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MUSEUMS + SUSTAINABLE FUTURES

The Change Collective,

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History

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How might museums (especially natural history) support sustainable futures?

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Museums Past and Present

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How might we describe the roots of museums’ beginnings?

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Mouseion

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A Shrine to the Muses

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From Cabinets of Curiosity to Institutions

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What is a museum?

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From Eugene Dillenberg’s article “What, If Anything, Is a Museum?”

Typically...

Non-Profit
Permanent
Open to the public
Public Service
Collections
Exhibits

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From Eugene Dillenberg’s article “What, If Anything, Is a Museum?”

Typically...

Permanent
Open to the public
Exhibits

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In what ways have museums contributed towards imbalance + disruption of the natural world and human cultures?

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Taking (Stealing?) Objects and Appropriating Culture

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Who have museums historically served well?

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Who hasn’t been served as well by museums?

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Whose perspectives are represented?

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People of color and non-English speaking visitors

are often not as well served or represented

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Differently abled visitors are often not well served

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In what ways have museums benefited communities and the natural world?

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MISSION: foster exploration and appreciation of the natural environment and human cultures through research, teaching, and community outreach.

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Places for Learning

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School and Community Outreach

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Relevant Issues

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Creating Work Opportunities

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Stewardship of Collections

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Anthropology

Diatoms

Botany

Paleontology

Entomology

Vertebrate Zoology

Invertebrate Zoology

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Collections-Based Research

Rebecca

Collections-Based Research - Like many museums, our 11 curators conduct collections-based research, integrating field work, lab work, and the study of our collections in their research to investigate topics like:

The role of symbiotic relationships in marine ecosystems as well as in lichens.
How indigenous communities want to co-direct research and public education about their cultural heritage
How mammals shift the elevations in which they live in in response to climate change
How the flora and fauna of prehistoric ecosystems have shifted during past climate events
The human and animal artifacts found in areas that have been newly uncovered by melting glaciers
And how plant-insect relationships impact other organisms in their ecosystems.

Rachel and Jeremy, members of the Change Collective are working with collections and research… can you all share a few sentences about what you’re doing?

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Museum and Field Studies Master’s Degrees

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How can we describe the moment that museums are in now?

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Museums Today

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Hit Hard by COVID Impacts

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The COVID™

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The Technology Curve

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COVID - Big Expansion of Digital Offerings

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COVID - Big Expansion of Digital Offerings

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Understanding Audiences

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More Participatory

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Shifting Authority / Co-Creation with Community

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Social and Racial Justice Issues

AYESHA

In light of George Floyd’s murder, 2020 brought heightened awareness of racial/social inequities across the nation and the world.
The American Alliance of Museums quotes that “Museums are organized as public trusts, holding their collections and information as a benefit for those they were established to serve.” Museums rely on the public and are one of the most trusted institutions in society, therefore they need to maintain the highest level of accountability and transparency.”
More museum professionals are taking a stance that museums are not neutral - that in choosing whose stories and knowledge are presented, and how these stories are presented, those choices are inherently not neutral, and that museums should take ownership for their messages and be transparent about those perspectives.
In context with being trusted institutions and having more awareness of their abilities to influence social issues, more museums are creating public statements and taking action to support justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity issues.

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Sustainable Futures

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What is sustainability?

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Sustainability, in the context of our conversation, orbits around environmental, social, and economic resources-- how those elements intersect and are maintained for generations to come.This will take concerted effort and intentional development.

Quote from: https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/what-is-esd/sd that gives an in depth description of where to start in terms of development..

“There are four dimensions to sustainable development – society, environment, culture and economy – which are intertwined, not separate. Sustainability is a paradigm for thinking about the future in which environmental, societal and economic considerations are balanced in the pursuit of an improved quality of life.”

Image from: https://www.slideshare.net/micema/mireia-cebrian-sustainabilityinpackaging/9-SUSTAINABLE_DESIGN_What_is_Sustainability

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“Permaculture principles focus on thoughtful designs for small-scale intensive systems which are labor efficient and which use biological resources instead of fossil fuels. Designs stress ecological connections and closed energy and material loops. The core of permaculture is design and the working relationships and connections between all things.”

– Bill Mollison

(Father of permaculture theory)

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SHANNON

This leads me to some of the awareness that we have gained around sustainability solutions and some actions that are falling in to place as we speak..
This image is a blueprint put together by UN members, that guides action-taking and provides developmental goals that aim to improve the quality of life for people and the planet, now and in the future. These goals demonstrate an awareness that there is not just one solution to fix an entire system
-These are also great benchmarks for determining where we are as an institution, a community, and as a student body; how do we exercise these goals, individually and collectively? Which ones will we choose to commit to a daily practice?
-A few questions in my own response and something to ponder..
Where might these goals be imposing/ disproportionately affect others? What are achievable/realistic characteristics to apply right here and now? What is already in action, and where?

Image from: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

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What are sustainable futures?

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FUTURES?

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“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

-UN World Commission on Environment and Development

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What feels unsustainable in your personal life and the world at large?

