Preserving our future:Understanding and acting on the implications of climate change on the archival profession

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Protect our collectionsHow are we vulnerable? How can we prepare?

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“Rising seas, floods and wildfires are threatening the United States’ most cherished historic sites.”

Report: “National Landmarks at Risk,” Union of Concerned Scientists. May 2014

Reduce our professional carbon footprint

How can we act to preserve our historic record, but also the conservation of our planet and the environment?

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Examples of ways to reduce emissions at an archive

Use renewable energy sources

Use natural daylight for offices and public areas

Use automatic lighting controls

Use renewable construction/building materials

Use natural air conditioning

Plant trees around your building

Plant local, drought resistant, and pest resistant plants

Kim, Sarah, Green Archives: Examples of Green Construction at Archival Facilities, The Primary Source, vol. 1, issue 28, 2007.

Use our collections

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How can we use and encourage use of our collections as platforms to improve public understanding and engagement

with climate change?

• oldWeather.org – a collaboration between NARA, NOAA, and participating libraries including Providence Public Library and the New Bedford Whaling Museum

• Northern Arizona University Cline Library Hanks Scholar Project

• Concord Museum

• National Park Service

Examples

Document and preserve this

moment in history

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“This is the single most powerful thing your profession can do...How do you document and preserve for future generations this critical moment in the history of our local communities, our states, our nation, and the whole world?” -Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D.

Director, Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

a call to action

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Contact caseyedavis12 [at] gmail [dot] com to explore these questions with me!

Preserving our future:Understanding and acting on the implications of climate change on the archival profession

@caseyedavis1#maracnea15