"Sustainable" is nearly mainstream: common language, common metaphor, and almost common consumer behavior.
That means that the museums you're now living in must be operated in a sustainable manner: take steps to enhance your energy efficiency; control water runoff and reduce clean water use; reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible; and help your visitors and community do the same.
And it means that if you are building, renovating, or dreaming about either one, think sustainable. Without it you will be faced with retrofits and adaptations far sooner than you like. Fundraising for retrofits is worse than fundraising for operating support; it's like fundraising for debt: not what you want to be doing with your time.
What You Should Know
Davis Langdon 2007 - 2007 The Cost of Green Revisited It doesn’t cost more to go green. This is an excellent report comparing the average costs of building green and traditional buildings—it’s the same!
Who's Doing What
The Phipps Conservatory and Arboretum This is a most marvelous project: visitors center, innovative conservatory that doesn’t need HVAC, and plans for a Living Machine® (that means it treats biological wastewater onsite). Click here for more on the Living Machine.
AAM and APGA are both creating green special interest committees — be sure to join. Meanwhile California Association of Museums, the Virginia Association of Museums, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, and the Mountain Plains Museum Association are greening their conferences. MPMA has been doing that for three years already!
The National
Building Museum in Washington, DC, experienced a 46% increase in visitation for The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Design and Architecture in May of 2006 - June 2007. They’ll be continuing their "green" exhibition series with "Green Communities" coming in 2009.
The
Green House: Get into Green at the National Building Museum
Sarah Brophy and Elizabeth Wylie are writing a book
The Green Museum: A Primer on Environmental Practice is due out in the summer of 2008 from AltaMira Press.
Elizabeth Wylie, HKT Architects, is co-author with Sarah of Being Green: Museums in the Green Movement (Museum News Sep/Oct 2006) and The Greener Good – Enviro-Action (Museum Jan/Feb 2008). . Elizabeth is an art historian and former museum professional with 20 years in the field as curator and director before starting a second career as Director of Business Development for HKT Architects, a 30-year old Boston-area planning and design firm with a focus on sustainable design for healthy places to learn, work and live.
What You Need to Know
Advice on Becoming Green
Board & Staff:
Welcoming the Green Revolution in Your Museum
Many members of your board and staff may not yet be green, so just how do they
'become' green? – Philanthropy News Digest
Massachusetts Technology Collaborative: Green Buildings Overview
An excellent introduction to green building.
Environmental Grantmakers Association: Resources
A resource page with excellent articles on sustainability and environmental funding.
Why Build Green?
Advancing
Your Mission With a Green Message
How museums are modeling responsible environmental practices to benefit
the bottom line and beyond.
Massachusetts
Technology Collaborative: Green Buildings Overview
An
introduction
Environmental
Grantmakers Association: Resources
A resource page with excellent
articles on sustainability and environmental funding.
Funding Your Green Building
"Green" Money:
The Funding Landscape for Museums Thinking About Going Green
Funding
green museums – Philanthropy News Digest.
The Kresge Foundation
A
possible grant source for funding the planning of the green portion of
your building project. AAM Presentation 2007
Clean
Energy States Alliance
Links
to the 17 state funds that support clean energy implementation: some
grants, some rebates.
Green Museum Websites — (Just a few)
Naples
Botanical Garden and Adkins
Arboretum
Two
public gardens going green in buildings and operations.
Olympic
Sculpture Park Guide
The Seattle
Times' great interactive map and description of the
brand-new Seattle Art Museum's green Olympic Sculpture
Park.
California
Academy of Sciences
A
fabulous time-lapse video of building the future museum.
Echo Lake Aquarium and
Science Center
One
of the earliest to choose green practice and green building.
Information to Use Right Away
Association
of Zoos & Aquariums/Resource Center: Green Practices
How to Start a Green Team, Green Practices, and Standards for Environmental
Management
Restauranteur
Quiz
The Green Restaurant Association's
quiz for how green is your restaurant?
The
Shopping List of Green Ideas
The Green Engineer's
useful tips page – for your home and your museum.
What Do You Know?
If you have a museum project to tell me about, or a question to ask,
this is where to do it:
sarah@bmuse.net
Sustainable Museums
Copyright © 2008 bMuse, Sarah S. Brophy