 Cool. All right, well, let's get started with introductions and people roll in. They can catch on. So yeah, so I'm Roxy. I am the chair of the AIC Sustainability Committee and I'm joined by Kate, who is my colleague on the committee, the networking officer for us, and also Elena, who is our AIC rep. So thanks Elena for setting all this up. And we're joined by two members of Museums for Future, Anna Kreuz and Maggie O'Donnell. And Anna is in Germany and is a co-founder of Museums for Future Germany. And Maggie is in New York City. So we have some American representation here as well. And she's at the Climate Museum. And I'm going to let them introduce themselves because and speak a little bit about their interests. But before we do that, we just wanted to sort of, you know, say that we were interested in having this conversation because a lot of us feel quite stuck in our individual action. And, you know, it's designed that way that we are, you know, meant to feel that this is all our responsibility and that, you know, you can, you have to do everything yourself when in fact, you're set up to fail if you try to solve a global problem like this by yourself. And these two climate activists are doing some awesome work to really like, I don't know, they're very empowering and very, you know, excited about this work. So we did time this event to coincide with the German elections which just happened. So Anna can speak to that a little bit perhaps. It's a really interesting and sort of difficult, you know, situation there. But I think quite positive for the climate. So thanks Germany for leading the way as usual. But yeah, so I just wanted to turn it over to Anna and then I guess Maggie to introduce themselves and tell us, you know, just a little bit about what got you interested in climate activism. I will say that Anna is responsible for convincing me to get my act together on becoming more active in this in this sphere. So don't let anyone tell you that friends talking to people can't change things. Not that I've changed all that much. But you know, but yeah, so if Anna you could just introduce yourself and talk a little bit about climate activism and just sort of the power of connecting to other people and and then we'll hand it over to Maggie. Wow, expectations are really high right now. Thank you for that, Ross. So yeah, my name is Anna Kreutz. I'm a freelance paintings conservator in Heidelberg, Germany. I'm also teaching students at the University of Applied Science in Karlsruhe and others here in Germany about sustainability, climate action, critical thinking, all sorts of things, changemaking, I guess. So yeah, and I co-founded Museums for Future Germany actually just a couple of months ago. We had our four month anniversary, I guess, last week. So we did celebrate a little bit. And as you said, we also had elections in Germany, which I'm happy to talk about probably a little later. Should I hand over to Maggie for introductions and then come back. That sounds great. Hi, so I'm Maggie O'Donnell. I'm the Research and Program Associate at the Climate Museum, but I also joined Museums for Future almost, I guess, like November 2020. So I'm not quite at my year anniversary. And I really joined it as part of this longer trajectory of moving from feeling like climate action. Like you were saying, Roxy was like this personal thing that if I talked about it with other people, it would make me a Debbie Downer in the conversation or something like that. And it's been a longer journey and arc towards seeing climate action as something that is really hopeful and brings a lot of like, you know, like a rational sense of optimism to your perspective on now and the future. And so through working with Museums for Future on the newsletters, it's been really exciting to see how climate action in like an international context and also like the collaborations and conversations that can take place outside of just New York City where the Climate Museum is based. That's awesome. Thank you both. And I just wanted to say, you know, this is a technically an ask an expert series. So if anybody who's listening wants to ask some questions, throw them in the chat and we will definitely ask them. We've got a couple of questions to start us off. And as the conversation progresses, I'm sure more ideas will pop up. But Kate, do you want to ask our first question? Yes. Hi, everyone. I also just want to say that I am multitasking right now. I'm home with my sick son. So if you hear anything in the background, that's what's going on. But so far so good. So we've touched upon this a little bit. But there is really that, you know, like emphasis sort of within the media and within a lot of the information that we are given about the climate crisis that really focuses on our individual actions. And so we really wanted to talk about ways that we can expand our reach and get away from that idea. So I don't know if you want to touch on that idea or, you know, either of you can really cite actions that you've taken that have been particularly successful and inspiring that have been, you know, more about, you know, a group action or inspiring others. You know, what are some ways that we can kind of get away from feeling like it's just all on us and all on the individual. And I'm happy for either of you to just start. I can jump in first and then pass it over to you. And so I think one of the actions that have been really important to me, first and foremost, and like what you just said, and like what you just said, Roxy talking about climate. One of the statistics that we cite at the Climate Museum really often is from the Yale Center for Climate Communications in George Mason University, which says that 66% of Americans are worried about climate change, but only 6% discuss it often. And so you look at that number and you're like, Okay, so there's a big discrepancy. And that means there's 60% of people out there who are worried, but these like silent little islands and they're shut down, and they don't know where to start. And getting to think of yourself as a person who can be part of what catalyzes people to join the conversation, figuring out what kind of like accessible pathways you can build for people to, you know, join the movement, join the conversation, and then ultimately working in community and towards collective action with those people. And we were just talking about the strike in New York last week. And it's so