»*no* of Uumm 2451 Crystal Drtw Suit* 1006 Artngtai, VA 22202 2G2-2MMB18 (J, 122
C.3 American Alliance of Museums. 2016a. 2016 Annual Meeting Schedule.
Thursday, May 28 - Sunday, May 29 WaU*r E Washington Convention Center. Washington, DC
/ . i American r jjf Museums^ 2016 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo
About Register Schedule Housing and Travel Exhibitors Sponsors
Schedule
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Our searchable schedule allows you to filter conference sessions and events by track or day and search by keywords.
Click on the session or event title to see more detailed information, such as presenters and ticket price. Tickets for events can be purchased at any time after registering for the Annual Meeting by using the Purchase Tickets feature.
To see a listing of additional activities and meet-ups not organized by AAM, visit the Meet-Ups and Other Activities page.
Learn more about tracks and session formats. Stay tuned for download instructions for the AAM mobile app!
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Energy Efficient Cold Storage for Museums Trackfs): Facilities Management Thursday 8:45-9:15 am Walter E. Washington Convention Center
flLTOetrwoc Future Choices: Enacting Best Practices for the Trackfs): Facilities Management RLTERBVDW Thursday 1-2:15 pm Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Skwishing Your Museum: A Guide To Sustainability Traces): Forces of Change Friday 8:45-10 am Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Environmental Sustainability - Power, Influence and Trackfs): Collections Management Friday 8:45-10 am. Walter E. Washington Convention Center Details
Lesson Learned: Successful Museum Building Projects Trackfs): Facilities Management Friday 2-3:15 pm. Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Finding True North: Where Mission and Community M TracWs): Museum Directors Saturday 2-3:15 p m Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Stages of Sustainability: Your Next Steps Trackfs): Forces of Change Saturday 3:45-5 pm Walter E. Washington Convention Center
« Confessional Trackfs): Facilities Management Sunday 8:45-10 am Walter E. Washington Convention Center C.4 American Alliance of Museums. 2016b. “About Us.”
Am erican Alliance of Museums About Us Events Resources Membership About Museums Advocacy
r Home > About Us Constitution and Bylaws About Us (PDF) Diversity and Inclusion "The American Alliance of Museums' mission is to nurture excellence in museums Policy through advocacy and service." Financials What We Do The American Alliance of Museums (formerly the American Association of Museums) is join the Alliance the one organization that supports ail museums. Through advocacy and excellence, the Alliance strengthens the museum community. We support 30.000 museums, individuate Membership is the foundation and companies by: for excellence and unites the field. • Developing standards and best practices
• Providing resources and career development Continuum of Excellence . Advocating for museums to thrive Learn about steps you can take toward excellence.
Who We Are The Reinvention of AAM: A Case Study art museums history museums A look into the transformation science museums directors of AAM in September 2012. m ilitary and mantime museums curators youth museums registrars aquariums educators zoos exhibit designers botanical gardens public relations officers arboretums development officers historic sites security managers science and technology centers trustees museum-service companies volunteers state museum associations regional museum associations
V American AiSsance of Museums f ; Like us Contaot Us Copyright Statement U 2*51 Crystal Drive, Suite 1005 Axfngton, VA 22202 {F! FoHowub Donate Privacy Policy r 202-289-1818 S3 Jotn us Advertise HU 124
C.5 American Alliance of Museums. 2016c. “PIC Green Network.’
Search : Connect Donato
Am erican Alliance of Museums About Us Events Resources Membership About Museums Advocacy A r Home > Professional Neswcfks > P IC Green Networtc Social Media Links PIC Green Network * V3G9 PIC Green is a professional network of the American Alliance of Museums. We are committed to establishing museums as leaders in environmental sustainability, a critical Museums, Environmental issue that is inextricably tied to mission-fulfittment. PIC Green's core values include Sustainability and Our education, collaboration, research and communication. We seek to advance and celebrate environmental stewardship and aspire to help museums be green in every Future aspect of their operations and programs. A Can to Action from the We believe that a museum’s role in the community includes being a conduit for Summit on Sustainability information and building awareness of issues that impact our world today. PIC Green's Standards in Museums 2013 focus is to explore and articulate green practices as fundamental underpinnings to all museum missions. Through example-setting and education museums can be green beacons in their communities to catalyze a potential thpie net effect encompassing The Sustainability economic, social and environmental issues, internally and externally. Excellence Award Submit your museum as a PIC Green strives to: model for environmental sustainability. • Cultivate, engage and grow the PIC Green network to increase organizational and Industry-wide impact • Develop signature programs to educate, facilitate, and encourage green Join a Network practices Click on Edit Profile and select • Position museums as leaders in environmental sustainability on a local, regional, one or more network. national and global level. Not a member? Join today at • Evolve the organizational structure to integrate and increase effectiveness with the Professional level. AAM
Online Learning Get Involved In-depth information on PtC Green is volunteer committee of AAM members Its leadership is dedicated to collections, marketing, shanng information about environmentally sustainable practice. It takes a village to make education and other issues a difference. Join us and help make the museum village and beyond a much greener impacting the field place! • Contact the network s eacersh p to find out about volunteer opportunities that fit your schedule and interests. • Help support our efforts by choosing to be a PtC Green committee member when you join or renew as an AAM member Encourage colleagues to pick green tool
American Ailanoe of Museums fjj Uka us Contact Us Copyright Statement 2451 Crystal Drtve, Suits 1006 Arlington, VA 22202 jgj FoAow us Donate Privacy Policy A*V 202-288-1B1B Q Join us Advertise m m 125
C.6 American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 2015. “Sustainability.” (Excerpt)
AMERICAN INSTITUTE *2* CONSERVATION 91 HISTO R IC AIC ARTISTIC WORKS
About Us About Conservation Membership Annual Meeting Education Scholarships & Grants Publications & Resources
Find A Conservator
Member Center
Sustainability
There is no denying that a measure of sustainability must now be Got a Tip? incorporated into our conservation endeavors. Given financial and time Have a question or a tip about C o n n e c t pressures, habit, and evolving opinions regarding tolerable conditions how to go green in your for collections, conservators must consider not only the interaction of conservation practice? materials and environment to the art and artifacts we treat, but also the Send it to us at GOO production, use. and disposal of materials employed in our work. We sustainabillty@conservation- must educate ourseives and become aware of our contribution to us.org pollution and waste, and implement more sustainabie practices.
