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Museum Management and Curatorship

ISSN: 0964-7775 (Print) 1872-9185 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmmc20

Museums, Climate Change and Sustainability

Richard J. Hebda

To cite this article: Richard J. Hebda (2007) Museums, Climate Change and Sustainability, Museum Management and Curatorship, 22:4, 329-336, DOI: 10.1080/09647770701757682

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09647770701757682

Published online: 13 Dec 2007.

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Commentary

Museums, Climate Change and Sustainability

RICHARD J. HEBDA

One of the most important series of reports (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change 2007) ever prepared for the global community paints a sobering picture of

the future. This most conservative account of climate change includes the following

in its ‘‘Summary for Policymakers:’’

� anthropogenic warming has affected physical and biological systems; � drought affected areas will increase in extent; � resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded; � global potential for food production may at first increase but then decrease with

warming above 38C; � health status of millions of people will be affected.

This report is nothing short of a wake-up call*that humanity’s course is unsustainable and has depleted not only the resources we use, but also impacted

the very processes that sustain us and all other life on earth. Humanity is at a

crossroad and museums have a vital role in helping people make informed decisions

about which turn to take. Traditionally, museums have been a window on the past, a place ‘‘where the past

lives,’’ as my institution the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) declares. We

trot out historic artifacts, old plant and animal specimens, and host great exhibits

on famous people, events and cultures. A key objective of our activities is the visual

or experiential feast and, like other museums, we have tried to engage with the

issues of the day, but often with mixed results. The imperative of climate change,

however, provides a key opportunity for museums to become more socially relevant,

not simply as a place to see and read about interesting things (and perhaps to

strengthen our identity), but also to engage meaningfully in the most vital challenge

of our time.

In this commentary, I explore the RBCM’s voyage into the issue of climate

change as an example of how museums can play a central role in addressing the

fundamental question of the excessive size of humanity’s footprint on the face of

the earth.

ISSN 0964-7775 Print/1872-9185 Online/07/040329�8 # 2007 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09647770701757682

Museum Management and Curatorship

Vol. 22, No. 4, 329�336, December 2007

An Opportunity for a Relevant Exhibit

For many years now, I have been concerned about the issue of climate change and its

possible impacts, both globally and particularly in British Columbia (Hebda 1994).

My research field is paleoecology*the study of ancient environments. Within the museum context, my original research helped set the stage for understanding British

Columbia’s prehistory and gaining insight into the origin and pattern of our

landscape and biological diversity. I studied past climate change and its conse-

quences, and was well connected to others interested in climate. These connections

and my research proved vital in the development of our museum’s programming,

confirming the point Reid and Naylor (2005) made about the need for original

research in museums. My work, and that of my colleagues (such as Rolf Mathewes at

Simon Fraser University) and our students provided an important contribution to

understanding climate change because we could envisage what a warmer British

Columbia might look like (see, e.g. Hebda 1995, Pellatt et al. 2001, Brown and Hebda

2002, Heinrichs et al. 2004). Only 8,000 years ago, we experienced warmer-than-

present climates, during a time when the physical form of the land and modern-day

species were already in place (Hebda 1998). The study of fossil pollen and other plant

remains from lake and bog sediment cores, now in the RBCM collection, revealed a

very different landscape than we see today. One of the key points for this now-

forested region was the much-reduced extent of forest under a climate warmer and

drier than today (Hebda 1995).

The evidence for climate change continued to build into the 21st century, at which

time most reputable scientists felt that change was under way and action was needed.

In Canada, funding became available through the Climate Change Action Fund of

the federal government. At the RBCM, we wanted to update the entrance to our

natural history gallery where climate was briefly explored. In the old exhibit, we

linked climate and weather, especially rain, to the pattern of ecosystems, but

otherwise gave it little importance. This was perhaps a reflection of society’s general

lack of recognition of climate’s central role in shaping the world and our lives. We had

also been struggling with the need to be more socially relevant, a message that came

to us from consultations with our many audiences province-wide. At that time, the

question of climate change and all that it implied, as far as human behavior goes, was

still a controversial issue. The political and public atmosphere was foggy, as people

did not know whom to believe, what information was science-based rather than

rhetoric, and where real uncertainty lay. There was a clear opportunity for us to

dispel the fog and to enlighten our audiences.

