Sarah Sutton | Cultural Heritage & Climate Change: Disaster Planning, Adaptation, and Resilience

From December 6–10, 2021, the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative and the Heritage Emergency National Task Force presented Virtual HEART Week. HEART – Heritage Emergency and Response Training – is a program that is hosted annually at the Smithsonian Institution to help cultural stewards and emergency managers improve their understanding of and skills in preparing for and responding to a disaster impacting cultural heritage. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the HEART coordination team decided not to host an in-person HEART program and, in its place, hosted a week of online programming dedicated to showcasing current research and information about cultural heritage disaster response.

Thursday, December 9, 2021: “Cultural Heritage & Climate Change: Disaster Planning, Adaptation, and Resilience” by Sarah Sutton: CEO, Environment and Culture Partners.

Cultural institutions around the world are affected by climate change. Sites of all sizes to prepare and plan to respond to impacts such as inundation from surface and coastal waters and wind-driven storm events, and increased threat of heat stress and wildfires. Taking the first step can be daunting but responses can be integrated into everyday work and can learn from institutions already developing their plans.

Sarah Sutton is CEO of Environment & Culture Partners (ECP), a non-profit “accelerating cultural institutions’ leadership in climate action” that manages the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative, a grant program supporting museums’ energy efficiency and clean energy projects; and an IMLS National Leadership Grant creating energy efficiency tools for museums. Sutton is the Cultural Sector Lead for America is All In, supporting the Paris Agreement. She is co-author of The Green Museum and author of Environmental Sustainability at Historic Sites & Museums. Sutton has been an adviser for a new sustainability grants program internal to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is a Steering Committee member and Climate Change co-chair, for Held In Trust, a special program of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Institute for Conservation that is shaping the future of preventive conservation profession. Sutton is also a member of the American Psychological Association’s Climate Change Task Force.

View other talks from 2021 Virtual HEART Week at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ59x86gKVvJYmh45nTKXH7_eBM8vIHC_

For more information about the HEART program, visit https://culturalrescue.si.edu/hentf/training/.

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Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative

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