re-energizing to be out with a bunch of people like being reminded that it's not just on your shoulders, it's actually something that we can all like work towards together and find power and strength like in one another. And that's been happening with museums for future as well. When you can say, you know, I was part of the strike in New York, but we're not just an isolated strike, we're connected to like a global network of people who care. There's actually not that much to add. Maggie has framed it really beautifully because I think to be honest, I mean, I get that and I have the same feeling, like being overwhelmed when like companies tell you when like advertising tell you like, oh, you have to be careful about like what kind of like what kind of things you recycle, like how you recycle and things like that, like how do you get to work and things like, I mean, it's really, it is overwhelming. It's like sometimes you're just like in a supermarket and you just want to buy like a couple of things to eat and you're just like really worried sick, like what am I going to do to the environment about this? And so I think it's, and that actually, I think the climate museum in New York City, Maggie probably can talk about that later too. You have this like great campaign that it's like about where your carbon footprint, like how all of this started, like how this is also has been framed from big oil companies to put all or put the major load on individuals. And I think that's really something where we have to get out. And I think really one of the meaningful actions, it's also like one of the things that Maggie touched upon. And I think that's actually that has helped me a lot with all of these kind of like overwhelming, like paralysis by analysis kind of feeling is really being part of the community. Like because there you can be with like-minded people, with people who think differently than you. Like when Maggie is actually saying like talk to other people, like actually talk to people who are a little further in the game, I would say, in taking climate action, but also talk to people who are actually very far from it. Ask them like how does this affect you and your life? Like how are you worried about it? And why are you actually not worried about it? And I think that's actually a good way to start a conversation and like getting outside of our bubble too. But really taking action, like being part of a group is I think one of the best ways to start. But it also is and I think that is like taking the pressure out too. It's really a step-by-step thing. It's like escalating. It's like just start somewhere. I'm all about like, yeah, talking is really good. Thinking about it is really good. But also you have to get doing something. And like being part of a community is really doing something. And so yeah, I think just like start somewhere is I think the best advice I can give. It's like, we don't need 10 people to do climate action perfectly. We need a bajillion of people doing it imperfectly, but doing it. So yeah. Awesome. So I wondered when we were having our sort of chat before we, you know, in preparation for this, you gave us a little bit of, you know, insight into why you co-founded the German Division of Museums for Future and just, you know, what Museums for Future does in general. So I think I would love that to segue into a bit more of a discussion about how we in the cultural heritage space. As Anna mentioned, she is a conservator. Maggie is not a conservator, but is a museum professional. So, you know, how we can join hands as, you know, conservators with other conservators, but also with our colleagues that aren't, that are also, you know, working in our museums or our cultural institutions or even, you know, if we're in private practice, other folks in the profession. So I wonder if we can kind of talk a little bit about how Museums for Future has helped you guys do that and sort of what the, maybe this is getting, maybe this is too many questions, but also the sort of the political role of museums. That was something we had talked about that was super interesting to me. So yeah, whoever wants to take it. Probably I will just start with that one. So I started with Museums for Future actually in January this year as a kind of like New Year's resolution. I don't know why. So but I have kept it up for for quite a while, I guess now. So I've been really proud. So yeah, but I started with the international group at first. There was no Museums for Future Germany and I have been really inspired by the people who I found there or who have been supporting Museums for Future and was actually that inspired that I was just like, why is there no Museums for Future group in Germany? And I basically just teamed up with a couple of people and just started it because we also got a lot of messages of people saying, hey, I want something like this, but like, why is it not there yet? So it's really difficult for people to imagine something that is not there yet. And it's actually not that difficult to make it happen. And so what we did is just like, make it happen. And we did that or at least I feel like what was leading my or me up to this moment of starting Museums for Future Germany was the art strikes that we had like Museums could actually participate in art strikes while while they were closed during the pandemic, like, you know, just say we put objects on strike because we can physically not strike anywhere or we can probably we don't feel comfortable as a Museum to to say that we follow this kind of like strike movement or things like that. So we had a lot of like online actions. And but now I have been really proud that actually a lot of people showed up in person for the last strike last week, actually. And so but there is a lot of like different things museums and Museum employees can do also people who are just kind of like affiliated to museums and their work. So yeah, I think there's really a lot of different things that you can do online and in real life. Can you just explain the objects on strike? Sure, we actually did last Friday, we actually had still a couple of museums doing that. So you can be quite creative about it. What you can do is just say, for example, the the most iconic work in your museum is going on strike. That's like a really powerful statement or even if it's not the most iconic one, what if the one that is whatever the most connected to nature or something out of plastic