Green Tea

In this episode, Lindsey is joined by Fay Kiskira to talk about the GREENART project that she participated in. This multi-year project partnered conservators, chemists, and sustainability specialists together to develop, test, and assess the impact of new products used in cleaning paper-based objects from various time periods and regions. As a conservator testing the hydrogels and nano fluids, Fay...

Our second episode of National Heritage Responders Stories centers around the wildfires in the Los Angeles area during Jan/Feb 2025. Lindsey speaks with Dawn Jaros, Tara Kennedy, and Megan Brakob Narvey who responded in different ways. Each person approached the response from their unique skillset and background: in-person through community clinics, on the phone giving health and safety advice, an...

Together Roxy and Kim troubleshoot the multifaceted nature of what “sustainability” means. To create holistic change, there should be consideration of more than one singular facet (carbon emissions, energy use, waste management, etc). Kim highlights the various published guides on how to go about making more socio-environmental beneficial choices and how various priorities can be balanced or have...

In this episode, Lindsey speaks with Cecilia Salgado and Marlene Sámano about their role as cultural heritage conservators and educators in Mexico and Latin America more broadly. Cecilia Salgado is a photographic conservator in private practice who is currently studying for a Masters in Sustainability and Social-Environmental Projects. Currently her work involves finding adaptive strategies in pho...

At AIC’s 2025 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Pejuta Haka Win Red Eagle joined the Sustainability Committee on a luncheon panel about mindful collecting in the time of climate change. She returns now to speak with Roxy about her perspectives on the preservation of Native American cultural heritage and the value community partnerships can have on collections care. She highlights how native-led prove...

"Preservation is a state of mind, it is a mission...so we have to allow this opportunity for everyone to be able to preserve." To start out this new season, Roxy is joined by Beatriz Haspo, volunteer executive director of APOYPOnline: which serves a similar role as AIC does for North American conservators. Beatriz explains the goals of the organization through the topics presented at their latest...

In this episode, Roxy speaks with three archaeological conservators who regularly conserve archaeological finds lifted from glacial areas in the Northern Hemisphere. In ice patches, areas that are stationary, frozen, and often obscured by snowfall, organic heritage such as plant or animal-based materials can survive with minimal degradation or loss even over multiple millennia. However, the escala...

The Climate Toolkit from the Phipps Conservatory aims to create and sustain momentum in and between cultural heritage institutions through free resources and building connections. Lindsey speaks with Andrew Lampl and Jennifer Torrance from the Phipps about their roles in developing the Toolkit’s framework and resources and facilitating connections between institutions to create catalytic change. U...

The National Heritage Responders are a unique subset of volunteers from within the American Institute for Conservation who engage in disaster relief. Whether its liaising between institutions, resource building and dissemination, or boots on the ground recovery of cultural heritage in disaster zones, the trained responders are finding their skills regularly called upon as climate change impacts ou...

Glenn Wharton and Justine Wuebold from the UCLA Getty conservation program talk to Rachel about their NEH grant-funded project to develop sustainability-focused curriculum. Justine’s role encompassed researching the current state of education surrounding sustainability including the various pedagogical models being used by other schools and programs around the world. This then developed into craft...

In our second episode concerning the intersection of the ecological and cultural heritage conservation fields, we learn about an academic think tank called the Natureculture Lab that was held in January 2025. Hanna B. Hölling, Sven Dupré, co-organizers of the Lab, and Maartje Stols-Witlox, co-author of one of the lectures, speak with Lindsey about the beneficial relationship that both conservation...

In our first of two back to back episodes concerning the overlap between ecological conservation and cultural heritage conservation, Lindsey speaks with Dr Jordan Teisher director of the herbarium at the Missouri Botanic Gardens in St Louis Missouri. Herbariums and other natural history collections contain a wealth of human heritage even if socially we no longer associate them with ‘art’ or other...