These resources are developed by AlC's Sustainability Committee. For more information about them, click here.
Suggested Resources
Conservation-wiki - Sustainable Practices The AIC Conservation Catalogs are a compendium of working knowledge on materials and techniques used to preserve and treat works of art and historic artifacts. The series, begun in 1985 and still in active development, is intended to be updated on an ongoing basis as techniques, technologies, and modes of practice evolve. AlC's Sustainability Committee maintains a a section of AlC's Conservation-wiki on the subject. 126
C.l Arab American National Museum. 2015. “Green Free Craft Sundays.” 127
C.8 Brophy, Sarah S. 2007. “Board & Staff: Welcoming the Green Revolution in Your Museum.” (Excerpt)
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HOME > COLUMNS > THE SUSTAINABLE NONPROFIT > BOARD & STAFF: WELCOMING THE GREEN REVOLUTION IN YC Board & Staff: Welcoming the Green Revolution in Your Museum
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“Our board," says Patrick Kociolek, executive director and curator of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, "has never balked at LEED - or even Platinum-certified." In fact, they have a "huge commitment to green.” That commitment, Kociolek notes, came after the academy’s board, staff, and stakeholders in the community engaged in a thorough planning process that ted to the decision to create an institution for the 21st century.
In this series of articles we've talked about how connecting green strategies to your mission can create funding opportunities, and how museums are implementing and modeling responsible environmental practices in their physical plants and programming. But we have yet to talk about the people who make all this happen: Your board and staff.
Because museum boards are designed to be representative of the communities they serve, the chances of your board being "true-blue green" from the outset are relatively slim. The lawyers, financiers, corporate leaders, accountants, and others who sit on most museum boards don't start out green; they become green. The same holds true for staff. C.9 Building Green. 2016. “Boston Children’s Museum Renovation.
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Boston Children's Museum Renovation RECENTLY ADDED
' Location: Boston, MA ■ Building type(s): Interpretive Center ■ 25% new construction, 75% renovation ■ 172,000 ft2 (16,000 m2) i Project scope: 6-story building • Urban setting > Completed October 2007 i Rating: U.S. Green Building Council LEED-NC, v.2/v.2.1- -Level: Gold (39 points) The Boston Children's Museum is a private, nonprofit, educational institution founded in 1913 by a group of teachers. Its mission is to help children understand and enjoy the world through hands-on engagement and learning by experience. The museum features exhibits on science, culture, environmental awareness, health and fitness, and the arts. The museum expansion and renovation was designed to enhance the building's connections to its urban waterfront site, guided by a desire to build environmental education opportunities into the design. From the adaptive reuse of the onsite 19th-century wool warehouse and industrial site to the new graywater storage system and green roof, the museum has become an environmental teaching tool for its young audience, in addition to becoming the first LEED-certified museum in Boston.
Environmental Aspects The museum is a working exhibition that demonstrates green building elements. The programs incorporate three principles: 1. Green by Example: The "Green Trail" Is a series of interactive stations with age-appropriate explanations of the building's green elements and their relationship to the ecology of the area. 2. Green Hands-On: All programs will be based on current research on how children learn about the natural world. For example, children and families were invited to help plant parts of the green roof. 3. Green at Home: The museum will create a "Growing Green” section of its website for further interpretation of the building as well as steps for children and families to take toward greater sustainability in their own lives.
Owner & Occupancy > Owned and occupied by Boston Children's Museum, Corporation, nonprofit ► Typically occupied by 330 people, 35 hours per person per week; and 8,400 visitors per week, 3 hours per visitor per week
Integrated team, Design charrette. Green framework, Simulation, Green specifications, Commissioning, Performance measurement and verification, Operations and maintenance. Transportation benefits. Storm water management. Water harvesting. Efficient fixtures and appliances. Efficient irrigation, HVAC, Lighting control and daylight harvesting, Efficient lighting, Durability, Benign materials. Salvaged materials, Recycled materials, Local materials, C&D waste management, Connection to outdoors, Daylighting, Low- emitting materials Photo credit: Robert Benson Photography next topic: ^ * Last updated: 10/16/2009 Case Studies Database provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's ding Technology Program. High Performance Buildings.
