Environmental Specifications and Sustainability

Statement of Purpose

These links and documents contain information about best practices for environmental specification for collections spaces and sustainability relevant to natural history collections. It is imperative that within a changing climate, that natural history collections also do their part to set sustainable development goals.

Introduction

• Within the museum collections space, the collections security and preservation are often the main focus of staff and available resources. However, in an ever changing climate it has become apparent that a focus also on the energy expenditure, and material usage by museums warrants a critical look. When appropriate, purchasing and storage decisions should also take into account the energy or waste generation that is accrued. The product, materials or supplies could be better or use less energy, whether they could be reusable instead of disposable, or if they can be made with recycled materials.

Sustainability within the museum setting

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (United Nations 2015) could serve as such a framework for actions within the museum landscape and there are various suggestions as to how museums can contribute to achieving them (c.f. McGhie 2019; Petti et al. 2020)