Climate change is affecting museums, their communities, and all of humanity. As trusted institutions with significant influence and resources, museums have the power to help avert the worst case outcomes, through skillful use of information and thoughtful planning. How can museum professionals stay up to date on climate risk and climate action? How can they reduce their own climate impact, while helping their communities adapt?

Join CFM director Elizabeth Merritt for Future Chats—a new series from AAM exploring trends, breaking news, and implications for our sector. On Wednesday, August 14, Elizabeth will chat with special guest Marcy Rockman, a leading expert in climate change and cultural heritage, with US-national and international experience in climate change science, cultural heritage management, and policy. 

After the chat, participants will join virtual discussion groups to explore the implications for museums of one recent climate story and share their own experiences coping with climate extremes in their communities, on their operations, and in their programs.

General portions of this Future Chat will be recorded. Breakout discussions will not be recorded and are only available to live participants.

Speakers:

Marcy Rockman is an archaeologist with experience in national and international climate change policy. Her research focus is landscape learning, which explores how humans gather, remember, and share environmental information, and she’s used this to address situations as diverse as cultural resource management in the American West and homeland security risk communication in Washington, DC. From 2011-2018 she served with the US National Park Service (NPS) as the inaugural Climate Change Adaptation Coordinator for Cultural Resources. Recently, she’s held a range of policy and research roles, including developing heritage capacity for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), working with climate, heritage, and conflict with ICCROM, and developing climate-focused hearings for the U.S. Congress. Marcy holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona, and B.Sc. in Geology from the College of William and Mary.

Elizabeth Merritt is AAM’s vice president for strategic foresight, and founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums—a think-tank and research & development lab for the museum field. She is the author of the Alliance’s annual TrendsWatch report, and writes and speaks prolifically on the trends shaping the future of nonprofit organizations. (M.A. Duke University, B.S. Yale University, Museum Management Institute).

Registration has closed.

This is the first in a series of Future Chats that will be scheduled in 2024—stay tuned for more details!

The statements and opinions expressed by panelists, hosts, attendees, or other participants of this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of, nor are endorsed by, the American Alliance of Museums.