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C.10 California Academy of Sciences. 2016. “Our Green Building.” (Excerpt)
CALIFORNIA A CAD EM Y OF mts & Exhibits SCIENCES features and operations to minimize its footprint. Efficient Building Design
From our high-tech basement to our
beautifully green Living Roof, the it Pays to Visit Sustainably Academy's building and Visitors save $3 on admission by walking, operations reflect a commitment to biking, or taking public transportation to When it became clear in 1989 that the Academy needed a energy efficiency, reducing our the Academy! new home, the goal was to create a physical manifestation of carbon footprint and preserving natural resources. the Academy’s mission to explore, explain, and sustain life. Getting Here ® Renowned architect Renzo Piano responded with a Learn more ®
breathtaking building that's inspired millions of visitors since A Rooftop Like No O ther
opening in 2008. Seamlessly integrated into its Golden Gate It all began with architect Renzo Piano’s Park setting, the Academy has set new standards for energy idea to “lift up a piece of the park and put efficiency and environmentally responsible engineering. a building underneath," and our 2,5-acre Living Roof is one of the most remarkable Our facility earned the U.S. Green Building Council's highest places to experience how his vision came to life. ratings for its eco-friendly design and operations, making the Academy the world's first Double Platinum museum—and the largest Double Platinum building in the world. The Academy received its first LEED Platinum rating in the "New Sustainable Materials Construction" category—covering the design and 130
C.l 1 California Association of Museums. 2016. “Green Museums Initiative.” (Excerpt)
(S m CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATIONAccnn OF MUSEUMS
HOME ABOUT US PROGRAMS JOBS MEMBERSHIP PUBLICATIONS ADVOCACY COMMUNP
GREEN MUSEUMS INITIATIVE Northern California meet-ups In May on the future of museums LEARN MORE > NEW resources on engagement and accessibility LEARN MORE > mtee fix $yKHf€MPr\f Call for Proposals for /INITIATIVE CAM 2017 In Sacramento LEARN MORE > Announcing six MISSION AND PURPOSE awardees In museum education The mission of the California Association of Museums' (CAM) Green LEARN MORE > Museums Initiative (GMI) is to inspire and support California We did ft! Museums museums to develop green business practices, eco-friendly facility- have a new grant management, and sustainable programming. program LEARN MORE > Sustainability is embedded in our core mission as museums. We inspire the visitors of today while conserving our collective cultural and natural heritage for the future. As the global climate changes and CAM Event natural resources decline, museums have the opportunity to educate, inspire, and lead a sustainable transformation. GMI is proud to support California institutions on that journey.
PUT S N O O P Y O N A A B O U T G M I LICENSE PLATE. Established in 2006, GMI*s first step was to "green" CAM's daily And support California's great museums operations ami events to serve as a model for museums and other associations. GMI developed important catering guidelines, hosted C h e k Here to find out how! influential panels on sustainability, and took other steps to reduce waste and CAM’s impact on the environment. 44 131
C.12 Conservation by Design Limited. 2011. Homepage.
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C.14 Forest Stewardship Council. 2016. “What We Do.”
FSC BKTHJ STATES
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C.15 Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. 2009. “Museum Architecture- A Sustainable Building.” 135
C.16 Gaylord Archival. 2015. “Our Commitment to the Environment.’
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Copyright $ 2015 Gaylord. AH right* reserved. Privacy Policy 1 Find Us On f ^ |H C.17 Gelles, David. 2016. “Art Museums Seek A Green Palette.” (Excerpt)
EE SECTIONS £ HOME Q, SEARCH g | ) C jN c U l j l j o r k S t l t t C S
ART & DESIGN
Art Museums Seek a Green Palette
By DAVID GELLES MARCH 15.2016
The new University of California, Berkeley, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. hrm Baan, via Oiter Seofldk* & ftenrro, EHOO & BAMFFA
In late 2009, Lawrence Rinder, director of the University of California, Berkeley, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, stood alone and despondent in an abandoned building recently inhabited by squatters.
The building, a relic from the Work Projects Administration and once home to a printing press, had been slated for demolition, to be replaced by a new home for the museum, designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito.
Then, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, budget constraints led the museum to abandon the construction project.
But as Mr. Rinder stood amid the squalor, sun pouring through the skylights, he had an epiphany. “I did a double take,” he said. “I looked around and thought, this has the bones of a really fine museum, and more specifically, one that would suit our particular needs."
Soon, plans were underway to salvage the building and refashion it as the museum’s new home. 137
C .l8 Grabitske, David. 2010. “Museums Cost How Much?” (Excerpt)
Museums Cost How Much? by DAVID GRABITSKE on JULY 28, 2010 - 4 COMMENTS • in FUNDRAISING, NONPROFIT ISSUES
There arc 137 museum building projects enumerated in Museum magazine from the American Association of Museums, 2003-2010. Of those 119 have both cost and square footage associated with the projcct. The total investment is in excess of $5.2 billion, and added more than 6.7 million square feet to help the public acccss cultural heritage. The cost for cach square foot averaged $771.69.
In Minnesota, there were five projects noted, and the average cost per square foot was S278.43. In the Midwest region (Association of Midwest Museums represents Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio), there were 25 museum projects (21% of projects) with at total investment of 81,259,245,000.00 (25% of dollars spent), adding 1,786,550 (27% of the space), at an average cost of $704.85. These eight states represent approximately 20% of the U.S. population.
