Climate Change and the Museum

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increasing prominence of anthropogenic climate change issues within museums. While climate change itself has become a central theme for many exhibitions, some museums are, themselves, under threat from climate change. Within many industrial museums, however, there has been surprisingly little critical self-reflection, leaving themes of climate change both central and unsaid. Developing cases studies of Ironbridge Gorge (Shropshire, UK) and Heartlands (Cornwall, UK), this essay explores how certain museums have celebrated, often uncritically, the capacity for humans to alter the climate. Drawing parallels with how postcolonial theory has prompted critical self-reflection, the article examines how the climate crisis provides an imperative for museums both to explore their role in climate injustice and to seize a critical opportunity to make a contribution towards sustainable decarbonization. The article, therefore, calls for contemporary museum ambitions towards decolonization to be matched by activities that have an ambition towards decarbonization.