and oil, whatever, it could be everything. So museums actually have a lot of like creative freedom about like coming up with their own ideas. And that has been really cool, like you can just cover it up and say this object is on strike, it is not available for this day, and show that you are part of the movement. Maggie, did you want to add something? I was just going to add that one of the things we talked about before and that I think museums for future does really well is tap into that museum superpower of being like a really trusted organization by the public. And that you can use your ability to bring different publics together and have conversations where they feel trust, they feel high senses of trust and they also feel immersed in the conversation to talk about a climate action. And that's something we think a lot about at Climate Museum as an institution that creates museum exhibitions all over the city. We try to figure out how can we inspire a certain emotional response or foster a space where people can have a certain emotional response to the climate crisis, but also use that as an on ramp to action. And I think, yeah, it's totally a superpower of the museum world. So it's worth tapping into in your institution. And I think when we were talking, you guys spoke a little bit about some other actions that you have done and some things that museums can do that we wouldn't necessarily, like, I would love you to explain this, Anna, but I remember you saying something about like the third thing on the list that museums for future promotes is being a sustainable museum. So could you talk a little bit about those other options and different avenues? Because I think we think quite narrowly about what we can do. And I love that you guys are kind of exploding that in a super creative way. And also just for those who are familiar with what museums for future does, maybe you could give like a brief overview and then jump into this. I realized we might have skipped ahead a little bit in our question. We were so excited about this. Yes, I'm happy to give a bit of a quick overview. So museums for future was actually found founded in the end of 2019 in Vienna in Austria by a couple of very passionate museum directors and museum employees that just said like museums for future is now in the world. We are joining the climate strike with this intention of not just joining the youth climate movement, but also uniting behind the science because that is obviously what the climate movement is actually doing to saying that it's not just young people saying we want a better future, we want actually a future, but it is the science and scientific community that is saying that we have to do everything in our powers to stay below the 1.5 degree threshold. So that is basically how museums for future was born. And Roxy, what you have been touching on was actually the goals that we have that we're trying to achieve with museums for future, which are fourfold. One of them is supporting climate strikers actually the first one, supporting climate strikers or supporting the youth climate strike movement. The second one is communicating to the public. The third one is actually transform our own institutions. This is all museum, all goals that museums can achieve. And the fourth is raising awareness within our networks. And you already mentioned, Roxy, that actually transforming our institutions is only deferred from four goals. It is an important one. It is important for us to become more sustainable, to act sustainable when you look at the goals that in the US or worldwide have been set for governments, for countries, like being, for example, in Germany, they're saying that in 2045 where we have to be climate neutral as a country, that's like, I mean, it is crazy when you think about it. Obviously, this is actually not even enough, like science says that we would have to be climate neutral in Germany by 2035. And it is possible. But just imagine you, like at least most of the people sitting probably here work for museums or with museums. It is crazy when you think about museums have to be climate neutral in like 10, 15 years. So that is a big challenge, obviously. And we definitely have to work doing that. But I think, and probably that is a very, I explain it in a very German way, like, I want to be very efficient with the time I invest in climate action. And I think actually our, or at least my individual time is very well invested in supporting the climate movement, because we really have to think bigger than our own institutions. We really have to think about the whole thing outside of our institutions, because when you think about even if overnight, tomorrow, every museum in this world is climate neutral, there will be still the climate crisis. Because I mean, obviously of the 100 companies that produce 70% of the CO2 emissions, none of them is a museum. That doesn't mean that we have to like that we can lay back and like not do anything. But it also means if we want to achieve something here, we also have to address it with the appropriate action. And I think that is really supporting climate, the climate movement and also the science behind it. Maggie, did you have anything to add about sort of actions that you guys were taking? I know your museum is like all about that. So Yeah, one of the things that I was thinking about is actually a youth program we ran last year where students all had to develop climate action plans. And one thing we noticed is that all the students came back to us with these sort of individual or like very, very micro level community climate plans, get my family to go do Meatless Monday, which is fantastic, or organize a eco club at my school, which is also wonderful. But we sort of had everyone come back to the drawing board and say, how can you pair those plans with a larger collective action? How can you push an institution or an organization you're a part of to go one step further with climate action? How can you tie Meatless Monday in your family to everybody after dinner calling their congressional representatives? And just thinking about things that can add on to one another and that you compare in interesting ways and that you don't have to do it all at once. But you can think on multiple scales at once with your with your climate action and in those ways, create an even bigger rippling effect. So we do a lot of that at the museum sort of talking about how talk can lead