There were 34 history related museums (29% of museums enumerated). The total investment was 8639,112,000 (13% of dollars spent), and added 990,100 square feet (15% of the space), at an average cost of $645.50. This perhaps suggests a smaller size of projects or a smaller capacity to raise funds or attractiveness to donors.
There were 94 projects (79% of all projects) S200 - $2,000 per square foot. The total investment was S3,810,900,000.00 (74% of dollars spent) and added 5,883,566 square feet (8896 of the spacc) at an average cost of S647.72.
The mode, or most frequent number, for any of the sorts is S400.00 per square foot. Depending on which source is consulted, new residential construction can average between S120.00 and S380.00 per square foot. The greater cost for museums reflects the specialized climate, security, exhibits, and furniture (such as shelving) that other kinds of construction do not require. 138
C.19 Harvard University. 2015. “Harvard University Sustainability Plan Fiscal Year 2015-2020.” (Excerpt)
OUR ROADMAP
EMISSIONS AND ENERGY CAMPUS OPERATIONS
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS NEW CONSTRUCTION
ENERGY REDUCTION BUILDING OPERATIONS
RENEWABLE ENERGY TRANSPORTATION
CLIMATE PREPAREDNESS AND CAMPUS RESILIENCE NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS
PROCUREMENT LANDSCAPE OPERATIONS
CAMPUS DESIGN CULTURE AND LEARNING 139
C.20 Hendrickx, Dirk. 2014. “Environmental Policy Statement.” (Excerpt)
ARMOUR CONSERVATION BY DESIGN SYSTEMS A Larson-Juhl Company
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Conservation by Design Limited recognises that our activities have an impact on the environment and that we have a responsibility to consider and minimise these impacts, where possible, throughout our activities.
We have identified the main priority areas where we intend, where practicable, to minimise our impacts. The priority areas are:
• Make efficient use of materials and minimise the waste generated from our activities;
• Prevent pollution occurring at our work sites;
• Ensure that the natural habitat and environment is protected throughout the works process.
W e will set objectives and targets, where appropriate, for our most significant impact areas and will monitor and review our performance against these. In addition, we will review this policy on a regular basis to ensure its relevance. 140
C.21 Himmelstein, Paul, Barbara Appelbaum. 2008. “Going Green in Museums: a Conservator’s View.” (Excerpt)
Introduction How does “going green” apply to the operation of museums? The question is complicated because museum buildings encompass so many functions. Museums have offices, restrooms, auditoriums, and food services. They send out mailings and publish catalogues. Museum buildings need to be cleaned and maintained. Museums have parking lots, and grounds with plantings. Going green in these areas can follow standard procedures developed elsewhere because collections are not affected.
However, collections spaces - both exhibition and storage - present a different set of issues, particularly for lighting and control of temperature and relative humidity. Even in the absence of sustainability concerns, specifying environments for collections is complicated, and adding one more consideration makes it more so. In certain contexts, however, what conservators have been recommending for years is, in fact, congruent with current ideas about sustainability. In other contexts, conservators’ recommendations are energy-intensive, and therefore, not environmentally friendly.
Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Controls Indoor air quality is one issue on which conservators and green advocates largely agree. The Green movement, starting with the California laws, has even made specifying non-off-gassing materials easier. The no-nos for building materials, coatings, and cleaning materials include oak flooring, ammonia-containing cleaners, most varieties of plywood, polyurethane, and oil-based paints. The use of filtration, particularly of gaseous pollutants, however, puts stress on air circulation systems and therefore increases energy requirements.
Relative humidity control puts conservators and green advocates on somewhat opposite sides, since strict environmental control uses a great deal of energy. However, the current state of the art is not good, and relative humidity is the issue most likely to present continuing problems after new museum buildings are commissioned, so it may be time to rethink much of what has been done in the past. 141
C.22 Image Permanence Institute. 2015. “Ten Surprising Things about HVAC and Sustainable Environmental Management.” 142
C.23 International Living Future Institute. 2015. “Living Building Challenge 3.0.” (Excerpt)
LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE ABOUT CERTIFICATION TOOLS + RESOURCES CASE STUDIES VOLUNTEER
Living Building Challenge 3.0
The Uvtng Building Challenge' is a building certification program, advocacy tool and philosophy that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions we seek.
The Challenge is comprised of seven performance categories called Petals: Race, Water. Energy, Health & Happiness. Materials, Equity and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere oflnfiuence. This compilation of Imperatives can be applied to almost every conceivable building project, of any scale and any location—be It a new building or an existing 143
C.24 McKibben, Bill. 2012. “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math: Three Simple Numbers That Add Up to Global Catastrophe—and That Make Clear Who the Real Enemy Is.” (Excerpt)
Global Warming s Terrifying New Math Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe - and that make clear who the real enemy
■ BY BILL MCKIBBEN I July 19.2012
Illustration by Edel Rodriguezs
If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado haven't convinced you, or the size of your AC bill this summer, here are some hard numbers about climate change: June broke or tied 3^15 high-temperature records across the United States. That followed the warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere - the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe.
