An exhibition on sustainability led to a sea-change in the National Maritime Museums policy towards the environment. Alice Graham explains how.
Sustainability is one of those words. It has been bandied around for a few years now as if we all knew what it meant and were taking notice. I believe the difference now is that we have no choice; we have to engage with what it means. There is a revolution taking place and if we ignore it we are in danger of appearing irresponsible and out of touch incredibly quickly.
What is sustainability?
Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs1. So how can we balance sustainability with art and culture when they use resources which, unless carefully and sustainably managed, will eventually expire. Is art and culture therefore at odds with the very notion of sustainability? Should there be an end to them? This is clearly not going to happen, as apart from anything else these activities are a key part of the financial sustainability of this country. To me, thinking in this way is to misunderstand the very core of what sustainability is trying to do. Sustainability is not actually about stopping what we are doing its about being more thoughtful. Actually its about being even more creative, challenging the way we do things. And for those who look closely there are massive opportunities here.
My ongoing involvement with sustainability began with Your Ocean, an exhibition project at the National Maritime Museum. Your Ocean is a small, permanent gallery and website. It is all about marine conservation teaching the importance of the oceans, how they impact on your life and how you impact on them. I soon realised that as the Exhibition Project Manager I was not only setting a precedent, but that I also had a responsibility to apply the exhibition message to all aspects of its creation too. So in collaboration with the designers, thomas.matthews, we set about trying to create a truly sustainable exhibition we wanted to make sure the exhibition would practise what it preaches. Its now been open over a year and it is sustainable, to a degree. I think the biggest learning curve was that a truly sustainable exhibition was actually impossible at that time, and probably still is. However we learnt a huge amount about where the problems are and what we would do better next time; that becoming sustainable is far more than just making the decision to do so, it is about learning, making mistakes and ultimately about changing direction via a number of small steps.
Building for the future
Meetings were rationalised to reduce travel and local suppliers used where feasible, but our main focus was on the materials used to produce the exhibition. Our principle was first to reuse materials, then use recycled materials and where both were impossible, to use materials that can be recycled. We found some really interesting materials, from recycled car tyres, money and road signs to CDs and yogurt pots. We also use them to tell stories in the exhibition we felt it was important that our visitors started to see the actual exhibition as a key part of our message. We insisted on low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint and refused to use PVC anywhere in the exhibition because it is not only difficult to recycle but also produces toxic dioxins in its manufacture. We often found that reusing materials was more expensive than using new ones. By the time nails have been removed, wood reshaped or old finishes recovered, the manpower involved is enormous. Exhibitions need to be thoughtfully constructed with the intention that when they are finished, materials can be salvaged not massacred, as they are currently are.
First steps
The most important thing learnt from the project though was that sustainability has to be an objective that is written into every tender document. It has to be clear from the outset that this is important every contractor should be asked about what they will do to make the project sustainable. This is where I think we can make real breakthroughs; we all have our fingers in so many pies that together we have huge, sustainable, buying power. It is actually via procurement that sustainability will become seen as the norm within our industry.
The Your Ocean exhibition opened, but what happened next within the Museum is incredibly exciting sustainability became noticed not just by the exhibitions department, but by the catering, retail, HR, events and operations departments. Suddenly this was a much bigger deal I found myself head of the newly formed sustainable development group, attending meetings with the DCMS, visiting Greenwich recycling plants and collaborating with the café to get sustainable fish on the menus. Sustainability went global (well in my world at least).
Progress since then seems at best slow and at other times a minor miracle, depending on the height of obstacles that I have manoeuvred around that day. It is certainly true that a large publicly funded organisation can seem like a slow moving dinosaur at times but when it moves its impressive and can go a very long way with one bold step.
Moving forwards
We now have a person in almost every department who is responsible for sustainable development in that area. We have set ourselves a target of 5% energy reduction this year and that coincides with a doubling of the size of one of our major sites The Royal Observatory. We now recycle over 50% more of our office waste than we did last year and are considering composting as our next giant leap next year. We run a weekly sustainability education programme, and the events were sold out before they began. The appetite for this is massive, both with our staff and our audience. Actually it feels like we now have to raise our game to keep up with their expectations.
So where does this all lead? Sustainability is high on the government agenda right now, and we know it wont be too long before we are forced to become more thoughtful when it comes to these issues. Forced reactions are often rash ones; we need to be prepared, to be ahead of the legislation and therefore to have time to do this properly. In short we all need to start creating realistic sustainability action plans.
I am not implying the National Maritime Museum has done it and thats that. We have so much more to do, we really are just at the beginning, but I certainly feel that we are getting somewhere that in the corridors of this great institution, sustainability is finally a word that is understood and thought about and often it is implanting an ideal like this that takes the time and effort. When someone stops me in a corridor and asks what paper they should be using, or that they are worried because they cant turn down their radiator, I think the size of my grin takes them by surprise. I am grinning because my head is whirling thinking this is brilliant, its working, weve got it at last.
Alice Graham is Exhibition Projects Manager at the National Maritime Museum.
w: http://www.nmm.ac.uk; http://www.seabritain2005.com/upload/package/52/index.html
1 Definition taken from the sustainable development unit, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/what/ index.htm