to call can lead to pushing your organization and that they're all interrelated and feeding back to one another. So in building on that idea, then, and assuming a number of people in our audience work at cultural institutions, what are some things that people who work at those places could do to really try to push for positive action? I know sometimes I feel really siloed or stuck or like unable to, you know, like reach the people who actually have the power to make those changes. So like what are some things we could do? In addition to, I would love to talk to people who are interested about a museum's her future network in the United States. So definitely I can put my email address into the into the chat after this so we can start that conversation. One sort of specific climate museum plug of like a beginning action to just start the conversation right and like start taking those steps like and I was talking about to be along the path towards bigger action. The climate museum right now is running a campaign called Beyond Lies where artist Mona Chalabbe made these three posters that are all about how do we move beyond a world that's dominated by fossil fuels. So the posters are about beyond individual blame, which touches on what Anna said a moment ago about BP being one of the coining the term carbon footprint back in the early 2000s beyond empty promises sort of about greenwashing and beyond business as usual about like sort of how can we participate in a larger cultural shift. And so one of the ways that you could start taking action or just start having the conversation is by printing out these posters from beyond lies.org and bringing the posters into your into your workplace hanging up in your office and like just starting to get a sense of like oh if 60% of Americans are silent is 60% of my workplace silent and worried and starting to figure out ways that you can tap into those people whom you may have never had a conversation about climate with previously. Yeah and just to add what to the thoughts that Maggie had on that I think as conservators for example as we are sitting here probably with a lot of conservators I think really when we think about museums it's not just like this pile or clump of material that has an HVAC system right I mean it's it's really not about these kind of things and obviously it is important to talk about them just like just like Maggie mentioned like really try to to connect with your coworkers on these kind of issues tell them like how climate action probably made your life better tell them what you're worried about but I think also as museums we and as conservators we actually have a huge advantage of being a good messenger for all of this because we are caretakers of the cultural objects that we have not just as conservators but obviously as museums and when a lot of museums say that we work as as part of a scientific community like if you cannot accept very simple scientific facts obviously not all of us or none of us actually have has to become a climate scientist like we can believe in we know that x-rays magically work right I mean these are the things that we have that that we use on a daily basis but we can actually do so much more and I think one of them is accepting the scientific facts that we really have to change something here and if we really are the caretakers that we say we are that we actually have to act on it and I think one of the things that you can do as an individual in an institution ask the uncomfortable questions to ask your board or someone in your institution ask them like so if we believe in science and if we actually want to take care of the objects of the museums of the employees that are in this museum like how are we going to reach this like what are the steps how do we get there and if no one can answer that I think you have achieved already a lot and you know the other things are obviously starting a sustainability group where it is you can do like recycling programs and things like that all these step by step actions but also have these kind of conversations with people not just from your lab but with everyone who actually works at the museum like really try to be diverse everyone from like the person who sells the tickets to directors and there have been museums doing that and that is also what we ask museums for future want to provide like we want to get museums and people together to actually share their experiences with these kind of things like how did I start a sustainability group in my museum and things like that so I think that is really something that museums for future in our community wants to help individuals with. Super interesting I was just reading Catherine Hayhoe's new book about I think it's called saving us and she talks a lot about like finding the sort of shared values within a community and and sort of like using that to make people realize that they are worried about climate change and I was sort of like wow this is so easy in the conservation community because it's such a it's such a like obvious reason that we have to be worried but but yeah I was just curious I know we spoke a little bit Anna being the conservator about this sort of idea of like kind of macro versus micro conservation interventions and how do we like sort of move our field towards thinking a little bit more about like the important like how this should be our kind of primary issue that we're thinking about I don't know does that make sense you had a really nice way of kind of speaking to this so yeah I think to be honest like there's really the conservators around here we have been like really trained like sustainability is in our DNA basically in the DNA of this profession like when we work on on paintings for example that have been like 400 years old we can't even imagine like when when we really believe what or take seriously what climate scientists are saying now like we have no clue how the next 400 years are going to look like we don't even know how the next 100 years are going to look like and that's insane that's really insane and I think we as conservators are actually we can relate to a lot of things that climate scientists are talking about with our own personal field for example reversibility like we talk about that basically every single day like about using things that are reversible like in with the climate crisis we are reaching tipping points that are irreversible like that is a concept that we as