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AIC Sustainable Practices in Heritage Conservation YouTube Playlist

The AIC-FAIC YouTube station contains a Sustainable Practices in Heritage Conservation playlist, which features discussions, presentations, and interviews on the topic of sustainability. Included in this playlist and highlighted below are the original videos created by the AIC Sustainability Committee. We hope this ever-expanding collection of videos will help conservators gain insight on how to incorporate sustainability into the practice of conservation and preservation.

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Ask an Expert: Kelly Krish

The AIC Sustainability Committee speaks with Kelly Krish, Preventive Conservation Specialist at the Image Permanence Institute about all things energy savings. Kelly has worked extensively at institutions across the country to use energy saving strategies not only to help reach sustainability goals, but also to actually better preserve cultural heritage than traditional methods. She will share takeaways from IPI’s research and her experience in implementing them including best practices for HVACs, microclimates, air flow, lighting, passive storage (and more)!

Ask an Expert Q&A: Zero Waste with Angela Moore

Angela Moore is the Sustainability Coordinator and serves as Project Manager for Missouri Historical Society's green building certifications. At the Missouri Historical Society, Moore oversees all sustainable operations across the institution which include, Missouri History Museum, Library & Research Center, and Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. Sustainable operations include green building certifications such as LEED, TRUE and Green Dining Certification for the restaurant located at the Missouri History Museum, it also includes community and employee engagement centered around environmental sustainability practices within the St. Louis community. The sustainability department consists of Moore and a sustainability intern, Victoria Coleman. Coleman helps with employee and community engagement and Moore works solely on green building certifications. Angela is a leader in the field and has generously offered to field questions about the Zero Waste initiatives she's started.

One such initiative is the TRUE Zero-Waste project at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. Soldiers Memorial Military Museum is the only museum in the United States and in the only building in the City of St. Louis to hold a TRUE zero-waste certification. At the completion of a major renovation of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, the Missouri Historical Society earned a LEED Gold certification for the environmental work that went into the renovation. To further sustainable practices within daily operations of Soldiers, a TRUE zero-waste certification was introduced to lessen our impact on the environment due to waste practices. Over the past two years, the sustainability department began to implement zero-waste practices, policies, and trainings to successfully achieve a zero-waste museum.

ICON/AIC COP26 Collaboration

ICON/AIC COP26 Collaboration. Our panelists shared their experiences of: working towards becoming carbon neutral while maintaining 20% RH, rethinking the products used during historic house maintenance, achieving certified B corp status at an independent paintings conservation studio, and how our field can rethink our work and expand our focus to include sustainability as art preservation.

Ask an Expert: Climate Activism with Museums for Future

Ask an Expert: Climate Activism with Museums for Future. We discussed climate activism with two experts from Museums for Future. If you are feeling stuck or unsure of where to go next with your climate action and want to expand the scope of your reach, Anna Krez and Maggie O'Donnell shared insights about creative new directions to expand. Both are Museums for Future collaborators who discussed how they are using their roles as conservation and museums professionals to advocate for changes in political and global climate policy.

Ask the Expert Series: Life Cycle Awareness Discussion with Professor Shelie Miller

Professor Shelie Miller speaks to members of the AIC Sustainability Committee about her life cycle assessment (LCA) research which has led to some surprising findings that challenge and inform our instincts about what is an environmental choice. This is a broad discussion that encompasses both work-place practice and personal decisions. The information presented paints a nuanced picture of all the components that must be considered when thinking about environmental impact as well as what we can do to make sure our environmental choices are truly beneficial.

Professor Shelie Miller

Jonathan W. Bulkley Collegiate Professor in Sustainable Systems

Director of the Program in the Environment

Associate Professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability

University of Michigan

Professor Miller has a BS in chemistry from Denison University, a masters in civil and environmental engineering from Clarkston University, and a PhD in civil and materials engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Professor Miller's research uses life cycle assessment and scenario modeling to assess the different environmental impacts of good and behaviors. Some of these findings really challenged our environmental instincts (so to speak) and gave us a more nuanced view of what makes a lower impact choice. Some recent publications on which Professor Miller has been a lead or co author include: “The Future of Food: Environmental Lessons from E-Commerce”, “Five Misperceptions Surrounding the Environmental Impacts of Single-Use Plastic”, and “Comparison of life cycle environmental impacts from meal kits and grocery store meals”

Life Cycle Assessment

An interview with industry experts provide details about Life Cycle Assessments (or LCA) and how they can be useful in making sustainability decisions in the cultural heritage field. LCAs are used to accurately calculate the environmental impact of products from creation to disposal. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) library project of conservation materials is funded by NEH and is a collaboration between FAIC, Northeastern University, and the Pratt Institute, and led by Sarah Nunberg, Sarah Sutton, Dr. Matthew Eckelman, and Sarah Sanchez. To learn more visit AIC's LifeCyclceAssessment page.

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Geothermal Systems for Cultural Institutions, Part 1

In part 1 of this series, learn about Geothermal retrofitting of the Glessner House in Chicago from Bill Tyre, the Executive Director and Curator. Bill Tyre discusses plans to retrofit this historic building with a geothermal heating and cooling system. This project was funded by an National Endowment for the Humanities’ Preservation & Access Award. This video is brought to you by the AIC Sustainability Committee.

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Geothermal Systems for Cultural Institutions, Part 2

In part 2 of this series, dive further into the technical aspects of retrofitting historic buildings with geothermal systems with Mark Nussbaum, Principal Engineer at Architectural Consulting Engineers. Mark is responsible for the design and implementation of the geothermal heating and cooling systems at the Glessner House in Chicago (see part 1).

Examining the Environmental Impact of Exhibitions and Loans Using the Life Cycle Assessment Tool

Webinar presented by the Foundation for the American Institute for Conservation on December 8, 2015. It was organized by Sarah Nunberg of the Sustainability Committee and had three speakers: Matthew Eckelman, Pamela Hatchfield, and Sarah Nunberg. This program was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Cost Effective and Sustainable Packing, Moving, and Storage

Webinar presented by the Foundation for the American Institute for Conservation on December 1, 2015. It was organized by Geneva Griswold and Christian Hernandez of the Sustainability Committee and had three speakers: Rebecca Flint, Simon Lambert, and Ashley McGrew. This program was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.