The adaptation of the community towards climate change is one of the most pressing
projects that we stand before at this time, and it becomes more pressing as the impact
grows. Museums are not excluded when it comes to that responsibility, for now it is time
for us all to step up. According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM),
museums are defined as institutions and work in service of the public, the same goes for
Icelandic museums according to the museum legislation nr. 141/2011. It is one of the
main goals according to the policy of the National museum of Iceland, that the communal
role of the museums is held high.
Opportunities are for a creative and memorable approach where connections to the near
community are used instead of dry technical and scientific facts. The opportunities can
among other things be found in untraditional exposition. Because even though it is customary only for natural museums to have nature exhibitions the opportunities can be
found in integration of fields when it comes to museum work. Since humankind has had
much influence on nature and vice versa, and because of that it is interesting to look at
the connection there (Bergsveinn Þórsson, 2019, p. 19). In that context it is interesting to
look at the geological concept Anthropocene, which is basically a geological concept of
the period when the actions of humankind and their impact become clear, or right around
the time the industrial revolution begins.
The German science- and technical museum Deutches Museum opened the exhibition
Welcome to the Anthropocene: The Earth in Our Hands in 2014 where the relationship
between man and nature is shown through technical heritage and evolution in industry.
There is a steam engine from the nineteenth century but the narrative about it in the
museum is not only directed at the evolution of a western society where the man
harnessed the powers of nature, but it was put in a bigger perspective which is not
customary in a technical museum, and they put emphasis on the climate change that
industry brings along with more exhaust, consumption, waste and nature intrusion
(Bergsveinn Þórsson, 2019, p. 20).
The role of museums is to be inspiring and problem-solving, but the graveness of climate
change demands that we take strong action now. That said, it should also be avoided to
add to climate-anxiety. The problem can seem distant when the main emphasis is on
statistics and the massive magnitude of the problem can seem frightening. That’s why it
could work better to connect the problem to the near community and to what can be done
at the hometown. By connecting climate change to personal knowledge and experience
as well as specific groups of the community, connections can be made to the bigger
picture. A conversation with the near community can involve challenges and be time
consuming, but at the same time valuable opportunities are created that ought to be used
(Bergsveinn Þórsson, 2019, p. 21).
Bergsveinn Þórsson. (2019). For the benefit of the general public: response and challenges of museums in the fight against climate change (is. Í þágu almennings: Aðgerðir og áskoranir safna í baráttunni gegn loftslagsbreytingum). Safnablaðið Kvistur, 2019 (6. tbl), 18-22. Retrieved from:https://safnmenn.is/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Kvistur_safnablad_6tbl_web.pdf.