conservators do understand what irreversibility means and this is like on a global scale I mean it's pretty insane and there's like so many other things for example what I have learned and through conservation too and I think that that would be something that applies to climate action or inaction too is that every decision or everything you do or you don't do is a decision so if you decide for example you have a panel painting that has a cradle on the back and there's like a lot of things happening on the front like first you have to think about what is actually causing my paint layer to flick on like on the painting surface is it is it really the support that is whole like holding that is been holding in place by the the cradle itself and so like really you can obviously consolidate all the paint flakes you want but you actually have to think about what is causing the problem the symptom that I actually see and so that is one thing that I think we can relate to but then also if you decide in that moment not to take action it will have consequences and I think that is something that we should take with us for the climate crisis if we decide not to do anything then this is a decision and it will have consequences so that's why I think I also I'm like circling back to what I said in the in the beginning it's it's really what did I circle back to I'm sorry I just I love those like analogies and like the fact that we really are so beautifully positioned to speak to these sorts of things I just think that's so cool to think about yeah I think we have a huge advantage and I think it just makes it somehow relatable to our field and I think it's really yeah we should be on the forefront of this of this in museums really one thing that I keep coming back to is basically like you know climate activism is sort of written into our job description as conservators right it's our jobs to preserve things for future generations and at this point in in time that means that we have to work to prevent the worst of the climate crisis so how do we get and this is you know a conservation related question but Maggie also welcome your thoughts on this how do we shift the thinking within our field to help you know others understand that you know we really need to be sustainable it's not just you know focusing on fixing this one you know piece of artwork that's in front of us but you know working to preserve the climate for the you know hundreds and millions of of artworks out there because that's really what we stand to lose too and I think conservators sometimes lose sight of everything else you know and they and they run the risk of really treating everything like it's a Picasso you know and and we can't really do that anymore but we can take these actions to you know be more sustainable to lower our negative impacts and to potentially preserve you know hundreds of millions of artworks so how do we get people to to see that hope that means I think exactly through those conversations we have right now just inspiring other people other conservators to be vocal about it and like speak up and say that I mean at least for me I'm I feel like I'm still a conservator when I do climate activism because I really try to help preserve culture help preserve the communities that we as museums serve and I think we will fail at this if we do not as museums and as people address this with like meaningful climate action and I think really in this case it's like showing up showing up at the strikes ask people to go strike with you if if they are not doing that that's okay but ask them like what else are you actually doing like and I mean obviously we can't force and we don't want to force anyone and I have been actually talking about this I think before the the session actually started there's really a lot of ways you can you can be part of the climate movement there is like if you're an introvert there is silent strikes you could like work on a website for someone for Fridays for Future for the sunrise movement for a fire drill Fridays there's like a lot of different things where you can actually get involved in and just like try to talk to the people around you and try to also get outside of your bubble probably too and get inspired by by those people and hopefully be an inspiration to someone else too. And I have to say it has been like ever since the first conversation that we had sort of planning this conference this talk today where you three were talking about the role of conservators and like the time scales you think on and like the big questions that get asked in museum conservation like I have brought it up in every conversation it has just been like so such like a light bulb moment for me and as a person who works in museums and who works on climate it has been like a huge perspective perspective you know just it's been so exciting to to realize that there are professionals within the museum space already like ready to be you know the climate at the front of the climate march for for your museums and that you're already thinking about these like these questions in ways that open up new conversations yeah yeah no I can't my poor roommates I can't shut up about how cool I have to say we are used to being like the unpopular person in the room and speaking for the arts so maybe that's prepared us well probably just two things that Kate to just get back to the question that you were asking I think as I have seen it in the chat like preventive conservation is obviously something where we in our field have started to think outside of like the unique and individual treatment of an individual piece of art to a bigger scheme right I think we're totally ready and we are capable of thinking even one step bigger and when you think about emergency planning actually a lot of conservators here in Germany you might have heard about the floods that have been happening earlier this year in Germany there have been actually there has been a lot of support from conservators to the museums in those affected areas and I thought it was actually great to see the solidarity solidarity that conservators like they really showed up they really helped but then that is also not a situation that we want to be in like we don't want to wait for these kind of moments and we actually have to start treating this crisis like the crisis it is I mean when you look at the CO2 budget we have left to reach the 1.5 degree it's like seven years and I mean it's with