Meteorologists reported that this spring was the warmest ever recorded for our nation - in fact,. it crushed the odd record by so much that ir represented the "largest temperature departure from average of any season on record/ The same week, Saudi authorities reported that it had rained in Mecca despite a temperature of 109 degrees, the hottest downpour in the planet's history. 144
C.25 McNeil, Tim. 2013. “Small(er) and Green(er) Sustainability on a Limited Budget.” (Excerpt)
INTRODUCTION
Museums are a natural springboard for the sustainable transformation of our society. By leveraging our knowledge, inspiration, and place in the community, museums of all sizes and disciplines have the opportunity to make an important contribution.
Our field is resource-intensive, but collectively, museums of ail sizes and disciplines can make a positive impact in support of a healthy environment by adopting sustainable green practices.
Museums are uniquely situated to lead. As storytellers, educators, preservationists, and community gathering places, we can be models for sustainability. By 'telling the story* of sustainable practices, we play a vital role in creating sustainability in the communities we serve. Our efforts can and will make a tangible difference.
Think Green
The process of ’greening the museum’ starts with brainstorming and researching together to create the Sustainability Initiative, or Plan. Thinking Green' is an effective approach toward creating this plan, requiring us to think critically and ask the right questions. Thinking Green incorporates both 'Systems Thinking' and the ’Precautionary Principle.'
Systems Thinking asks us to see our sustainability initiatives within the larger context of the museum and all its parts, locally and globally, while the Precautionary Principle requires us to consider the worst case scenario when making decisions: it is a risk management strategy guiding us to 'do no harm.' 145
C.26 Madison Children’s Museum 2016. “Green Buildings Case Studies: Boston Children’s Museum.” 146
C.27 Main, Douglas. 2012. “Hurricane Sandy Damage Partly Caused by Climate Change, Scientists Say.” (Excerpt)
Hurricane Sandy Damage Partly Caused By Climate Change, Scientists Say
© 11/06/201210:06 am £T
From Douglas Main, UveScjence Contributor:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Climate change likely made Hurricane Sandy much worse than it otherwise would have been, scientists said here yesterday at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
For one thing, rising sea levels set the stage for a more damaging storm surge, as Hurricane Sandy broke records with a 13.2-foot (4 meters) storm surge in New York City’s Battery Park, said Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann.
“At least 1 foot of those 13.2 feet was arguably due to sea-level rise," he said. That’s because sea levels are 1 foot (30 centimeters) higher than they were a century ago, he continued. 147
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C.29 The Museums Association. 2008. “Sustainability and museums: Your chance to make a difference.” (Excerpt)
6 Collections: an irreplaceable asset or an under-managed burden?
One of the key roles of museums, as These observations led to a revision of Museums do not have to stop collecting, defined in the MA Code of Ethics is to the MA Code of Ethics so that, in but they need to actively manage 'Safeguard the long-term public interest changes agreed in October 2007, collections. ‘We should free ourselves up in the collections [which] are a tangible ‘Museums meet their responsibility to to take our own responsibility for active link between the past, present and future generations’ not by adopting a stewardship of collections rather than future.’ Indeed, one aspect of strong presumption against disposal, but feeling under the burden of slavish sustainability is that 'Neglect of cultural instead ‘by ensuring that collections are acceptance of our predecessors’ capital by allowing heritage to deteriorate, well managed and sustainable.’ It will take decisions which have to be preserved by failing to sustain cultural values [by not some time to see the practical intact for an indefinable posterity.’*5 maintaining] the stock of tangible and implications of this change, but it seems Crucially, this approach is not based on intangible cultural capital [will] place likely that museums will dispose more practicalities of cost and storage space cultural systems in jeopardy.*8 actively. ‘Museums whose collections but on a recognition that museum continue to grow while their existing collections are not an objective record of Until recently, museums have collections lack effective management... the world. Rather, they are ‘partial, approached this responsibility rather seem not to be meeting the needs of the historically biased accumulations of the passively, assuming that ‘all museum present in full because they are not able interests of previous individuals and... collections should somehow be to realise the potential of the collections can be legitimately reworked''. ‘It is not a preserved for infinity’.49 It has been they hold and they are compromising the sign of despair but a mark of maturity to estimated that as much as 70 per cent of mi im msfs nan he attrihi itert tn thn ability of future generations to meet their realise that we hand down not some 149
C.30 NGO Committee on Education. 2016. “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future.” (Excerpt)
UN Documents Gathering a body of global agreements
Home | Sustainable Devetoprrmt | Education | Water | Culture of Peace | Human Rights Keywords | Search
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future
Transmitted to the General Assembly as an Annex to document A /42/427 - Development and International Co-operation: Environment
Table of Contents Acronyms and Note on Terminology Chairman fs Foreword
From One Earth ta One World------
Part I. Common Concerns 1. A Threatened Future
1. Sym ptom s and Causes
II. New Approaches to Environment and Development
2. Towards Sustainable Development
I. The Concept of Sustainable Development
II. E quity and the Common Interest
III. Strategic Imperatives
IV . Conclusion 150
C.31 The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. 2013. “Dumbarton House Sustainability Action Plan: Supplemental to the Master Site Plan, October 2013.” (Excerpt)
