Earth Day launch of our Environmental Sustainability Record Keeping Group
In this guest blog Georgina Robinson instigator and Chair of our new Environmental Sustainability Record Keeping Group introduces the group and looks to its future:
My name is Georgina Robinson, school archivist and new professional. Following the exciting news that the Archives and Records Association (ARA) has formed an Environmental Sustainability Record Keeping Group, I am very pleased to introduce myself as its Chair and detail our hopes for the future of this group.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that if greenhouse gas emissions stay on the current trajectory, global warming is likely to reach 4°C by the end of the century, if not more. Areas around the world are already experiencing the impact of a changing climate and we are increasingly hearing about what we can do to help tackle this issue.
Many of us are taking personal climate action, but what about professional? As an Archives and Records Management student in 2019 I joined the ARA and read the following duty in the Code of Ethics, ‘Insofar as it is within their power to do so, members [of the ARA] should minimise the adverse effects of their work on the environment’. I was immediately intrigued and wanted to know what climate action was being done in archives.
I decided that my dissertation would explore this topic, it was later adapted for publication in the Record Keeping Journal (Dec 2021).My study found that most information professionals surveyed agreed that we have a professional duty to the environment. In many cases this sense of duty had not translated into sector-specific climate action, focusing instead on green personal habits, such as switching off lights. I argued that this was not sufficient to effect real change and to rectify the negative environmental impact that archives have.
At the time, environmental sustainability was little discussed or practised in the sector. So, during the Global Climate Strikes, I headed to Westminster with my homemade sign with the message ‘protect our past, protect our future #Archivists4ClimateAction’ to start my contribution to the discourse.
#Archivists4ClimateAction - Poster from the Global Climate Strikes 2019
I am very pleased to say that since this time, discussions have been mounting. With the ARA 2021 conference, special issues of archive journals, the ARA Together Online Community calls and now the formation of this group, the green archive movement is well underway.
However, an enormous amount of work must still be done if we are to continue building these discussions and effect sector-specific climate action. I had concluded in my dissertation that the sector needed support by professional bodies, such as the ARA. I am delighted therefore to have helped set up the newest ARA group on climate change and sustainability.
This group will provide practical advice for the record-keeping sector. It will conduct research, host events, and launch campaigns to inspire and promote environmentally sustainable practice. I believe that, with increased discussion on this topic, we can start to address the issue and make sector-wide change.
If you are interested to learn more about this group or being involved, please contact us at climatechangeandsustainability@archives.org.uk you can also follow us on Twitter @ARAEnvironment
Georgina Robinson
Chair, Climate Change and Sustainability Group