Of Paperweights and Other Sustainable Practices

Picture a 1940’s office: the portable fan in the corner rotates quietly - blowing the fabric bits tied to its wire blade guard, moving the air just enough to create a semblance of cool. On each pass the papers on the desk ruffle a bit but stay put. On occasion a cross breeze comes through room, bumping the door.

What’s going on here? Is it? Are they? No, it can’t be! I can’t remember the last time I saw a doorstop in use, much less a paperweight in action.

I’m rediscovering the humble doorstop and ubiquitous paperweight as critical work tools as I sit in this unimproved 1875 house in the southeastern United States. I’m trying to see how far into the summer I can go without AC yet remain productive. This house has 14’ ceilings, 8’- tall windows, and an Eastern Shore cross-breeze that qualifies as a gale. And it reminds me how, long, long ago, people used paperweights.

It’s easy to see how our work-efficiency focus of the last decades drove us to choose all-on and all-off services for our lights and temperature controls, and how efficiency in the building process drove us to put all services in one conduit, on a single switch, and in all-in-one systems. Of course that is near-term efficiency, not long term. The flipside has the near-term inefficiencies of raising and lowering shades and windows throughout the day, changing to heat-strategic work hours, and acquiring doorstops and many, many paperweights. Often I value that inefficiency for the time it means I can leave my computer chair, for the opportunity to see and hear my neighbors, and for a moment to appreciate the design of this old house.

I don’t always appreciate the inefficiencies, but so what? It is good for the planet, and so far the bonus is that it’s easier than I thought. Ask me again in August.

It made me think of all the cool museum vignette exhibits each of us could do: "Air Conditioning the Old Way" with paperweights, doorstops, ceiling fans, desk fans, transoms, double-hung windows, cross ventilation....you can see how much fun this would be!

I've had one near miss during this experience, though. I lost my mind for about 30 minutes the other day as I looked up antique paperweights online and fantasized in a very ungreen way about collecting them. My true-green kicked in and I went to the drawer and took out the clay rabbit figure I just cannot throw away (for all sorts of reasons). My now-16-year-old son made it about eight years or so ago. It’s a perfect paperweight. Hmm, a tidy desk and a fond memory all rolled up in an energy-efficient paperweight. Life is good.

Come to think of it, he made me a very cool green-and-orange clay dragon that will be perfect for the pile of use-the-other-side scrap paper I keep by the printer and just in front of that tall window.

Guest Blog: Museum Loans and Climate Change by Simon Lambert

Climate change reduction is top priority for everyone. Many museums worldwide are taking significant steps to reduce waste and utilities use. The museum loans industry is also investigating how it can make a positive contribution. The International Exhibitions Organisation (IEO) is leading discussions on how museums can reduce their carbon footprint by relaxing the acceptable relative humidity and temperature ranges. The International Convention of Exhibition and Fine Art Transporters (ICEFAT) has adopted guidelines to encourage its members to ‘green’ their operations. However, all this comes with its share of contradictions.

While museums aim to lessen their impact on the environment, they also face growing demands to increase their loan activities. Meanwhile, exhibition budgets everywhere are being slashed. The UK Museums Association’s 2009 report on Sustainability and Museums showed the growing interest of the museum sector in the “triple-bottom-line” approach, which considers the social, environmental and economic impacts of decisions and actions. But how do museums balance the environmental impact with the social and economic benefits from lending collections?

Through a close and fruitful collaboration with the National Museum Wales, UK, a new carbon footprinting tool for museum loans was developed in 2009. It allows museums to quantify the impact of their use of wrapping materials, packing cases, transport and couriering and offset this against the number of loans made. The Museum’s Art Department kindly granted full access to its loan documentation, enabling the calculation of its 2006 loans carbon footprint along with several evidence-based recommendations to reduce it.

This pilot project defined a performance indicator for sustainable loans (SLpi), allowing museums to rate the triple-bottom-line alignment of their loan activities themselves. With this indicator, it is possible to determine how well a museum is using its carbon footprint to increase access to its collection through loans. For the time being, the loan carbon footprinting tool focuses on outward loans of single institutions, but it could be used for entire travelling exhibitions (several institutions and venues).

The results of this study and the user-friendly calculation tools will be made available in 2011 but any museums wishing to trial the method should contact the author at simonlambert9@gmail.com.

Simon recently received his MSc Care of Collections from Cardiff University, UK. He also has a BA in art history and Italian literature (Canada) and a Laurea in paintings conservation (Italy). He currently works as a consultant for the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome (ICCROM).