Resources for Environmental Advocacy, Outreach and Sustainability
A selection of useful resources for exploring the role of the archive sector in responding to the climate and ecological emergency, both in terms of mitigation and resilience. Very few are archive specific, as yet, but the list includes resources which can most readily be applied to the sector.
Advocacy and Outreach:
https://www.climateheritage.org/
Includes a current action plan (2022-2024): Empowering People to Imagine and Realise Climate Resilient Futures Through Culture – from Arts to Heritage (includes outreach specific goal).
Communicating Climate Action Advocacy Guide (squarespace.com)
A Guide for Climate Heritage Advocates (Climate Heritage Network)
Culture Declares Emergency – Culture declares a climate and ecological emergency
Useful overview of eight pathways to action, including using engagement to convey and explore truths and encouraging resilient communities, as well as decarbonising:
Pathways to Action – Culture Declares Emergency
Heritage Declares (UK)
Distinct from other sustainability initiatives within the sector in that it is a non-technical, grassroots movement that aims to push the environmental crisis to the top of the heritage agenda.
Climate Outreach (UK)
Includes useful resources for advocacy e.g.
Towards a UK public engagement strategy on climate change - Climate Outreach
and practical guidance on conversations e.g.
How to talk about climate justice and help create a more equal world - Climate Outreach
Talking climate handbook - how to have a climate change conversation - Climate Outreach
Identifying skills for sustainability (LinkedIn)
Blog post identifying the key transferable skills of people working in archives, conservation and museums.
Our Collections Matter | ICCROM
Supports collections-based organizations that want to turn their sustainability aspirations and commitments into action. Provides a toolkit for archives, libraries and museums to work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
action-for-climate-empowerment_2022.pdf (curatingtomorrow.co.uk)
Guide for Galleries, Archives, Libraries and Museums on how to support climate empowerment.
Communicating sustainability to audiences - a new model? (Indigo-ltd.com)
Reports on a survey of audiences about communicating the climate emergency, and the role they think cultural organisations should play.
Julie's Bicycle - Culture & Climate Non-Profit (juliesbicycle.com)
Advice and tools to support arts and culture to take action on the climate, nature and justice crisis.
Museums For Climate Justice - Campaigns - Museums Association
Advice and support for museums, galleries and heritage sites in tackling the climate emergency.
Branding_Biodiversity.pdf (futerra-assets.s3.amazonaws.com)
Useul guide on how to most effectively advocate for biodiversity.
Sustainability (lfcp.co.uk)
Resources and blog posts to help create change through our cultural heritage.
Localizing the SDGs 2023 (curatingtomorrow.co.uk)
Useful guide to how Museums and Libraries can work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) locally.
And for inspiration:
Our Green Stories - The MERL (reading.ac.uk)
Online exhibition using individual museum objects or photographs to stimulate conversation.
DearWolverhampton | DearTomorrow
Inspiring people to reflect on their climate legacy through the act of writing personal letters to the future.
Putting an Eco Lens on Collections with Climate Museum UK | by Justine Boussard | Stories of Extraction | Medium
Article exploring how to look at collection items from an Earth Crisis perspective and have the courage to really question what our jobs should be as curators and collections managers today.
The Green Pledge Project | Gloucestershire Archives
Archives specific and they’re working on it, so watch this space...
Environmental Sustainability:
Arts Green Book Arts Green Book Sustainable Buildings resource (2022) provides guidance for making cultural buildings sustainable.
NLHF Environmental sustainability guidance includes tools to help assess use and impact of energy, resources and materials, transport, waste and water.
Digital Services and carbon emissions in the heritage sector: some preliminary findings - Archives sector (TNA, Aug 2023)
Quantified Carbon Footprint of Long-Term Digital Preservation in the Cloud - Digital Preservation Coalition (dpconline.org) Blog on digital preservation and environmental impact.
A Strong Sustainability Framework for Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage: Introducing the Eco-Sufficiency Perspective recent research outputs based on individual organisation’s experience - not scalable at present for use by other services to apply to their specific situations.