The Paris Agreement is a global agreement to addresses climate change with a long term goal of keeping the global average temperature well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels. In alignment with the Paris Agreement, the Climate Toolkit recommends that institutions set baselines and make plans for reducing fossil fuel usage and its associated emissions, which is critical to addressing climate change and diminishing our carbon footprint.

What Is the Paris Climate Agreement?

We are Still In

Buildings have a high energy demand with lighting, heating and cooling, contributing significantly to our greenhouse gas emissions, which makes them an essential place to start making significant energy reduction efforts. The Climate Toolkit recommends pursuing The Living Building Challenge for new constructions and renovations, which requires organizations to create a building that is net-zero energy, net-zero water, and uses resources efficiently, or pursuing the ILFI’s Zero-Energy certification.

The Living Building Challenge

Phipps Conservatory’s Living Building Challenge

Building renovations can be a unique opportunity to retrofit inefficient, older systems and reduce energy use and emissions in the process. From reducing HVAC leaks to utilizing natural ventilation, upgrading lighting, and changing to more eco-friendly appliances, zoos, gardens, and museums should fully utilize the opportunity to make sure all new rehabilitations are as efficient as possible.

Zoos, museums, and botanical gardens emit a significant amount of carbon dioxide through conventional energy consumption. Purchasing renewable energy supports clean energy development, reduces your carbon footprint, and hedges future electricity prices. Generating renewable energy is ideal, but requires significant investment; The Climate Toolkit recommends starting with a hybrid approach of purchasing renewable energy while investing long-term in onsite generation from photovoltaics and wind.

How to Reduce Carbon Emissions: Energy Management and Audits

Carbon Emission Reduction: An Interview with Norfolk Botanical Garden

Watch the December Climate Toolkit Webinar

One-fifth of all global emissions originate from the meat-centric diet; a plant-rich diet can reduce carbon emission while lowering rates of chronic diseases. Ensuring that 40% of your menu is vegan and vegetarian allows guests to try meatless meals and learn about non-meat options.

Project Drawdown-Plant-Rich Diets

Climate Change and the American Diet

Purchasing food within a 100-mile radius supports the local the food system which includes farmers, economy and the environment, all while reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transportation and preservation from more distant sources.

Traveling is often required for zoos, museums, and botanical gardens for operations, meetings, research and collections related activities. Eliminating all travel is not feasible, but purchasing offsets for carbon by supporting local projects can help account for the emissions being released.

Offsets and RECs: What’s the Difference?:

Transitioning a vehicle fleet to electric can reduce the amount of fossil fuels used and carbon emissions released on campus, improve air quality and help mitigate climate change.

Employee carpooling, biking and public transportation can significantly reduce the amount of emissions generated by commuting to work. Incentivizing staff members to change their choice of transportation can eliminate pollution while freeing up surrounding parking and boosting staff morale.

How to Create your Employee Incentivization Commute Options

The Walk, Transit, Bike Score

Botanical gardens, museums and zoos have thousands of visitors daily which creates a vast amount of pollution from transportation. Incentivizing sustainable transportation such as biking, taking public transportation, carpooling and walking can reduce emissions and help the guest to take an active role in climate change mitigation.

Single-use plastics are very harmful to our environment, leaking toxic pollutants into waterways and soil and polluting oceans, landfills and green spaces. Single-use plastics cannot easily decompose or be reused. Using materials that can be reused or composted eliminates plastic waste and pollution and demonstrates the importance of waste reduction to visitors. Using reusable or compostable eating utensils and cups promotes, encourages and educates visitors to use more sustainable eating methods and reduce their own waste.

How Plastics Contribute to Climate Change

Life Cycle Assessment

In the United States, more than one-third of the available food is wasted and contributes up to 28% of the trash found in landfills. Composting reduces food waste, reduces emissions and provides a resource for farmers as a clean alternative to chemical fertilizers, all while encouraging sustainable practices for guests.

Only 1 out of 5 plastic bottles are currently being recycled within the United States. Eliminating the sale and use of bottled water reduces the amount of plastic being produced and used. Allowing guests to fill reusable water bottles and utilize tap water is also less expensive.

Museums, zoos, and botanical gardens use a lot of materials in their day to day and special activities, and it is important to consider the waste that can be produced in the process. Materials that are not recycled or reused can release and emit methane, carbon and other toxins into the soil, air, and waterways. Be sure to use materials that can be recycled or reused.

Botanical gardens, museums, and zoos frequently need to irrigate plants in their collections and landscapes to support plant growth. Municipal water, which is often used in irrigation, is very energy intensive to produce and transport. In addition, improper watering can lead to erosion, increased runoff and fertilizers and pesticides being washed away. One way to reduce energy use and support the local ecosystem and environment is to instead plant native and hardy plants which require less maintenance.