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REBECCA

42 survey respondents provided 346 answers about things that feel unsustainable in their own lives and the world at large. Here’s a snapshot of their responses. The bigger the word, the more frequently it was mentioned.
Consumer waste and the industrial waste used to create unnecessary products, single-use products, and things like fast-fashion and planned obsolescence of technology were mentioned frequently
Energy usage, especially in relation to fossil-fueled air and car transportation was big
food systems, water, and natural resources at large - big
Political polarization, hyper individualism, and a lack of community-mindedness
Capitalism and profit-driven industry
Personal struggles related to mental health, well-being, being too busy, navigating relationships came up a good bit

Once we analyze the responses to this survey in more depth, we’d be happy to share this with you if you’d like.

So these are some of the problems… When thinking about the root problems that these responses speak to… We are reminded of

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What categories of work are being done in order to seek and implement solutions?

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https://drawdown.org/solutions

Project Drawdown offers lots of information and applicable actions

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Top Solutions to Cap Temperature Rise to 2˚C by 2100

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SHANNON

- Other categories-Some companies are committing to the application of UN SDG’s (sustainable development goals) (Our museum?)

-Activists are employing their voices and expanding their platforms to engage in climate solutions and racial justice> intertwined systems

-production and agriculture, We are seeing programs like sustainable agriculture appear in major universities, and looking at systems though different lenses such as Permaculture--a way of approaching design in which we seek to work in cooperation with the given environment rather than against it. Principles listed in the image to highlight include: produce no waste, design from patterns to details, small and slow solutions, integrate rather than segregate, obvious one here..use renewable resources!

Image: top left: https://www.shondaland.com/act/a32950488/young-environmental-activists/

Bottom left: https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2018/october/columns/inside-academia-sustainable-livestock-production

Middle right:https://happyholistichomestead.com/2019/01/03/what-is-permaculture/

Center image: https://blog.se.com/sustainability/2015/11/10/sustainability-the-new-critical-success-factor/

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How are museums already supporting sustainable futures?

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“Museums and the Art of Environmental Sustainability:” Museum Next

Take Steps Towards Sustainability
Set the Pace
Empowering People
Constructing Change

SHANNON

Quote from: https://www.museumnext.com/article/museums-and-the-art-of-environmental-sustainability/

“This can be tricky, as preserving the past, educating the present and shaping the future come at an obvious cost. Climate control, lighting, security; these are some of the factors that play into the effectiveness and success of a museum. They also serve as major contributions to its environmental impact. But the good news is that museums across the globe are rewriting the books on infrastructure, energy usage, waste management, and much more to reduce their impact and ensure global heritage and culture are preserved for generations to come.” -Lauren Styx, Museum Next

UnderTake -atleast- these 4 Steps: 1) determine institution’s carbon footprint 2) arrange for energy audit 3) Empowering people, an example used here; stop promoting single-use plastics, another quote from the author, “Those things that people can touch are key things” 4) TALK-such an important proponent of change! Talk about sustainability and climate change

A quote from Sarah Sutton from the article states,

(“As charitable institutions we have a responsibility to use all our resources wisely: this includes money, of course, and also energy, land, air, water, and the products from those resources,”) how are we supposed to affect change if we don’t know what resources are going where- we need to seek transparency to know how to appropriately adjust these elements for reducing our environmental impacts..

Passing it along to Ayesha..

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AYESHA

A specific example of environmental sustainability is at the California Academy of Sciences- many different sustainable features such as a 2.5 acre living roof which is surrounded by solar panels, catches excess stormwater, provides insulation to reduce energy consumption and transforms carbon dioxide into oxygen. It is home to around 1.7 million plants.

Other museums are targeting more of the social aspects of sustainability…

Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.- Formed a Diversity Advisory Committee, created a Chief Diversity Officer, and launched an internship/fellowship program to diversify it’s pipeline
Queens Museum partnered with other local nonprofits to create the Together We Can Food Pantry
Tate Modern in London held a day of workshops and installations for World Mental Health Day in 2015 called Flight. Activities included an introduction to animation and an origami workshop.

In these examples, we see museums adopting new traditions to help serve their communities in new and different ways such as…

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Where are

museums

headed?

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Enhancing Societal Well-Being

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How might museums (especially natural history) support sustainable futures?

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Defining SUSTAINABLE FUTURES:

A future world comprised of integrated sustainable lifestyles which recognize the needs of our interconnected systems.
A world in which humans evolve their habits and lifestyles to live in reciprocity with and respect for the earth, our planet’s natural resources, and other humans who are different than ourselves.
A world in which ALL people can access the natural and human resources needed to thrive in body, mind, and spirit.

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Museums’ Common Assets

Space / Buildings

Collections

Public Trust

Exhibitions

Education Programs

Research

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Ideating Museum Audience Experiences

CONSIDER…

Your own experiences as a community member - events, programs, exhibits, or other media that have felt meaningful, relevant, and exciting to you.
Methods beyond physical exhibits such as:

Digital engagement
In-person facilitated programs/events
Pop-up exhibits in areas outside of museums
Outreach programs where museums go to audience locations
Art in public places such as on busses, bus stops, restrooms, park benches, murals