A key appeal of a climate change exhibit was an opportunity to link, indeed

integrate, the two solitudes (human and natural history) of many large museums in a

compelling manner. This challenge is central in the sustainability debate because the

progressive separation of humanity and nature is at the core of the problem facing

society today. The climate change exhibit incorporated the following themes:

(1) Climate dominates (we often forget this in our comfortable, quasi-secure urban

habitats. . . ask the people of New Orleans). (2) Changes in climate occur and have occurred; when they occur they affect the

physical and biological world and the people who depend on it.

330 R. J. Hebda

(3) The climate is changing now and changing quickly.

(4) Humans likely have a hand in the changing climate and thus have choices to

make.

Before broaching the issue of climate change, the exhibit (Figure 1) uses the

process of progressive discovery to make its points, leading the visitor to develop a

background context about what climate and weather are, and how they influence our

world. We use British Columbia fossils to show how different climates support

different life forms and ecosystems. Historical artifacts help explain what climate is

and how we measure its elements. Live-feed Internet images show weather conditions

under different climatic regimes. Artifacts from the devastating 2003 Kelowna fire

clearly demonstrate the consequences of an extreme, climate-related event. Natural

history specimens (Figure 2) expose the viewers to potential biological ‘‘losers and

winners’’ in the climate change sweepstakes.

The most difficult part to ‘‘exhibit’’ was the social dimension, especially the story

of the future because there are obviously no artifacts yet. Here we wanted to explore

ideas, concepts, possibilities and uncertainties, all of which are central to raising

questions about sustainability. Much concern was expressed over the use of too many

graphics and too many words, and how boring this might be. In response, interactive

computer terminals (Figure 2) turned static sections into dynamic ones. As part of

the exhibit, visitors can cause global warming by electronically puffing CO2 into the

atmosphere! There are static graphics too. One of these required several days working

with an artist to depict choices and consequences. People stop, read and interact, as

the exhibit prods the intellect and, perhaps, even probes the soul. Many people have

said ‘‘I must come back, there is so much to learn,’’ and by inference ‘‘I must learn

Figure 1. Entrance to the ‘‘Climate and Climate Change’’ exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Niemann, Royal British Columbia Museum.)

Museums, Climate Change and Sustainability 331

it.’’ They are engaged in the subject matter and the exhibit is relevant, although it

may not be as visually sumptuous as many blockbusters.

Socially relevant museum programs need to be more than simply a reflection or

summary of what is known at the time. They need to include fresh material, new

discoveries, and new ways of seeing things. By being original, the exhibit itself

becomes newsworthy and attracts attention to the subject. The most powerful and

influential elements of the RBCM exhibit are its maps of future conditions. Part of

the budget was dedicated to supporting new collaborative research, including the

University of Victoria and several provincial and federal government agencies. Using

newly available data, we developed a series of maps of future temperatures,

precipitation and the distribution of selected species and economic elements,

including heating and cooling costs and the potential for crops. The data were

displayed for three times in the future*2020, 2050, and 2080*and for three levels of climate change*small, medium, and large. Simply watching the colors change on the map of the region clearly communicates that the future will be different. The degree

and immediacy of the change caused many visitors, including those who saw

the maps in my public presentations, to imagine the possibility of the near-desert

climate of the southern part of the province extending as far north as the Arctic circle

by the end of the century, as well as the sharp decline in the iconic western red cedar

in lowlands of southern British Columbia. Will there be the commercial production

of pecans, rice and olives in the lower mainland of British Columbia by 2080? More than a million people, including political leaders, corporate executives,

government bureaucrats, scientists, representatives of community groups and many

Figure 2. Exit area to the ‘‘Climate and Climate Change’’ exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum, showing specimens of species that may decline with climate change (center) and two interactive terminals with maps of climate change impacts (left of center). (Photo courtesy of Andrew Niemann, Royal British Columbia Museum.)

332 R. J. Hebda

others, including members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have

viewed the exhibit and maps. I have heard a corporate executive express surprise and

concern during a tour and declare that we must change. Based on anecdotal

feedback, the response of tour participants, and numerous requests for display

material and information, our exhibit has been effective in changing people’s minds

and sowing seeds of unease about the future and our role in shaping that future.

Much interest has been expressed in the maps of potential crops in the future

under warmer climate. Aside from the idea that growing citrus commercially in

British Columbia is fascinating, the maps represent what many view as a rare

example of a positive outcome of climate change. This new information has been

widely circulated in major newspapers and explored on radio and television. Perhaps

this wide interest has arisen because it touches most directly on sustainability. Will

there be enough food? Are we sustaining the land?

Sustaining biodiversity and ecosystems is, to many people, an abstract concept.

Perhaps one needs a certain ‘‘environmental’’ faith or, at least, ecological training to

understand why it matters. In contrast, the value of sustaining agriculture requires

little explanation. The idea that our agricultural potential might change to something

like that of the Central Valley of California has caught the attention of many. People

have begun to discuss more widely the need to maintain the limited agricultural land

in the province because of its even more promising potential in the future. Others

contemplate, with optimism, the possibility of vineyards in the sub-boreal realms of

central British Columbia, but then confess that the degree of change required for this

transformation is worrying indeed. The changes forecasted raise questions about the

agricultural viability of the world’s warm regions that now supply ‘‘long distance’’

food (an issue highlighted by the IPCC 2007), and stimulate discussion concerning

the importance of local agricultural production as part of the ‘‘Hundred Mile diet’’

concept (Smith and MacKinnon 2007).

Although the exhibit and our approach do not exhort the visitor to take any

particular action, they do prompt questions and thoughts on the issue of

sustainability because the consequences of not being sustainable are examined. In

my public presentations on the topic, I do address concepts and actions related to

sustainability, using the maps of change as a point of entry, and the public wants to

know what they should do. How can they live more sustainably?

My advice is to practice good carbon stewardship by evaluating the impacts of our

activities, not only in terms of carbon (CO2) emissions, but also their consequences to

living carbon and the organic matter (dead carbon) upon which it depends (Table 1).

The challenge of the future is not only to reduce emissions, but also to sustain the

Table 1. The elements of carbon stewardship, their characteristics and values

Carbon stewardship: Balanced values for the future Living carbon: organisms and ecosystems; sustains humans and ecological processes; provides

resilience and raw material for future ecosystems and use; removes CO2 Dead carbon: organic matter in soils, wastes; sustains living carbon, stored carbon, bio-energy

source Ancient carbon: fossil fuels; ready and reliable energy source; predominant cause of climate

change

Museums, Climate Change and Sustainability 333

living systems that provide us with food, jobs and spiritual uplift, and the capability

to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The concept of carbon stewardship is central in the sustainability debate and

provides much scope for museum programs. Today’s climate change discussion is

highly focused on reducing emissions, but there is more to the issue than simply using

alternate or less energy. Much effort is directed at new technologies that exploit living

carbon (biofuels) and non-carbon sources of energy. Yet, growing crops for energy

rather than food, and converting forests to fuel may, upon comprehensive analysis,

turn out to be a poor carbon stewardship strategy. Biofuels replace ancient carbon,

but jeopardize living carbon systems (monoculture versus ecological diversity) and

may deplete soil (dead) carbon. The implication is that somehow we can continue to

demand even more resources for human purposes, as we have done in the past. The

danger of this approach, quantity versus quality, as an economic driver is well

explored in the book by Bill McKibben (2007) Deep Economy. Carbon stewardship

includes a consideration of all forms of carbon in the context of the carbon cycle,

with the most important to us being the living carbon*the plants, animals and their ecosystems.

Regardless of what progress we make in removing carbon (oil, gas, coal), climate

change will nevertheless impact global living carbon (as noted by the Intergovern-

mental Panel on Climate Change 2007), and we must start preparing for such

impacts. These impacts will include changes in agricultural productivity, shifting and

different ecosystems, extinction and the loss of natural resource jobs. A key adaptive

strategy is to increase people’s knowledge about living systems, the processes that

sustain them, and how these are linked to climate. Here again there is an opportunity

for museums to explain the natural phenomena central to the sustainability of living

systems, such as nutrient cycling, primary productivity and hydrology. These

processes have complex ideas at their core and their interconnections are even

more confounding. Yet, people need to know how ecosystems, rainforests or farms,

work and their limitations and sensitivities.

Where To From Here?

First, practice sustainability as an institution. For example, the RBCM long ago

ceased using endangered tropical woods in our buildings and exhibits. Very recently,

we have joined with our major regional power utility to reduce electrical power

consumption and educate the public about how we are doing it. RBCM staff are also

well-known users of alternate transport to get to work.

Second, develop innovative public programs around the theme of sustainability.

Museum collections, for example, hold the key to understanding trends and change.

By using collections to map shifts in the distribution of native plant and animal

species, we can see the losses that document our lack of sustainability. By mapping

the spread of invasive species using museum collections, we can also see our role in

the transformation of the land to a frequently unsustainable condition. By looking at

changes in technology, as illustrated by cultural objects, we can see how our capacity

to transform the landscape and our own culture has increased, and we can ask

ourselves the question: can this continue? For example, an exhibit on paving

materials that let water through rather than shedding it, might be an excellent way to

334 R. J. Hebda

explore the principles of hydrology, including the importance of water and our

negative impacts on it. Pervious surfaces, such as cobblestones, let water through into

the ground, leading to natural flow pathways that sustain streams. Impervious

surfaces cause sudden floods, concentrate pollutants, degrade streams and harm fish

populations. We can also explore the cultural stories of peoples who have tried and

largely succeeded in sustainable living, including our grandparents, our great grandparents and the First Nations who lived in greater harmony with the land.

In our climate change exhibit, we used the example of the northward spread of a

warm water species, Humboldt squid, to make a point about climate change impacts.

People are naturally curious about big squid (recall the Victorian role of museums),

and the appearance of this strange creature off our shores also teaches us about

change, leads to asking what is going on, and stimulates discussion about

sustainability.

Third, collaborate widely. Sustainability as a theme falls largely outside the traditional expertise and activities of most museums. Many other agencies and

organizations, however, have staff and expertise, albeit of a technical sort. The ability

to provide sufficient clean water is thought by many to be the next great

sustainability challenge. Imagine a museum partnering with a regional water utility

to explore the characteristics of climate and water supply, and examine future

demand. Add the need for sustaining the productivity and biodiversity of aquatic

systems and you have a highly integrated program which bridges human and a

natural history, as well as the physical and social sciences, and is, in addition, highly relevant.

Above all, we must strive to bring together the skills and knowledge of scholars in

the human and natural sciences with the talents of museum interpreters, designers

and crafts people. The challenge is to direct people’s thoughts toward a consideration

of our unsustainable ways of life and an exploration of the options. The imperative of

sustainability impels us to contemplate the idea of the ‘‘deep museum,’’ where we not

only reflect on the condition of the world around us, but also illuminate the issues

that are fundamental to our future.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Lorne Hammond, History Curator at the Royal British Columbia Museum, for

helpful comments on a draft of this commentary.

References

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*** 1998. Atmospheric change, forests and biodiversity. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 49: 195�212.

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