Current and Proposed Initiatives
Current Initiative Impact .. y.; ■ • ' : : , ' v . , \ Reduce phantom loads- turning off and unplugging Reduces electricity consumption electronics when not in use
Set computers to hibernate/sleep after a certain Reduces electricity consumption amount of time
Purchase items made from recycled materials Contributes to sustainability goals
Promote our sustainability efforts Broadens our constiment base
Recycle all materials no longer useful Reduces waste
Maintain accurate temperature controls Reduces electricity/gas consumption
Lights- turn o n /o ff when not in use Reduces electricity consumption
Limit print advertising to reach largest audience Reduces paper use
Implement ideas from HVAC research study to Opportunity to look into more energy-efficient system replace and upgrade system 151
C.32 Natural Resources Defense Council. 2015. “Global Warming.” (Excerpt)
ACT NOW 00NATE
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL ABOUT US ISSUES / POLICY
Issue Areas Global Warming GET UPDATES AND ALERTS
Global Warming Enter your email address
Energy
Air
Water DEMAND CLIMATE ACTION
Oceans As the impacts of a warming climate are felt across the globe, our leaders are Food and Agriculture gathering in Paris with a mission as simple as it is daunting: Save the wortd Wildlands before it's too late. Climate change is our problem. Health Together, we can solve ft. Wildlife The Clean Power Plan Environmental Justice Global Warming Explained
U.S. Law & Policy Climate charge Is the single Digest environmental and humanitarian Climate change is the greatest environmental threat of our time, endangering crisis o f our tim e. The Earth's Nuclear Energy, our health, communities, economy, and national security The Clean Power atmosphere is overloaded w ith heat- Nonproliferation, and Plan represents the most important step the United States can take right now to trapping carbon dioxide, which Disarmament combat climate change and help spur climate action around the globe, r e a d threatens large-scale disruptions in climate with disastrous Urban Solutions consequences. We must act now to spur the adoption of cleaner energy Recycling An Introduction to Climate sources a t home and abroad. 152
C.33 The Natural Step. 2008. “OMSI- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon, USA.” (Excerpt)
© T he Natural Step HOME THE NATURAL STEP - DE AANPAK DIT DOEN
OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon, USA
door natural | Okt 17, 2008 | Case study |
f Learning by doing: A museum's mission for sustainability education
* A Natural Step Network Case Study
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Ha • Founded in 1944 • One million visitors annually
• 200 employees and 400 volunteers
• Hand*on exhibits, interactive labs, OMNiMAX films and planetarium
Summary
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is a premiere science and technology
museum that is visited by more than one million people each year. OMSI has 501(c)(3) status
and relies upon donations, admissions, and memberships from its 75,000 members. Nancy
Steuber, made sustainability a priority when she became president of OMSI in 2000. Inspired
by The Natural Step Framework, Steuber invited AXIS Performance Advisors to help OMSI 153
C.34 The Natural Step. 2016. Homepage.
Natural Step
ACCHSUW*OtANCt COUASOUJt . NfWSiKOOS AMUTUS Rtsot*cn
THE NATUR^LSFEP/ t S We ore a leading partner for organisations ready to address humanities grand challenges to create a better Mure. We enable decision maWs lomanaA complexity, define their future position and sei^^poftunities for short antnong
We want to accelerate the transition to cygjtainable society. Join us!
WHAT'S GOING ON? 154
C.35 Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2015. “What effect does exposure to light have on a museum’s collection?”
Philadelphia A r+ Museum of AA I L Visiting On View Calendar Collections Research School & Teachers Join & Support About Us
Research: Conservation Home
Research
Overview Light Temperature & Humidity Pollutants Pests Resources
Publications Provenance What effect does exposure to light have on a museum's collections? Costume & Textiles Study Room Color fading and deterioration of materials Prints, Drawings, & Light acts cumulatively— it is the total exposure over time that matters! Light is a source of damage Photographs Study to artifacts and its effects are irreversible. Fortunately, modern lighting technologies offer a variety Room of solutions to help control many of the damaging effects from light. Center for American Light is a form of energy. Light generates heat. Artifact deterioration is a result of chemical Art reactions that occur when an energy source changes the chemical structure of the object's surface. The amount of energy given off by a light source can be illustrated in the light spectrum. The Korean Heritage electromagnetic spectrum is divided into wavelengths of energy, which range from low (radio Group waves) to high (gamma rays). The range of wavelengths from light sources (daylight and artificial Archives light) can be divided into three regions: ultraviolet radiation or UV (300-400nm), visible radiation Ubrary and Digital (400-760nm) and infrared radiation (over 760nm). In essence, the shorter the wavelength of the Collections light source, the more damaging to the surface of an object.
O f special concern to museum collections is the high proportion of UV energy in normal daylight (natural sunlight shining through glass). This is why the amount of light from windows is minimized Support Conservation in museum galleries. Artificial light sources used in the galleries and storage areas, such as incandescent, halogen and fluorescent are generally filtered or diffused. Purchase Admission How can light be measured? Online Intensity of ligffiTg'measured with a light meter using unifs"^measurement known as " lux" 6r------footcandles. One footcandle is equal to 10 lux units. There are also special light meters that measure levels of UV radiation. In general, light exposure levels recommended for museum objects are as indicated below. Extremely light sensitive organic materials such as paper or textiles are exhibited at very low light levels for only limited periods of time.
