Reducing Environmental Impacts of Collections Care and Management

People who protect and care for collections are often concerned about the negative impacts of their work on the environment and climate. Fortunately there are resources and practices that augment what you likely already do to limit waste and save money. And there is social science research to guide us in understanding how to adapt behaviors while remaining positive. We’ll explore a variety of approaches that you can take as an individual to ‘green’ your work, AND we’ll consider steps to take to encourage your institution and your peers to join you in making these shifts. You will learn to know when a green practice is good to try now or better to try later. You’ll leave having created a personalized list of options, tools, and tricks to help you start incorporating approaches on your own.

Presenter

Sarah Sutton is CEO of Environment and Culture Partners (ECP), a non-profit accelerating cultural institutions’ leadership in climate action. Sutton is a Steering Committee member and Climate Change co-chair for Held In Trust, a special program of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and AIC that is shaping the future of the preventive conservation profession. Sutton is also a co-Principal Investigator on FAIC’s NEH-funded project STiCH which is creating a carbon calculator and a series of case studies using life cycle assessment to support cultural heritage practitioners. Sutton is co-author of two editions of The Green Museum and author of Environmental Sustainability at Historic Sites & Museums.