Our Sustainability Activities Thru June 2007

It’s taken me far too long to learn that the more say our individual museum staff have in developing their own work plans, the more creative an organization we become.

And while it sounded like the right thing to become more “sustainability” focused, we soon learned that the topic is so broad that we’ll never be able address all the issues we think are important. Taking the easy way out, I decided to go with the knowledge and interests of our staff and volunteers and assume that the right issues would emerge.

The process does work. We’ve had lots of creative suggestions on what to do. Alexis, an educator who runs our summer camp program, was concerned about the amount of paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware we were tossing out after each staff lunch or other event with food. The solution was right across the street at a restaurant supply store for under $300. We bought plastic dishes and cups, and stainless silverware. Each time we use this stuff now, we get the satisfaction of knowing that we are saving our landfill from a few more disposables.