As the planet becomes warmer, water is in higher demand for plants, people, and the local ecosystem placing the sanitary and water infrastructure under stress. Conserving water usage can alleviate the strain placed on municipal water systems to clean and transport water to individuals, reducing their energy use and emissions in the process.

Water Efficiency: A Case Study

In some locations, collecting and managing rainwater for irrigation will save energy needed to pump and use the water and further reduce the overall potable water usage and its associated energy costs. Using native and drought resistant plants can also reduce the need for irrigation.

Utilizing lawn and garden equipment is essential into maintaining beautiful landscapes on campus, but fossil-fueled equipment can pollute the environment. The quality and performance of electric, rechargeable landscape equipment can now rival fossil fuel-based equipment for most situations and has the benefit of not emitting fossil fuel emissions.

Electric Horticulture Equipment: What We’re Using

Most not non-organic pesticides and fertilizers are fossil fuel-based. These fertilizers pollute waterways, farmlands and surrounding local environments, require energy to be produced, and are a danger to human and animal health. Using Integrated Pest Management, organic farming techniques, fossil-free pesticides and fertilizers and hardy/native plants can significantly address chemical pollution.

Over 40 million acres in the United Sates are dedicated to maintaining lawns; if lawns were instead planted to support native plants and the surrounding ecosystem, they would have the potential to be an enormous carbon sink. Transitioning lawns to native plants will reduce the amount of water needed for irrigation, the need for pesticides and herbicides, and the time required for lawn maintenance and mowing while supporting the local ecosystem and sequestering carbon dioxide.

Trees act as one of the largest carbon sinks on Earth influencing air temperatures, reducing storm water runoff, and reducing carbon emissions within the local ecosystem. Trees actively offset the equivalent of more than 14 percent of economy-wide carbon dioxide emissions today. To become a successful carbon sink, trees need to be healthy and planted within their hardiness and climate zone. Planting healthy and hardy trees, both on your campus and beyond, can have a major impact on reducing climate change and supporting the environment.

Large areas of concrete such as buildings, roads and parking lots within cities have a higher temperature, a phenomenon which is called the urban heat island effect. Replacing parking spaces with green spaces can lower temperatures, reduce the need for mechanical cooling, improve air quality, reduce stress and boost mental and physical health amongst humans in populated cities. Green spaces contain native plants, hardy trees and vegetation that can lower temperatures and help address climate change.

Museums, botanical gardens, and zoos can greatly impact climate change, their local environment and community by divesting from fossil-fuel investments. Climate science tells us that in order for us to maintain a safe climate, fossil fuels need to remain underground. Companies that extract fossil fuels require substantial and constant access to capital for exploration, extraction, and refining. If capital costs rise or the supply of investments is reduced, projects can become uneconomical and fossil fuel companies can see their valuations fall. Fossil fuel companies are valued on their reserves and unexploitable reserves are worthless, stranded assets. Creating an investment and sponsorship program that does not support fossil fuel investments will show donors and guests that your institution focused on responsibility that stretches way beyond the boundaries of your campus.

Museums, botanical gardens, and zoos have an opportunity to invest in organizations who want to make measurable, positive social/or environmental impacts, all while maintaining investment value. Investing in sustainable investments creates an opportunity for innovative, to continue to make a great environmental, economic and social social impact. ESG (environment, social and governance) funds are the most common sustainable investment funds.

Climate Change can feel daunting when not knowing where to start. Creating a program for visitors that provides support to transition to a green power energy provider can allow for members to create a positive environmental impact while visiting your institution.

Help Your Guests Track Their Carbon Footprints

Fossil-free horticulture includes eliminating gas powered lawn and garden equipment, excluding pesticides and herbicides and planting native and drought resistant plants. Practicing fossil-fuel horticulture helps improve and protect the local ecosystem, connects individuals to their local environment, and provide positive health outcomes for gardeners. Educating allows visitors who like to garden to more responsibly enjoy their favorite pastime.

Organic farming practices were created to work in harmony with nature by protecting the soil health without synthetic pesticides and herbicides, using crop rotations with cover crops, and composting. Teaching guests the importance of organic food systems will support the healthy building of the soil and further connect visitors to the food system.

Food choices can have a huge effect on the environment. Eating a plant-rich diet and reducing food waste can significantly diminish emissions, and encouraging your guests to do the same can have an incredible multiplier effect.

Making an impact on climate change can seem extremely difficult, but education is a starting tool for visitors to make sustainable changes in their lives. Gardens, museums, and zoos can guide visitors to help bring sustainability into their backyards and daily lives through gardening, eating, and day-to-day activities.

Researching climate change spreads knowledge and helps us all to create more effective solutions. Through intra-organizational initiatives and partnerships with local universities, zoos, museums, and botanical gardens have an opportunity to become “living laboratories” for research and discovery of new technologies, practices and policies to address climate change.