#MuseumsforParis from American Alliance of Museums' Alliance Labs

Here's an important post on #MuseumsforParis at Alliance Labs. It explains the who, what, why, and how of supporting the US, no the World's, commitment to the Paris Agreement.

The "where" is solved by contacting me with your commitment sarah@sustainablemuseums.net and using the hashtag #museumsforparis to let the world know.

This image from the post shows us what can be done inside and outside your organization for the good of all.

In a new display at the entrance to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, 16 oil barrels provide a visual representation of the amount of CO2 guests can prevent from being released into the atmosphere annually by switching to renewable energy.

If you want to see more of Phipps' work in action, check out the Green Power Drive page at phipps.conservatory.org/greenpower

Now, what are you doing and what do you WANT to do to be part of this?

Twelve Green Museum Days of Christmas...

Here's hoping for a green holiday for all museums everywhere:

On the first day of Christmas, donors gave the museum a Building Management System

On the second day of Christmas, donors gave the museum two green roofs

On the third day of Christmas, donors gave the museum three living walls

On the fourth day of Christmas, donors gave the museum four PV Arrays

On the fifth day of Christmas, donors gave the museum five car-charging stations

On the sixth day of Christmas, donors gave the museum six stormwater cisterns

On the seventh day of Christmas, donors gave the museum seven bioswales

On the eighth day of Christmas, donors gave the museum eight motion sensors

On the ninthday of Christmas, donors gave the museum nine recycle stations

On the tenth day of Christmas, donors gave the museum ten operable windows

On the eleventh day of Christmas, donors gave the museum eleven low-flow faucets

On the twelfth day of Christmas, donors gave the museum twelve composting toilets

Green and Dan Pink's Drive

Dan Pink has a new book out: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. He's good. You should read him.

This new book is a great explanation of how Green works, where it will work best, and how to keep it working.

Dan says, after much research and with great evidence, that Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose are the best motivations/ incentives/conditions for solving 21st century problems – the tricky, complicated problems that require new solutions. He says that the old “carrot and stick” approach to motivating workers (incentivization – and I add regulation) is best for 20th century tasks that have a narrow focus and a clear solution.

Green has neither a narrow focus nor a clear solution. Green is all about applying new (or long unused approaches) to complex problems. Green is a big-time 21st century challenge and though we may hope that incentives for saving energy and mandates for carbon reduction will help move the market, it’s clearly going to take more than that. It’s going to take Drive.

Green requires Autonomy because it’s a do-it-yourself program. There are lots of guidebooks out there, but few on the hard Green topics of clean energy and Cradle-to-Cradle solutions. We all must constantly adapt our green practice to meet the demands of each situation. Most of the time we’re making it up as we go along.

Green encourages Mastery because it has a feedback loop that makes it addictive. Once you recognize opportunities to reduce waste and pollution in one situation, you can’t keep from recognizing them everywhere. And once your brain releases the first endorphins associated with your first green achievement, you can’t help but try to recreate that success.

And, of course, Green is its own Purpose.

So, if you’re a manager and are hoping your staff will increase its green practices and develop greener solutions, figure out how to harness Drive and encourage Dan’s three conditions associated with creating it.

If you’re a government official looking to encourage Green business and practice, use incentives and mandates for the narrowly-focused problems with clear solutions, and fund the folks with Purpose so that they have the Autonomy to develop the Mastery to solve our really complex Green problems.

And if you’re a Greenie looking for a way to explain to others why you do what you do, just explain that you have more Drive.

Dan's website and book link: http://www.danpink.com/drive

Green Energy for Hancock Shaker Village

Shaker innovation is alive and well at Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts. For a few years now the staff and board at the museum have really embraced green opportunities. In a visit last summer I had a short course in bio-fuel research and their Switchgrass (and others)-growing project with UMass Amherst.

But today's news is about a 'bundle' of seven businesses and nonprofits and their new solar panels. The seven groups are installing solar arrays as I type, and they aren't paying for it. Instead, the green energy and financing company is funding the build, with a little help from the State, and the seven members of the 'bundle' have committed to long-term purchase at a good and stable rate.

The Village is installing its array on and next to the modern Visitor's Center, but the energy company will own and maintain the system. The Village benefits from price reductions and protection on a third of the energy it uses. Its staff, members, and community (meaning all of us) benefit from the Village's carbon reduction. And the project builds on the Village's role as a place to think about a more principled life in the 21st century, demonstrating sustainable practice at this site from the 19th into our times.

Renewable energy projects are complex: tackling them as a team is the best and fastest way to make an important difference. Ah yes, yet another example of museums making positive differences in their communities.