Ught level Material 200 lux ( 20 most ceramics, glass, and metals footcandles)
150-200 lux (15-20 oil and tempera paintings, undyed leather, lacquer, wood, hom, bone, footcandles) ivory, stone i 50 lux (5 footcandles) or watercolor paintings, dyes, manuscripts, prints and drawings, vulnerable Art on Deir^ricf less textiles, photographs
What is done in the Museum to reduce or control exposure to damaging light? • Timer switches in galleries or inside exhibition cases • Computer controlled systems to turn lights off when the Museum is closed • Curtains or light-diffusing materials placed on windows • UV-fiitering plastic sleeves or tubes placed over artificial light sources
Artist Membership
US 2916 PhHadeipNa Museum of Art Sitemap j Ptwacy & Security f Contacts 155
C.36 San Francisco Museum of Modem Art. 2016. “A Sustainable Building.’
A Sustainable Building
From building materials that minimize the transfer of thermal energy to lighting control systems that respond to changing daylight every aspect of the expansion has been designed with sustainability in mind.
The result? The expanded building is on track to achieve LEED Gold certification, with a 15 percent reduction in energy consumption. 30 percent decrease in water use, and 20 percent less wastewater generation.
ijQji See how we're going green 156
C.37 Sustainable Sites Initiative. 2016. Homepage.
SITES is used by landscape architects, designers, engineers, architects, developers, policy-makers and others to align land development and management with innovative sustainable design.
Land is a crucial component of the built environment and can be planned, designed, developed and maintained to protect and enhance the benefits we derive from healthy functioning landscapes. SITES helps create ecologically resilient communities and benefits the environment, property owners, and local and regional communities and economies.
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C.38 Thompson, Andrea. 2015. “10 Years Later: Was Wanning to Blame for Katrina?” (Excerpt)
10 Years Later: Was Warming to Blame for Katrina?
Published: August 27th, 2015 V T w M tl f Share Q D BBBI By Andrea Thompson * U E T E S B 3 2 262 7 ,°)i°w»r5
In the days after Aug. 29 ,20 0 5, when the world watched Hurricane Katrina become one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, a question reverberated through the public consciousness: Was climate change to blame?
This question arose in part bccause of a desire after such terrible events to understand why they occur. Katrina killed an estimated 1,20 0 people and caused more than $ 10 0 billion in damage. But the question was also driven by an emerging public awareness of the changes that global warming might mean for the world's weather, including hurricanes.
At the time, scientists had few easy answers. There was clear evidence that temperatures around the globe had risen and expectations that this would shift weather patterns and make some events more extreme in the future, but no clear accounting had been done of whether those effects were discernible in the weather happening to us today.
Ten years later, there is still no straightforward answer for this or other storms. Partly this is because the question itself is flawed, belying the complexity of these weather events and their relationship to the climate. But scientists have found other ways to probe the role of warming, by asking, for example, how sea level rise has made flooding worse or how warming has influenced entire hurricane seasons.
Such studies can tell us something valuable about how climate change is impacting the world we live in, even if they can't give us a clear “yes" or “no* answer.
The Problem With Hurricanes
In 20 0 5, w hen Katrina helped increase awareness of climate change, the science of what is called “extreme event attribution" was just emerging. Today it is one of the fastest growing fields in climate research, with efforts even to pinpoint the role of wanning just days after an event. 158
C.39 United Nations. 2002. “Highlights of Commitments and Implementation Initiatives.” (Excerpt) lOHANNBtUM SUMMIT Mil WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA | 26 AUGUST-4 SEPTEMBER 2002
HIGHLIGHTS OF COMMITMENTS AND IMPLEMENTATION INITIATIVES 3 September 2002
The following is a list of some of the agreements reached and initiatives announced during the Johannesburg Summit This list is not exhaustive, but reflects some key highlights of the Summit process. The commitments shown are those agreed in the Implementation Plan to be adopted by Governments at the close of the Summit.
Water & Sanitation
Commitments • Commitment to halve the proportion of people without access to sanitation by 2015; this matches the goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015. Initiatives The United States announced $970 million in investments over the next three years on water and sanitation projects.
The European Union announced the “Water for Life” initiative that seeks to engage partners to meet goals for water and sanitation, primarily in Africa and Central Asia. The Asia Development Bank provided a $5 million grant to UN Habitat and $500 million in fast- track credit for the Water for Asian Cities Programme.
The UN has received 21 other water and sanitation initiatives with at least $20 million in 159
C.40 United Nations Environment Programme. 1972 “Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.” (Excerpt)
MSWISMi3S99H * United Nations Environment Programme I & Climate Disasters E co system Environmental Chem icals Reso urce environment for development UNEP Ch ang ® & Conflicts M anagem ent G overnan ce & W aste Efficiency
Resources for: a Printable Version Declaration of the United Nations Conference on I Governments the Human Environment | Scientists Journalists The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, having met at Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972,having considered the need for a |Civil Society common outlook and for common principles to inspire and guide the I Business Persons peoples of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment, |Children and Youth Proclaims that:
Thematic Areas 1. Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual. Select an Area : .. sh s o c -al a ftd u al growth In the long a ^d e v o -uttor. of— the human race on this planet a stage has been reached when, through Q shore E *r_ the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale. Both aspects of man’s environment, the natural ano the man-made, are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights the right to life itself.
