Not everyone is there yet, but many museums are thinking about how green fits into their vision, mission, and practices. The default position, for some, has been “sorry, green is not our mission.” Many non-science or non-nature related museums across the country tell us that environmental practice is not part of their mission. The art and history museums are the quickest to say so. That is simply not true and here is why: green can save you money that you can spend on carrying out core responsibilities, and green keeps the environment clean and safe for your objects, buildings, and visitors. Isn’t that mission support? Preservation is the mission for historic sites and for art, history, and natural history museums. Curators and collections managers know the weight of their charge to do no harm and preserve in perpetuity. They also know that preserving the past requires controlled climate conditions—the microclimate inside the museum and the macroclimate of the world’s environment. The issues are the same whether we are discussing objects kept inside or buildings exposed to weather and airborne particulates from pollution. Environmentally insensitive building and operational practices contribute to degradation of the objects we are trying to save.
