As a museum where visitors can see nature and human culture together, the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London is in a great position to make a noise about climate emergency – it is, after all, human action that is accelerating the rate of climate change.
Add to that the fact that our audience includes a high proportion of families with young children and it seems like a no-brainer that we should be speaking to them about the environment, biodiversity and what each of us can do to protect the future of our world, in the face of what can seem an overwhelmingly negative situation.
But organisations can feel just as overwhelmed. So where to begin?
For the Horniman, one of our starting points was working to get our own house in order. In the past 15 months we’ve made changes that reduce our own and our visitors’ environmental footprint.
Swapping to canned water and plant-based food packaging in our cafe has not only driven behaviour change by removing the option of those single-use plastics, but also communicates clearly our commitment to greening the way we operate.
Our second strand is to look at the work we already do and the opportunities and resources we have at our disposal.
A good example is our aquarium. Behind the scenes our Project Coral research is creating new opportunities for scientists around the world to restore damaged reefs.
But that’s not currently visible to visitors – we’ll be looking at that in the future redevelopment of our natural world collections, which will take time. In the meantime, our aquarium team recently used the exhibition tanks to raise awareness of pollution damage to our oceans, with a pop-up display.
Waste plastics were installed in among the fish and corals, with plastic bags replacing the jellyfish altogether. Shocking as this was for some visitors, it also inspired people – including children – to take action.
Since then, the Horniman has declared a climate emergency, including specific pledges we’ll be acting on. Our challenge now is to build on the work we’ve done.
Alison McKay is the PR and media officer at Horniman Museum and Gardens in London
Add to that the fact that our audience includes a high proportion of families with young children and it seems like a no-brainer that we should be speaking to them about the environment, biodiversity and what each of us can do to protect the future of our world, in the face of what can seem an overwhelmingly negative situation.
But organisations can feel just as overwhelmed. So where to begin?
For the Horniman, one of our starting points was working to get our own house in order. In the past 15 months we’ve made changes that reduce our own and our visitors’ environmental footprint.
Swapping to canned water and plant-based food packaging in our cafe has not only driven behaviour change by removing the option of those single-use plastics, but also communicates clearly our commitment to greening the way we operate.
Our second strand is to look at the work we already do and the opportunities and resources we have at our disposal.
A good example is our aquarium. Behind the scenes our Project Coral research is creating new opportunities for scientists around the world to restore damaged reefs.
But that’s not currently visible to visitors – we’ll be looking at that in the future redevelopment of our natural world collections, which will take time. In the meantime, our aquarium team recently used the exhibition tanks to raise awareness of pollution damage to our oceans, with a pop-up display.
Waste plastics were installed in among the fish and corals, with plastic bags replacing the jellyfish altogether. Shocking as this was for some visitors, it also inspired people – including children – to take action.
Since then, the Horniman has declared a climate emergency, including specific pledges we’ll be acting on. Our challenge now is to build on the work we’ve done.
We’ll continue to green the Horniman’s operations and help our visitors be more sustainable during their time with us. Crucially for us, it’s about communicating with, not to, visitors about the climate emergency.
We will be developing this approach, using our collections, interpretation, events and activities to break through that feeling of being overwhelmed, and find ways that we can work together on actions, small and big, to build a more positive future for the world we share.
Alison McKay is the PR and media officer at Horniman Museum and Gardens in London
