With climate change and other Anthropocene trends affecting millions every day, there is a clear need to help people find ways to live more sustainably at local, regional, and global scales. Humanity has known this for decades, and museums have a prominent role to play as trusted and accessible sources of information and inspiration, yet few have made addressing sustainability their main focus. Based on 25 years of gallery and research projects at a medium-sized museum of natural history and Indigenous cultures, this paper looks at museum-driven sustainability education (SE) from a curatorial perspective. Using an autoethnographic lens and cultural evolution as a frame of reference, I highlight the value of SE by reflecting on how it has informed past and current gallery and research projects. I also draw insights about SE from these projects and outline a general SE framework aimed at all members of the museum community.

Systems thinking can shed light on important relationships and conditions that affect community engagement activities. While robust tools like the community capitals framework and the sustainable livelihoods approach provide valuable context for engagement projects, additional insights can stem from models that describe the ebb and flow of different types of capital. This paper uses a well-studied ecosystem model called adaptive renewal (AR) to contextualize heritage-related challenges and opportunities in four rural communities on the Canadian prairies. Based on a reflective case-study analysis, we applied the AR model to focus group and semistructured interview data collected as part of a Museums Association of Saskatchewan (MAS) project aimed at using local heritage assets to build sociocultural and environmental capacity and attract investment. The MAS project identified four themes that could be addressed through training and policy changes, including concerns about funding, limited human resources, a lack of public services, and a desire to preserve and build on memories. By mapping each community onto the AR model, we uncovered additional insights about community resilience and other heritage-related challenges and opportunities. The AR model is likely to be a valuable tool for planning or assessing community engagement projects because it reflects the dynamic nature of socioeconomic and cultural relationships that affect community dynamics and local well-being.

Given the value of natural environments for climate change solutions and human health, public support for preserving and restoring natural ecosystems is important. One avenue to such support is to increase connection to nature, so it is important to understand factors that influence this characteristic. In the context of Songs for Nature workshops, we examined whether online and outdoor nature contact increase nature connection in a similar manner. Results indicated that online workshops also improved mood, but they did not significantly increase nature connection ratings. Outdoor workshops improved both nature connection and mood. This suggests that both online and outdoor environmental programs can influence emotions but outdoor experiences in natural settings may be necessary to strengthen nature connection.

When I was asked to review a recent climate change book for this special issue of Museum Management and Curatorship, I happily agreed, but with a quiet sigh of exasperation. Like many researchers a...

When I was asked to review a recent climate change book for this special issue of Museum Management and Curatorship, I happily agreed, but with a quiet sigh of exasperation. Like many researchers a...

Creating calm spaces in which to explore our differences is an essential step towards rebuilding democratic life. (George Monbiot)Despite the current global reach of some human activities, our spec...

We conducted two field studies to examine whether songwriting retreats held in a natural setting would increase nature connectedness, as well as improve emotional well-being and performance on a creative reasoning task. In the first study, high school students took part in songwriting instruction either in their school or at a national wildlife conservation area. Results showed that the natural setting uniquely increased nature connection, while both settings improved mood and creative reasoning performance. In the second study, we observed similar effects for adults who attended songwriting retreats at the same conservation area and compared this to results from a science-based workshop in another remote natural area to assess whether nature connection effects were entirely attributable to nature contact. The findings of these studies imply that both musical creativity and outdoor education experiences improve well-being, while outdoor education also increases nature connectedness, and songwriting also increases creative reasoning.

In recent decades, communities around the world have been reacting to the forces of globalization by re-focusing on the local, leading to the democratization of culture, heritage, and related concepts. By attempting to reconnect locals with their own sense of belonging, to reinvigorate a pride of place, and to foster wellbeing, communities have increasingly and successfully turned to features that make their local history, heritage, and environment unique or distinctive. In turn, democratization processes have led to sustainable forms of economic and community development through ecomuseums and other examples of community-engaged museums. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of relevant community-based culture and heritage initiatives by reflecting on the development of ecomuseums in Canada and the USA. As part of the larger museum community, ecomuseums tend to be accessible entities that are not affiliated with political or other convictions or viewpoints. This makes them uniquely positioned to foster creative change and adaptation aimed at sustainability, yet their evolution in North America has not been examined from this perspective. To address this gap, this paper will highlight the Haute-Beauce Ecomuseum in Québec and the Ak-Chin Him Dak Ecomuseum in Arizona, which have long histories as North American ecomuseums and represent two very different cultural and geographic contexts. We also reflect on the history of ecomuseums in Canada, and their recent emergence in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Industrial activity occurs in the breeding habitat of several species at risk, including the federally threatened Sprague’s Pipit (Anthus spragueii). To evaluate whether oil pipeline construction reduces the productivity of this species, we examined (a) noise levels in relation to distance from the pipeline right-of-way (ROW), (b) the extent to which noise and song frequencies overlapped, (c) the distribution of Sprague’s Pipit nests relative to the ROW, and (d) Sprague’s Pipit reproductive success during exposure to pipeline construction and clean-up activity. We also examined the songs, nest locations, and reproductive success of the Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) for comparison. Study plots (400 × 400 m, n = 30) were established in grassland adjacent to the pipeline ROW or 600 m away from the ROW in similar habitat. Mean maximum noise levels during pipeline activity included frequencies that overlapped the song range of both species and were louder than the recommended 49 dB threshold up to 250 m from the ROW. Sprague’s Pipit nests were evenly distributed across close and distant plots, whereas Vesper Sparrow nests were more abundant within 50 m of the ROW. Sprague’s Pipit daily nest survival rate and the number of young surviving to day 8 both increased with increasing distance from the ROW; and Vesper Sparrow daily nest survival decreased slightly with exposure to pipeline activities. Our findings validate the restricted activity period and indicate that the recommended setback distance of 350 m is a reasonable guideline for pipeline projects.

This is a challenging and necessary book. Some who work in museums and other parts of the heritage field may find it unsettling, but it takes aim at a critical and ever-growing issue that deserves ...

Abstract Galleries for life: Responses to nature dioramas and sustainability exhibits at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum

Experiences in natural settings, and indirect nature experiences such as films, increase both well-being and environmentally protective behavior. Thus, public facilities such as natural history museums may facilitate pro-environmental behavior changes. In three studies, we examined nature connection, well-being, and spontaneous well-being goals as a function of exposure to museum exhibits or parks. Participants recruited in parks reported higher nature connection than those in indoor public locations. Among museum visitors, touring the exhibits did not influence nature connection, but did increase the number of pro-environmental well-being goals. When participants were randomly assigned to view a museum or a control presentation, those who viewed the museum presentation reported both higher nature connection and more pro-environmental goals. These results suggest that natural history museums and parks provide public settings in which people are more likely to be receptive to environmental information and to reflect on options for personal action.

Abstract Humanity faces a growing list of socio‐economic and environmental problems, which impel us all to foster more sustainable forms of development. This paper examines how museums might encourage the kind of awareness that can lead to sustainability, by assessing responses to The Human Factor, a permanent exhibition at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which raises questions about values, beliefs, and actions associated with the industrialized worldview. Responses to the exhibition were assessed through quantitative exit surveys and a novel technique involving heart rate monitors. Additional qualitative insights were gained from responses of participants in a high school Youth Forum on Sustainability that used the exhibition to catalyze discussion. Together, these studies suggest that provocative exhibitions can foster understanding and awareness among teenagers and adults through a combination of cognitive and emotional responses, and that a focus on sustainability can be challenging both for visitors and for museums as cultural institutions.