News

Sustainability Now! December 2024

By Yadin Larochette posted 12-21-2024 10:10

  

Sustainability Now! Logo

December 2024 



Dear Colleagues,


We are beyond thrilled to announce that the AIC Board has recently endorsed the most recent version Bizot Green Protocol:


The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) recognizes that the climate crisis is an increasing threat to cultural heritage and the world. Evidence has irrefutably shown that carbon emissions play a significant role in exacerbating the crisis. With this urgency in mind, AIC recognizes the value of The Bizot Green Protocol and supports collective adoption and implementation efforts to improve sustainability and reduce the environmental impact of cultural heritage preservation and conservation. The protocol and associated guidelines offer science-based principles, call for proactive and strategic engagement, and lay the groundwork for holistic change.

November 19, 2024

The newest iteration is a call to consider the most sustainable option first in all aspects of our work and conservation practice. Some of these efforts include the need to:

  • Reconsider requiring blanket narrow environmental set points for all objects in collections

  • Look at increasing the use of microclimates for sensitive collections

  • Reassess how we weigh risks, moving towards incorporating a better understanding of materials and their sensitivity to environmental parameters

  • Question the need to lie or not be fully transparent in facilities reports

We are also asking the entire AIC community to collaborate across departments and rethink:

  •  The need for shorter exhibition schedules

  •  The need to borrow as many items

  •  The need to lend as many items

  •  One off exhibit design materials and bespoke applications

Valid concerns around the risks involved when expanding environmental parameters have been voiced since the topic first arose in the early 1990s. A significant amount of research has been done on the subject since then. Results indicate that many artifacts can tolerate larger fluctuations than previously thought, but this is not to say that climate control should be thrown out the window:


That most museum objects can tolerate, without mechanical damage, larger fluctuations than previously thought is not an excuse to abandon climate control. To the contrary, there always will be some materials and objects that require conditions different from or more tightly controlled than the main collection. Standard approaches like the use of microclimates and buffered cases are appropriate for such exceptions. If anything, the relaxation of the allowable RH fluctuations for the general environment requires more thought and a better knowledge of the materials, history, and requirements of the collection. Erhardt, D. et al 1995


The lack of transparency in facilities reports during loan negotiations appear to be one of the  largest hurdles in relaxing environmental parameters. This not only reflects on our ethical standards, but also has “hard and fast” pragmatic consequences. We encourage you to read Jonathon Ashley Smith’s call for transparency from back in 1994.  And as Stefan Michalski pointed out in 2007


“The value of proofed fluctuation makes it clear that denial of any past poor climate control in a museum is extremely counterproductive during risk assessment, since the more optimistic (small) are the stated fluctuations of the past, the higher the estimate of future risk.” 


The Bizot Green Protocol is also a call to shift our lens. This is a call to zoom out and incorporate the direct impact our decisions have on energy consumption and carbon emissions, and in turn on climate change. As Dr. Joelle Wickens astutely points out in her recent JAIC article “Preventive Conservation: Continuously Defining Itself at the Crossroads of Theory and Practice” :


 “....we discover together that we find “best practice” solutions at the intersection of environmental, social, and economic concerns. If our goal is to make an object last as long as possible then we must consider the preservation of the earth. If we focus on taking care of an object in a way that shortens the life of the earth, then it doesn’t seem like we are making the object last as long as possible.” 


So we look to our colleagues and across disciplines for guidance on how to navigate our new climate crisis-induced realities. We reassess our current paradigms, and reevaluate if there is not a better way. This is where guidelines such as the recently refreshed Bizot Green Protocol come into play. (For a review of the protocol and associated handbooks, check out our March 2024 issue of Sustainability Now). Granted, the protocol is not a perfect document, which the authors readily acknowledge. Viewed as a work in progress, the protocol and associated handbooks are re-visited every 5 years and are adjusted according to current realities. 


As the AIC Sustainability Committee looks back on 2024, we are filled with gratitude for all the work being done among cultural institutions to curb their energy consumption and carbon emissions. There were several conferences on the subject this last month alone. Recordings of the two-day meeting hosted by Ki Futures are available here, and we will be posting when recordings from Icon’s conference are accessible. Several institutions shared how they are widening environmental set points and incorporating HVAC shutdowns and other energy saving measures while maintaining preservation environments that do not jeopardize the health of their collections. 


We are also filled with a mixture of sorrow and trepidation for the long slog ahead, as there is much more to be accomplished in this area. Looking at comments made among AIC membership in forums throughout the year, we know we are not alone. Challenges associated with preserving cultural heritage are just getting bigger, and these growing difficulties have a direct impact on our own health and state of mind. The point that we seem to be returning to again and again is that everything is interconnected: our decisions and actions as conservation practitioners have a direct impact not only on the artifacts we care for, but also on our social and natural environments.


As to other recent Sustainability Committee activities…


We recently had a great conversation with preservation staff at the New York Public Library about the work they have been doing to reduce their energy consumption across their vast and varied buildings. Solid communication and active listening is at the core of their success. We learned a lot during that conversation and left truly inspired! We have no doubt you will too. Check out all our Change Makers episodes here.


The Green Tea Podcast continues to have some great interviews, including two recent, riveting, and very different conversations. One with Eira Tansey on her free e-publication “A Green New Deal for Archives”. The other is with Professor John Schofield on micro and nano plastic pollution and the challenges that cultural heritage professionals face while embarking on new paths of research concerning toxicology. Check out the many other episodes and subscribe here. Thank you to our 200 followers!


We are also working on organizing our vast Sustainability in Cultural Heritage Preservation & Conservation Resource Bank, which in turn is helping guide our preparations for new and improved sustainability guidelines.


Last but by no means least, we want to make sure you are aware of the NEH’s Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections funding opportunity. Grants for planning and implementing sustainable collections care practices are available in three categories. The deadline for submissions is coming up on January 10, 2025. 


Oh! And in case you missed it, you now have the option of opting out of receiving a hard copy of JAIC and getting the articles digitally instead. This will save AIC money on printing costs and reduce emissions. Go to your account, review/update my membership info, and choose your Publication Delivery Preference. 


We wish you and yours a most restful and rejuvenating holiday,


Yadin Larochette, Co-Chair

On Behalf of the AIC Sustainability Committee

Permalink