Finding safer alternatives to hazardous solvents not only has a positive impact on our planet's health, but also the health of conservation professionals who use the solvents. Very often the problem solving skills that conservators use in determining treatment options already includes a degree of 'sustainability' without perhaps giving it that label. In this episode, Roxy speaks with Rosie Graybur...

Continuing our conversation with Latin American conservators, Roxy speaks with Josefa Orrego Trincado is preventative conservator based in Santiago, Chile. Josefa’s recent MA thesis focused on the approaches that LA conservators take to be sustainable. While many don’t use the language specifically, their actions and perspectives often are congruent with sustainable action. Due to financial and lo...

The most common questions that are emailed to the Sustainability Committee relate to disposable gloves. Co-chair of the committee, Kate Fugett, talks to Roxy about an article that she co-wrote in 2022 about the environmental impact of glove manufacturing and waste, as well as the impact on global human health. While there often isn't a satisfying solution for a truly 'sustainable glove', Kate lays...

The ⁠UN's Sustainable Development Goals⁠ (SDGs) considers sustainability through a more holistic paradigm including many themes concerning social, economic, and environmental impacts. Combining many of these themes, Roxy speaks with Bianca Gonçalves, an independent paintings conservator, about her lived experience in Europe, Australia, and Brazil and how it has impacted her perception of the conse...

“If it was once alive, we can compost it”. Mary Beth and Erlene talk to Lindsey about the nuances of composting plant and animal based materials, from food scraps, to yard waste, to materials we use in conservation labs. They “break down” the differences between the types of composting techniques, what options people around the US might have available to them and where to get started.= 58% of the...

What happens when man-made materials in the archaeological context are agents of deterioration themselves? Prof John Schofield talks to Lindsey about his research in York, England studying the impact of microplastics on archaeological sites and its implications for future studies. The presence of micro and nano-plastics in rainwater means that plastics are omnipresent throughout the planet. As con...

Through "A Green New Deal for Archives", Eira showcases how by looking at the past, we can project a manageable way forward towards mobilizing a sustainable workforce within the cultural heritage field, to benefit all communities around the US. Many archival institutions - formal or grassroots - are understaffed to handle current needs, let alone to be successfully adaptive to future climate chang...

Soraya Alcala of the MFA Houston joins Roxy for a conversation about her institution’s involvement in the multinational project: HORIZONS Greenart. MFAH joins the TATE, LACMA and the MET in a crowd-sourcing experiment of new materials for paintings, paper, and objects conservation, often trialing the same treatment on works by the same artist. From establishing a collective agreement on the meanin...

Our understanding of preventive conservation can often be an underutilized asset for collecting institutions. As the climate continues to change and impact our spaces, we must be adaptable and that starts with being well-informed. Conservators can be the data collectors concerning collections' spaces and their climate, but aren't often involved in the mechanical side of our climate maintenance. Ad...

As climate change continues to increase the intensity and quantity of natural disasters per year, museums and other cultural heritage institutions need to be informed and proactive about the future. Building upon our field's emergency response knowledge, conservators can utilize their skills beyond the bench and take active roles in the safety and resiliency of the institution and their communitie...

Since 1921, Trefler Restoration has focused on the maintenance and longevity of historic and sentimental objects for individuals and institutions alike. While their priority of maintaining as much of an original piece remains, they've branched out into creative ways of thinking about reuse and modification for future generations. Head Furniture Conservator, Bernard Murphy, and Projects Manager, Al...

Exhibits produce a significant amount of waste over a short period of time often due the prioritization of custom mounts which cannot be reused. However for objects of similar size and proportion, like books, modularity and simplicity are not only possible, but ideal when it comes to mounts. Thermoplastics like acrylic and PETG are standard materials for cradles used by most museums and libraries...

On November 15th, 2022, protestors from Last Generation targeted Klimt’s painting Death and Life as part of their performative activism , exclaiming: “We have known the problem for 50 years. We must finally act. The planet is becoming ruined…Agriculture will no longer work…or do we continue to destroy our world with fossil fuels. Death or Life, that is the decision we have to make now.” (Youtube-g...