On the lead up to and during COP26, a social media campaign is running for all museums to join in with, showcasing how the museum sector is responding to the climate crisis. The #MuseumCarbonStories campaign has a schedule of weekly themes linked to environmental sustainability that participating museums can respond to over several weeks.



There's two weeks left of this campaign, so plenty of time to get involved and it's been great to see many of you joining so far.

Nov 1st - 7th - theme is 'What will we do first'
Nov 8th - 15th - theme 'What will we do next'

Campaign Hashtag and COP26: #MuseumCarbonStories   #COP26
#RootsAndBranches #CarbonLit #CultureTakesAction
 

This MDEM Special event will explore ways in which museums can become more environmentally sustainable.  The event will include case studies from our Greener Museums programme, the launch of the new Carbon Literacy Museums Toolkit and an introduction to the Roots and Branches Project and how you can get involved. 

Greener Museums: Taking Action Against Climate Change
11th January 10am - 1pm Zoom
 

MDEM and partners are part of the Roots Branches project, a collaboration between The Carbon Literacy Project, Museum Development England and Manchester Museum, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. It aims to train and certify 1,500 people from 300 museums as Carbon Literate over the next two years and give an opportunity for museums to converse, experiment, and test new ideas for a more sustainable future.
 

MDEM will be running our first Carbon Literacy training course in February 2022 and greener museums will also be one the themes of our Regional Collections Symposium in March 2022. 

If you are interested in becoming certified through our Carbon Literacy Training, or would just like to know more about how your museum can take action against climate change then please do sign up to this free special event.
 

Who should attend?

This event is for anyone interested in learning more about greener practices in museums, or who would like to share their own experience in this area. It is for museums staff and volunteers from the East Midlands.
 

We recommend anyone considering signing up to our Carbon Literacy training to come along.

Emergency preparedness and risk management can be challenging topics for museums to effectively manage on an ongoing basis. MDEM offers a range of support in these areas to ensure staff; buildings and collections are safeguarded as much as possible, no matter the scale of your organisation.
 

The Emergency and Risk Network (ERN) is for staff and volunteers who have interest in this area to access support, share experiences and develop resources.
 

Over the coming 12 months the network will be specifically focusing on issues relating to climate change. At a recent meeting of the ERN it was clear freak hot weather, and flash flooding were having increasing impacts on museums and their collections. Topics such as these will be covered at upcoming meetings, as well as a focus on low carbon solutions for this area.

You can view the presentation from ERNs recent meeting on Extreme Environments here.

Monday 8 November, 10:00-12:30
& Wednesday 10 November, 10:00-12:30 (online)
 

Join us for an opportunity to be part of the sustainability conversation and reflect on climate change as COP26, the world's most important climate change conference, takes place this November in Glasgow.
 

While this event is aimed at archives and conservation professionals, anyone with an interest in supporting environmental sustainability can join us to learn from specialists and gain new perspectives and advice. Come hear about the past, present and future of environmental sustainability in the archives sector, share your ideas for change and take away tools to create positive changes in your organisation.

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Becoming a greener museum walks hand in hand with delivery of a museum’s core objectives and increasing resilience. This Greener Museum programme of support ran between 2016-18,  and supported three museums to have a more sustainable future. See below for case studies from the three museums involved for inspiration:
 

National Justice Museum Case Study
Castle Donington Case Study
Creswell Crags Case Study

Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the historic environment and the heritage sector is united in our response to this extraordinary challenge.
 

We can make a difference – the heritage sector is committed to finding ways of not only protecting and adapting the places people value, but utilising heritage as a means to support society in meeting the challenges of climate change. 
 

The Historic Environment Forum (HEF) hopes that this selection begins to demonstrate the breadth of current activity and inspires further positive action across the sector. The case studies show how the heritage sector is acting to address climate change – and how heritage can become part of the solution to climate change.

Find out more in the HEF's Heritage Responds Report.

The Museums Association is campaigning for museums to be more environmentally sustainable and address the climate crisis. We know that the climate crisis is having a devastating impact on our planet and we believe that we can play a critical role in raising awareness, changing behaviour and championing change with our communities.
 

We are in a unique position to use our collections to demonstrate the facts of global heating and environmental destruction and to work with audiences to raise awareness and bring about change. We know that many museums are already doing this work, but we also know that there is much more to do. We are asking all museums to do three things:

• Get your museum in order: make sure that your organisation’s footprint is as low as it can go, and commit to targets for reducing energy consumption, waste, travel and carbon use. There are lots of tools to help you do this, this is just one: https://juliesbicycle.com/reporting
• Raise awareness: use your collections, programmes, exhibitions and learning and engagement work to discuss the climate crisis and encourage audiences to think about what they can do to make a difference. 
• Champion change: work with community and environmental organisations to implement greener polices in your local area.  

We are asking funders to include environmental sustainability in their strategies for museums and to make it a requirement of funding that environmental targets are set, monitored and met.
 

And we are asking agencies and strategic bodies to take the lead by working with the sector to bring about change at a policy and practice level.
 

At the MA we have declared a climate emergency and implemented a policy that means we will stop printing reports and publications, offer only vegetarian food at our events, significantly reduce our air travel, and switch to green suppliers as well as lots of other measures.
 

We are also working with other organisations to campaign for change in environmental standards in museums and for investment in our buildings and infrastructure to lower energy consumption.
 

There’s lots to do but this is an emergency; together we can make a difference.