Internal and External Engagement

Sustainability needs to be rooted within your culture; supporting a transition to sustainable, emissions-reducing actions is critical to helping your employees reduce their carbon emissions. Institutions can be great role models of how employees can insert sustainability that past the professional life into their personal life. Examples of incentivization programs include transitioning to renewable energy, purchasing an electric car and reducing one’s transportation footprint. Resources:

• Pay for Environmental Performance: The Effect of Incentive Provision on Carbon Emissions (Harvard University)
• Reducing Your Carbon Footprint At Work (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions)
• Companies Incentivizing Employees To Live Greener, Promote Sustainability (The Environmental Magazine)
• Lack of Incentives Prevent Employees Going Green at Work (GreenBiz)
• Parking, Transportation and Energy Incentives at Phipps Conservatory (Phipps Conservatory)

Green Teams are groups of employees who are actively interested in creating or managing climate action around campus. The committees can help to keep climate change initiatives top of mind and foster interdepartmental collaboration. Creating space and time for employees to become involved with sustainability brainstorming will improve involvement in projects and collaboration.

Resources about how to start and manage a sustainability committee, sustainable structures, examples, and brainstorming are listed below:

• Green Teams (Harvard University)
• To Engage Employees on Climate Action, Hillwood Brings the HEAT (Hillwood Museums and Garden)
• Going Green: Introducing the CAM Green Team (Cincinnati Art Museum)
• A guide to create an environment for effective Brainstorming (Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management Toolbox)
• An example of a Brainstorming Workshop (Urbanista)
•  

Climate change can feel daunting, but you can help your visitors take a big first step in living more sustainably by helping them transition their household to a green power energy provider.

Resources:

• Help Your Guests Track Their Carbon Footprints (Climate Toolkit)
• A Win-Win-Win: Getting Guests to Switch to Renewable Energy for Powering their Homes (Climate Toolkit) 

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 to improve and protect the local ecosystem, connects individuals to their local environment and provides positive health outcomes for gardeners. Educating visitors about fossil-free horticulture will help them to enjoy gardening more responsibly.

Resources:

• Sustainable Horticulture: The Right Plants, the Right Places, the Right Practices (Climate Toolkit) 

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.

Resources: 

• Growing Organic: Food That Is Good for You and the Planet (Phipps Conservatory)

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.

Resources:

• Food Choices: Take a Bite Out of Climate Change (Phipps Conservatory)
• How your diet affects climate change (University of California)

Educating your guests is a starting tool to help them make sustainable changes in their lives. Botanical gardens, museums and zoos can encourage their guests to bring sustainability into their backyards and daily lives through gardening, eating, day-to-day activities and more.

Resources:

• Watch the Climate Toolkit Webinar: Climate Communication – How to Talk to Your Stakeholders About Climate Change Climate Action: The Time Is Now (Climate Toolkit) 
• Education Crucial to Accelerate Climate Action (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
• Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication (Yale Program on Climate Change Communication) 
• World Climate Simulation (Climate Interactive)
• Seeding the Future: Using a Youth Climate Advisory Committee to Inspire the Next Generation of Climate Advocacy (Phipps Conservatory)