Image: Nature Spotting – An Exhibition by Russell Weekes at Queens Park Arts Centre during Open Weekend
At Buckinghamshire Culture, we are keenly aware of the fact the climate crisis and the impact human activities have on the environment are among the most pressing topics of our time. Cultural activities, as part of everyday life, contribute to this impact, as well as having the potential of being part of the solution.
A first step to getting a better idea of how the cultural sector can address the climate change agenda, was for a team member of Buckinghamshire Culture to attend the online Carbon Literacy Training that South East Museum Development ran in summer 2022.
Museum Development England, in partnership with Manchester Museum and The Carbon Literacy Project, has developed a digital Carbon Literacy Toolkit that will be free to access by all museums across England.
The Toolkit and Course are part of the Roots and Branches project, which is supported with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The 3-part online Carbon Literacy Course gave a strategic understanding of what climate change is, the scale of its effects, and how museums fit into the global, national and local picture to address climate change.
Organisations that took part had the chance to become Carbon Literate by making an individual pledge and an organisational pledge of what they could do to make a significant difference to their carbon impact.
We are proud to say that we have now been certified as Carbon Literate.
Buckinghamshire Culture pledged that, in line with our role as Cultural Partnership for the county, we would act as a multiplier and advocate, facilitating knowledge exchange.
Our board of Trustees endorse the notion that sustainability and raising awareness around the topic should be at the core of our work and running through all of our activities. We firmly believe that the cultural sector can play a huge role in both communicating the challenges, but also raising awareness of how we might improve sustainability and behaviours.
Exploring the questions around climate change in creative ways through activities or projects can make a massive difference. For example, activities that raise the enjoyment of natural spaces, re-interpretation of collection items, programming of exhibitions or practical actions like making buildings and venues more sustainable and energy efficient, are just some of the varied ways this can happen.
All our partners are able to act as advocates and beacons for change in this field – most of them are already taking on this role in many brilliant ways.
Nature and Sustainability themed activities during Open Weekend 2023: Nature Spotting Exhibition Russell Weekes at QPAC, Upcycle! Eat, Create, Reuse!, Forest Soundscape and Tanglewood Tales at Wycombe Swan.
Sustainability Resources
If you are looking for resources and information to inform you and inspire work around climate change, please see below. Here we have shared some of the knowledge the partners in the Carbon Literacy Project have compiled. The list is by no means exhaustive but is hopefully useful for the cultural sector as well as in a personal context.
Carbon Literacy® Project
Carbon Literacy® definition: “An awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis.”
South East Museum Development Programme’s Green Resources Hub https://southeastmuseums.org/support/resources/green-resources-hub/
Julie’s Bicycle Creative Green Tools cultural sector carbon calculator https://juliesbicycle.com/faqs/what-are-the-ig-tools/
BBC Documentary – Climate Change – The Facts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00049b1
Carbon Map
https://www.carbonmap.org/
Wild Escapes
Collaboration between the UK’s museums. Supported by Arts Council England, the project aims to inspire hundreds of thousands of children to visit museums and respond creatively to the threat to the UK’s natural environment.
https://thewildescape.org.uk/
Curating Tomorrow – Museums and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
https://curatingtomorrow236646048.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/museums-and-the-sustainable-development-goals-2019.pdf
Climate Museum UK is an experimental museum that curates and gathers responses to the Earth crisis. https://climatemuseumuk.org/
Culture Declares Emergency (CDE), a international movement of individuals and organisations in arts and culture who have declared a climate and ecological emergency. https://www.culturedeclares.org/
GOV.UK – Climate change explained
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/climate-change-explained
Buckinghamshire Council info and resources around Sustainability
https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/environment/climate-change-and-sustainability/
Ecological (digital) footprint calculator (Earth Overshoot)
https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/enwww.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
How Bad Are Bananas? By Mike Berners-Lee (a really useful resource on full cycle carbon footprints of all sorts of things from food items to email)
https://howbadarebananas.com/
How is your website effecting the planet?
https://www.websitecarbon.com
Ethical Consumer: a great go-to resources for trying to make decisions on items from washing powder to pensions
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
National Energy Foundation: Advice on reducing home energy use
www.nef.org.uk
Energy Saving Trust: Advice on reducing home energy use
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
Tate and Climate Change
https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/tate-and-climate-change
‘UK Museum COP’ – November 2023
https://advisor.museumsandheritage.com/news/museum-leaders-meet-for-first-uk-museum-cop-with-joint-climate-change-commitments/
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