Turning Green – sustainability

It seems as if everybody is talking about greenhouse gases, the climate crisis, energy conservation, food miles, and threats to the environment – searching for answers and increased understanding.

Rural museums are about life and work in the countryside and how that relates to the environment around us. They are therefore incredibly well placed to make a relevant and engaging contribution to these discussions.

Bodging with a pole lathe,
Rural Life Centre, Farnham
© Rural Life Centre

Julie’s Bicycle – Creative Climate Tools
These tools include a free carbon calculator designed to help organisations to record, measure and understand the impacts of their venue, office, tour, project,  event or festival.

Going Green – Sustainability Past and Present
An exhibition at the Museum of English Rural Life, Reading, 2007.  You can find more recent examples of their ‘Green Stories’ by visiting their website here>>

RMN Collections Toolkit Final
Ideas about how to interpret present day concerns about climate change using collections in rural museums. Hilary McGowan & Jon Hall, 2008

Rural Museums East – Sustainability Project
Between 2008 and 2010, The Rural Museums East partnership worked on a range of projects looking at the sustainability ‘triple-bottom line’: environmental, economic and social, primarily centred upon the region’s rural life museums.

A Charter for Rural Communities
The final report by the Carnegie Commission for Rural Community Development, 2007

Highland Cattle © The Auchindrain Trust