current rates of rising CO2 levels which shouldn't be demotivating anyone but like I mean this is really like I don't want to go to an area and I mean you have you have been hit in in in the US actually really hard with fires with floods with hurricanes like all of these things and there is a lot of museums being affected by that like we don't want to wait for these kind of things to happen we want to prevent them right and so like I don't know like if let's just all go on strike or something like that like really as conservators just as collective and make a stand like let's let's do something together that would be really interesting oh my gosh speaking of the sort of more political side of things I know I did want to just touch on the the work that museums for future did or you guys did as individuals in in the elections in Germany Anna and you don't have to like talk a lot about it but I'm just curious how how museums especially those that are more reluctant to take a political stand can kind of move the needle in that way so I mean we have been leading up to the to the German election we have been really trying to somehow combine a lot of like different topics that normally museums would not address like mobility like energy consumption but all of them obviously like a trip to the museum starts with the trip right I mean people like our visitors they have to get there somewhere right and so like there's really so many connections I think of museums that like they have restaurants obviously people have to eat there things like that but also where's the energy coming from like do you do you have a sustainable energy provider as a museum because obviously a lot of things in museums need a lot of energy and constantly and also because of us as conservators right and so when we were also trying to connect let's say like the political surroundings with museums and I mean you have all heard the phrase of museums are not neutral they're not neutral in any way like not in a political way not in a climate neutral way and and this is nothing bad but then also we have to take a stand on this like because there's also no time left to be this kind of like vague neutral entity because we're not like we're actually we cannot run our museums under these circumstances like we will fail at our mission to preserve culture for future generations if we do not address the climate action right now because obviously we are also the last generation that can actually fix this so it has been a lot of things and yeah there but there's obviously a lot of museums that have a bit of more of a conservative view of hey we're like trying to not do any political statement but this is really not about in my opinion not about politics anymore it's an ecological crisis actually multiple ones that we are trying to prevent from happening and the solutions have to be political because right now we actually have to like change infrastructure change all of these things and that can politic politics can only do that we got a question in the chat um has any of you looked into requirements of materials conservators allow in exhibition spaces or in showcases and looking for new materials that are better in regards with co2 footprint i know this is maybe a little beyond the scope of climate action but if anybody has anything to say or how perhaps how we can like create more momentum around that as a community because i i feel like our committee gets a lot of questions about materials and it feels we do have some tools now um but it often feels quite mind boggling like you think you're doing something you're using recycling for gloves but then actually the co2 footprint of shipping the back and forth is worse than the glove for you know so like it gets really complicated um so i'm curious if any of you have any thoughts on that i'm just going to say something very quickly here but i would be actually really interested to hear maggie if that is something the climate museum with a lot of different exhibitions um is actually um or how you are dealing with these kind of worries um but just to be clear that museums for future is providing the space for people to discuss about these kind of things but we're also trying to be um very honest and say like this is not really like that has been covered by a lot of people or there is at least a lot of people who are trying to do research on these kind of things you actually had a great talk with the life cycle assessment i think that actually a lot of like great institutions great people and experts are working on um and for us or at least i can probably speak for for myself um i leave these things to the experts and i think there's really um there's a point where obviously we have to question uh some things or be critical about them but also i think as i said like we do not have to have the perfect solutions because there will be no perfect solution so there it is really a step-by-step thing and if there is already a dozen of people being very dedicated or organizations being very dedicated to researching these kind of like material effects i believe them and i will try to like implement them as well as i can in my practice uh but then also um say that for myself i'm trying to like focus on something else and as museums for future we provide the space for people to talk about these kind of things to talk about um these kind of issues because they are important we're trying to provide um the space for people to exchange um um literature or um things about that but uh we're also very vocal about there there needs to be more and probably we need um people to focus on different things like it's really about uh sharing uh sharing your time efficiently and that's probably um very uh german let's say like i have a very limited amount of time that i can focus on something and if there's already a lot of people working on that um and doing a very good job on that uh let's focus or at least that's what i'm trying to do um i i'm focusing on something else but obviously believing those people and i did just before meggy um i'd love to hear thoughts too i just put in the chat the um life cycle assessment tool that's been created so that should give us some science and some surprising science at that um sarah nunberg who's uh been involved in that is i've had some chats with her she's sort of like debunking all these things that we think are um you know good and it's so informative so i'm so grateful for that