Going Green with Example

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If my advice is good for my clients, then it should be good for my business practices as well, so, in-keeping with the mantra I provide for my clients, I am updating this blog with a highlight-review of the green work I've done (since 2007), doing now (this year), and going to do (in 2015).

This is an accountability list. It keeps me honest about, and focused on, the degree to which I practice what I preach. It also keeps me stretching to improve my practice every year. Writing it out is a valuable practice for noticing what I've done and what I haven't, then organizing the work left to be done into a path forward. I can't yet do it all, so I must be intentional about what I can do. The bonus is that every year it gets easier to do harder work.

Here is some of the green work I've done since 2007:

• Co-wrote three articles for Museum, with Elizabeth Wylie
• Co-wrote two editions of The Green Museum, a Primer on Environmental Practice, with Elizabeth Wylie
• Prepared interpretive materials for a green building tour of the new Peoria Riverfront Museum
• Began working with the Detroit Zoological Society advising them on their journey of environmental sustainability across the zoo.
• Prepared a successful application to the NEH Sustaining Cultural Heritage grant program for Dumbarton House, DC.
• Celebrated the publishing of The Green Nonprofit: The First 52 Weeks of Your Green Journey  (coupon code TheGreenNonprofit154 for publisher's 10% discount)
• Co-chaired AAM's PIC Green, the professional network on environmental sustainability
• Co-chaired the Summit on Sustainable Standards in Museums at the 2013 AAM Conference
• Began annual purchase of carbon offsets for client travel

Here are examples of green practice from this year

Anteater; my favorite
Detroit Zoological Society photo

• My client, the Detroit Zoological Society, won an Award of Merit at the AZA spring conference - the only green award given out this year
• Participated in NEH Sustaining Cultural Heritage program planning projects at Dumbarton House and the Minnesota Historical Society
• Began developing a sustainability tour for a site owned by the Minnesota Historical Society
• Facilitated the writing and publishing of the White Paper on the 2013 Summit on Sustainability Standards in Museums:  Museums, Environmental Sustainability, and Our Future 
• Launched the Mend The Marble Family Activity Deck on Kickstarter but had to cancel
• Took on five subcontractors so I can expand my green work; they all work from home
• Switched to wind-derived power for utilities
• Took charge of my personal finances and divested myself of fossil fuel stocks
• Purchased a Massachusetts-made and sustainably-sourced stand-up desk through Kickstarter

Here are my priorities and celebrations of green practice for 2015

• Create a consortium of museums recycling nitrile gloves
• Become a knowledgeable resource in museums' change to zero waste
• Continue my work on understanding the value of sustainability standards for US museums
• Celebrate the publishing of Environmental Sustainability at Historic Sites and History Museums
• Re-launch the Mend the Marble Family Activity Deck on Kickstarter
• Heat my home and office primarily with wood, already downed on my property, using a second-hand wood-burning stove installed by a local contractor

No one goes all-green, and no one goes green all at once, but it is critical to start wherever you can, and then to keep improving your green practices as you go. It's just as important to let go of the guilt for what you do not do; it only gets in the way.

Go green and prosper!

Mend the Marble - Family Fun for Going Green

Need some idea starters for your museum's after-school program, your vacation program, on Earth Day, or for nights in the museum?  Or an item for your museum gift shop?  Here's a deck of 52 cards, each with an activity to help heal our planet or Mend the Marble.

The 52 ideas are organized along the themes of, you guessed it, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose.

Visiting families will appreciate the deck for help with fun family activities:
- Staging a "No Power Night" encourages activities that aren't plugged-in. Board games by candlelight are the usual favorite - just be safe.
- Make, Mend and Make-over activities are great for a rainy day.

The eco-club you have after school can make battery buckets to take home to help organize recycling. What about making braided place mats or rugs with an old T-shirt, or drawing on saved popsicle sticks for plant labels - can you draw a zucchini?

How about an addition to your gift shop repertoire?

It's a Kickstarter project that will fund the prototype we hope will make its way into museum shops and museum after school programs...and hopefully into families, spreading good green fun to help heal our planet and instill better habits in the next generations.

Kickstarter and Green Museums: Cynwood Station

The crowd is helping to fund a  green preservation project: Kickstarter supporters have contributed more than $5000 to fund the stormwater management project that will keep water out of the Cynwood Train Station and help preserve it long term. In the process, the project creates a welcoming space, provides educational/demonstration opportunities, and improves local water quality to boot.  What’s not to love?

The station is part of the Cynwood Heritage Trail in Lower Merion Township, PA. It is an active-use public transport station being revitalized as part of a more sustainable approach to community living.

Sarah Francis is a project board member and green consultant (LEED-AP for existing buildings) for the Cynwyd Station Revitalization Project.  This project was her idea – on the ground and on Kickstarter – and it’s part of the green vision for the site.

Here’s a description from the Kickstarter site:

The sustainable landscape was designed by North Street Design, LLC, in conjunction with students of the Engineering School at Villanova University. The most impressive element of the initiative is its innovative, multifunctional rainwater harvesting system, designed specifically for the station. Tanks made from recycled materials can also be used as benches for trail users and commuters, and the collected water will irrigate surrounding gardens, lowering our tap water use, while also preventing runoff from causing more soil erosion in the gardens.

They have already fully-funded the project, but the rest of the money raised in the next two days will contribute to additional stormwater management on site. Sarah Francis writes:

the extra money will go towards the other elements of the ...site, including plantings and supplies for 2 rain gardens, and a planted trench along the foundation of the station.

I’ve contributed.  I hope others will consider supporting this project and using it as an example for their own work.

Is anyone else out there crowd-funding their green projects?