How to display environmental protection in museums

In order to better utilize the educational functions of museums as public welfare cultural institutions, on September 20, the public welfare and environmental protection activity "Learning from the Past - Museums and Sustainable Society" was launched at the Hubei Provincial Museum. In 6 weeks, environmental protection experts from multiple fields gave 12 public lectures to the audience. At the event site, the beverage bottles discarded by the audience were created by the artist into the installation art "Water and Earth"; three giant cube display panels told in the form of comic strips "What is World Clean Earth Day", "What happened to the earth?" "Ancient people" "Green Smart Life" and other content. The giant projection screen reproduces the shocking environmental pollution in life, arousing the audience's desire to sort garbage and recycle it. Under the explanations of volunteers, from the life span of an orange peel to the life and death journey of a plastic bag, glass, batteries, beverage bottles and other common garbage in daily life were "experienced" to promote the concept of environmentally friendly life. After seeing so many environmental realities, in front of a gramophone in the shape of an ancient "fuso tree", the audience can record their own voice on environmental protection and pass it on to more people. Many viewers said: They were deeply impressed and educated when they saw so much domestic garbage "displayed" in a museum displaying cultural relics. Protecting the environment on earth is everyone's responsibility, and it must start with me, starting today.

The public welfare and environmental protection activity "Learning from the Past - Museums and a Sustainable Society" was independently planned by five young librarians from the Hubei Provincial Museum's multimedia team. Many of the ideas for the activity came from the Hubei Provincial Museum. The precious collections, such as the "Picture of Hou Yi Shooting the Sun" on the painted wooden suitcase, reflect that the ancients began to pay attention to ecological and climate issues as early as 2,400 years ago. The ancients worked at sunrise and rested at sunset. They did not have portable mobile devices, and their recyclable lifestyle did not produce non-degradable garbage... I hope that the green living wisdom of these ancients who were in harmony with nature can influence us today.

The theme of this year’s International Museum Day is “Museums for a Sustainable Society”. Most of the materials used in this event came from discarded display boards. The project team used the saved funds to produce 1,000 recyclable canvas environmental bags and gave them to the audience, aiming to promote the reduction of the use of plastic bags.

The public welfare and environmental protection activity "Learning from the Past—Museums and a Sustainable Society" will last until October 31. This event was funded by three companies: "Wuhan Internet Co., