Tyler Krantz is documenting his work with the Sydney Jewish Museum for History Beyond the Classroom 2019. Read the other posts in his series here.
This week, I have broken my sustainability plan down into three parts: environment, economy, and society. This approach will give the museum the best holistic overview of a sustainability plan. For each of these three sections I give goals for each, both short-term and long as well. I propose immediate changes for each, and I outline the best course of steps to take to achieve many of these goals that could take 3-5 years.
For the environment, which focuses on how the museum interacts with the surrounding area, I address how they can more efficiently use the energy and resources around them. This covers everything from water usage, to utilities, equipment, and more. I am working to make this plan as easy to follow and achieve as possible, with creating the biggest impact as well. Beyond products, I give tips and guidelines to ensure that they stay on track. Long-term, I propose calculating their annual carbon footprint to better see where their issues are, along with arranging for a sustainability audit as well. Immediate action focuses on finding alternative products that are more environmentally friendly. This is easy, but to ensure that it doesn’t create a burden for them monetarily and logistically for them to switch, is a whole different battle. This is why looking into the economics of it is my next pillar, much of what I talked about last week.
Finally, “society” looks at relationships within the institution and how they run. This to me is the culture of the place, which is their biggest issue. I propose creating a “Green Team,” reaching out to other museums that are leading in this field, and educating their workers and visitors on what they are trying to accomplish. This is the toughest area, but certainly the most important.