tool sorry go ahead meggy i was just gonna say that i think the climate museum is at a stage where we're more listening and and learning about these types of things and it will be really exciting to see developments out of you know other museums on how how these conversations take place and the the actions that can happen um but it's really heartening to see you know we spoke with an organization last week um called broadway green alliance that's trying to do the same thing with show production and like how do we make show production more sustainable and just by virtue of every sector having asking these questions i think we'll get some interesting answers and then we can start having conversations about how do we share across different cultural sectors um and so i'm going to definitely open up the link to the the resources you just put in the chat box i feel like we've touched on a little bit you know just what a scary position everyone in the world is in right now okay um and one of the things that you know that i've read and we've touched on a little bit too is just how it's really important to keep these messages positive in order to prevent burnout and so Maggie i'm wondering if you would touch on a little bit the thinking behind some of the um the climate museums exhibitions and just any tips you have for how you communicate the urgency but keep it positive yeah um i one of the things that actually brought me to the museum was their their way of being able to reframe that your emotional response to to the the climate crisis and find ways to be inspired to take action and the first exhibition i was a part of in 2019 we actually created the space where you were first greeted by the climate solutions you were you were reassured that we have the tools necessary to take action and cap warming and then we you know you progressed through to what we referred to lovingly as the doom room where you where you learned the obstacles that inhibit um the the solutions from being implemented and then the third room was the the taking action room where it's like how do we collectively overcome these obstacles to implement the solutions and that reframing has stayed with me for a really long time and and even was was useful across you know the pandemic when i was like okay we have the solutions what are the obstacles like how can i take action to help like that way of way of thinking i think has been really powerful for me and really sustaining in terms of uh not feeling like we're we're starting at this place where we're in the thick you know muck of uh bureaucracy and like you know us political debates and things like that that slow us down and make us feel stuck and like we'll never be able to move forward and instead feeling like energized and empowered that there are the tools out there and and that we can just be the the people who help break down the the barriers to those solutions being implemented but that's not to say that burnout doesn't of course happen and like you have to take some days off from reading climate news every once in a while and things like that indeed um yes we did i did also um want to say that there is going to be an info session for museums for future is that on october 4th did one of you want to put the link to if anyone wants to just come and hear a little bit about that if any of i mean us or anybody around the globe wants to to get started i'm gonna be at that session for sure so um i would love for anyone who's interested to sign up maybe we could start to see how we could get something going in the us um but we also got a really good question in the chat about fundraising um we have someone who works in fundraising i hope uh who says i work in fundraising and i'm eager to find ways to support this work at my museum also if any of you have any thoughts on creative ways of fundraising of a fundraising team uh that could support these initiatives i'm all years so yeah the the minor detail of funding these sorts of activities sorry i was just putting in the link for the sign-up session um funding these kind of things i mean we we are a non-profit so uh we and at least i can speak for museums for future germany we um we're completely volunteer-based obviously we would uh love to at some point get to a point where we are doing more fundraising and things like that um currently we're really trying to do um to support museums with ideas to support museums with our network to support museums with our expertise or our point of view also with our networks actually outside of museums as museums for future germany we are an official alliance of the for future group where there's actually a lot of groups like everyone from lawyers for future i i have actually told you about the grandparents for future or grandmas for future so there's really like everyone from engineers lawyers artists creative museums there's a lot of for future groups so with the fundraising that would be obviously something that is in a museum's hand that museums in germany and i can only talk about museums in germany in that kind of sense i know that the system in in america is more about like private funds and things like that in germany we have a lot of museums that are state owned and that um get their funding from states so what we are also trying to do as a community with museums for future germany is actually uh saying and telling uh telling museums like uh we are very reliant on who is in politically in charge because we as museums are state owned this is where we get our money from and we obviously if museums and museums have a high carbon footprint too as an institution if we are supposed to be climate neutral by 2045 or whenever politics is going to decide that then we also need the funding obviously and we need the funding from you and that cannot come out of our basically just like cultural or education budget like and you have to provide that funding we demand to have that funding and we want also you to point us or to to give us a pathway on how we can achieve that so that would be something in germany that we are trying to achieve with our network in the long run hopefully that that will help but also one of the funding issues i think is that is also complicated is who is actually funding your museum that goes probably in a different direction than intended but that would be definitely something that museums also should should think about like who is funding my exhibitions is it someone that probably prevents me from being more vocal on climate action that is obviously affecting museums and the people who work there but we shouldn't we should be independent from these kind of things and so we should not rely on oil money or money from other sources that we are actually trying to to prevent from from getting bigger and more info having more influence did you have any comments on that Maggie i thought that was a great answer and i i agree that it's exciting to find new ways to fund this work but i also think by being more by bringing interdisciplinary into the the core of your museum with you know programming across arts and sciences and bringing diverse voices to the table that certainly catches people's eyes and opens new doors i think that of sources of funding and sources of visitors and all sorts of new news avenues that your museum wouldn't have had previously i think we are i think um if people check out the climate museum website too i think you have info on past exhibitions as well as current work that you're doing and that might also serve as some creative inspiration for ways that museums can can tackle this programming and hopefully use whatever fundraising they have to to be more sustainable or talk about it more totally um and i would happily um my emails in the chat and i'd happily talk about that as well um we have a big if you're new york city based we have a big um sculptural installation and performance piece happening october 10th in washington square park um where we could even talk about these things in person um because i will be there from 6 a.m to 6 p.m so um stop by if you're in the city that sounds great um i think we're coming up on an hour but we have probably time for one more question i i would just love to know i mean we've kind of touched on this but um you know people who are sitting here like yeah i want to get i want to get involved how do i do this like do you guys have some ideas for where we could put the pressure where we could what things we could join you know um what local organizations we look to i would just love to hear your thoughts to kind of leave us on a can do note i would start by saying you know um well you could always get off this meeting today and spend five minutes making a call to your representative and that's going to give you like a lot of exciting good energy going into your weekend i promise um but also uh like i mentioned earlier if if people are interested in a museums for future us chapter and starting to just feel like connected to a larger global network of people like-minded people who are concerned about this um that i think can be a strong place to start um and and asking yourself other questions about what am i looking for in an organization what can i bring to a climate organization like what skills do i have um what skills do i want to develop um can start leading you in the right direction to find even just like you know the city you're in climate organization like starting with that google search but um museums for future i think we can be here to to be a bridge uh if you're unsure where to start um and just to clarify you don't have to be you don't have to like have the okay of your museum to join you could just be an individual in the cultural heritage space right yeah um and i think you can describe maybe better than i could the difference between joining as an organization or an individual yeah you i mean you can totally volunteer just like you can volunteer for anything else in your free time you can obviously volunteer for museums for future either in the us chapter that is hopefully going to come very soon right after the session who knows or even if the if there will not be a us chapter that quickly you can still volunteer with us and help to i mean we are a global network you can just sit with people from budapest and vienna and heidelberg and berlin in a session like once a month and just like get talking and get active on like doing things um but yeah um just to add to that what what meggy already said um try to get outside of your bubble probably too just like see what is what is there like who's already active in your local community um actually indigenous people have been on the front lines of these kind of uh fights for a long time uh the north dakota access pipeline has been a really uh good example where um these kind of communities that probably some of us do not associate with climate action per se um is uh you know like is really interesting to get in touch with like go the the sunrise movement the fire drill fridays i think fridays for future is actually trying to get bigger in in the us too i think trevor noah has mentioned it on the show uh so there's like really a lot of uh people or try to get involved in like public transport in your city like this is climate action too it's it's a really uh um different but also very uh active form of uh changing uh what what could be a better city hopefully well i hope that leaves everyone on a really awesome note so we'll all call our representatives and then have a relaxing weekend um but i just wanted to thank you guys so much and thanks everyone who came uh for questions um we're gonna um post this recording on youtube so if you want to share it with other people uh keep an eye out and you can also sign up for our eblast um if you're an aic member and that it'll be included in the next one um so yeah so you can also reach out to us on aic sustainability at gmail.com as kate just put in the chat if you have more questions you want us to um direct towards these uh smart and inspiring women um and yeah i hoped we can all you know start getting more involved in bigger action um kate did you have anything else you wanted to say before we sign off um yeah just you know definitely feel like you can email us directly like let us know what you're looking for what you need what would help you be more sustainable um and just thank you to our panelists this was really really inspiring and i feel like i want to try to start museums for future uh in the us and so yeah i just i love these kind of conversations they're so energizing and they really make me so hopeful for um the kind of world that we can have if we can all work together and and get this done so just big thank you thank you guys it's been such a nice uh lunchtime convo so we will thank you so much for having us thank you thank you so much you're awesome all right take care everybody bye