2. The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world: it is the urgent desire of the peoples of the whole world and the duty of all Governments.
3. Man has constantly to sum up experience and go on discovering, inventing, creating and advancing. In our time, man's capability to transform his surroundings, if used wisely, can bring to all peoples the benefits of development and the opportunity to enhance the quality of life. Wrongly or heedlessly applied, the same power can do incalculable harm to human beings and the human environment. We see around us growing evidence of man-made harm in many regions of the earth: dangerous levels of pollution in water, air, earth and living beings, major and undesirable disturbances to the ecological balance of the biosphere: destruction and depletion of irreplaceable resources; and gross deficiencies, harmful to the physical, mental and social health of man. in ______ftnvimninftnlthe man-made______environment, particularly in the living and working 160
C.41 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2014. “Kyoto Protocol.” (Excerpt)
^ United Nations □ H Framework Convention on & Climate Change E l
CDM Jl CC:iNo: TTClear Your location Horn® > Kyoto Protocol
Text of the Kyoto Prot< NEWSROOM Kyoto Protocol Get News f t Arabic (538 kB)
on the Latest Kyoto Protocol Climate Action f t Chinese (243 kB) f t English (66 kb) HTML English NEGOTIATIONS ftEspaflol (59 kB) Meetings Documents & Decisions 1&Francais{51 kB)
Bodies f t Russian (234 kB)
FOCUS
INDC Portal Status of Ratification States and regional eco The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement jinked to the United Nations Framework Convention on integration organizations Overview Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets have ratified the Kyoto f Adaptation to the United Nations Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG Framework Convention Climate Finance emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than IK ) years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a Climate Change Mitigation heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities.' Technology The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules few the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Key links Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001. and are referred to as the "Marrakesh Accords." Its first commitment period PROCESS started in 2008 and ended in 2012. Parties to the Kyoto Pro adnotfid an amendment 161
C.42 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2015. “Glossary of Climate Change Terms.” (Excerpt)
vvEPA Untied States Environmental Protection Agency Advanced Search
LEARN THE ISSUES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LAWS & REGULATIONS ABOUT EFA
| Climate Change OContact Us ©Share You are here: EPA Home » Climate Change » Glossary of Climate Change Terms Climate Change Home
Sasic Information Glossary of Climate Change Terms
Greenhouse Gas A-E -C-D~E-F-G~H-!-J-K-L-M-N-0-P-Q-R-S-T~U~V- Emissions W-X-Y-Z-# Related Links
EIA Glossaries
• Energy Efficiency Glossary Abrupt Climate Change • Energy Glossary
Sudden (on the order of decades), large changes in some major component of the EPA climate system, with rapid, widespread effects. What EPA is Doing • Clean Energy Glossary • Ozone Depletion Glossary What You Can Do Adaptation NASA’s Earth Observatory library Adjustment or preparation of natural or human systems to a new or changing environment which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. IPCC Glossaries ex'Toj- • Third Assessment Report Adaptive Capacity Working Group i: The Students* Site The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and Scientific Basis extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or • Third Assessment Report to cope with the consequences. Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability • Third Assessment Report Aerosols Working Group III: Mitigation Small particles or liquid droplets in the atmosphere that can absorb or reflect sunlight depending on their composition. UNFCCC Glossaries e*itdisc»»«w • Article 1 Definitions Afforestation m • G lossary Planting of new forests on lands that historically have not contained forests. Weathervane: Resources for the Future EX,T Disclaimei Albedo The amount of solar radiation reflected from an object or surface, often expressed as a percentage. 162
C.43 U.S. Green Building Council. 2016a. “Green Building Facts.” (Excerpt) Green Building Facts
Published on 23 Feb 2015 Posted in Media
MARKET IMPACT
This year it is estimated that 40-48 percent of new nonresidential construction will be green,
equating to a S120-145 billion opportunity1
62 percent of firms building new single-family homes report that they are doing more than 15
percent of their projects green. By 2018, that percentage increases to 84 percent.2
Historical averages have pegged the economic impact of investments in the U.S. residential market at roughly 5 percent of GDP, while other economic activity surrounding housing services as a whole 163
C.44 U.S. Green Building Council. 2016b. “LEED.’
LEED v4 Is bolder and more specialized for building projects worldwide.
All buildings in. LEED is flexible enough to apply to all project types.
Certification options
LEED is pushing the green building industry further. 164
C.45 Worland, Justin. 2015. “Why Climate Change Could Make Hurricane Impact Worse.” (Excerpt) Why Climate Change Could Make Hurricane Impact Worse
Justin Woriand
Sea level rise plays a key role
Hurricane Katrina surprised disaster preparedness authorities when it made landfall 10 years ago, leveling entire communities and killing
more than 1,800 people. The S t o r m C a u s e d m o r e Victims of Hurricane than $100 billion in evacuees were recel damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. But for all the damage the storm caused in New Orleans, Katrina was a relatively weak hurricane when it hit the city.
In the academic community, the unexpected disaster prompted climate scientists to consider the link between climate change and storms. Since then, research has shown that climate change will increase the devastation caused by hurricanes as sea levels rise due to global warming. Some research has also suggested that climate change has increased the intensity and frequency of storms.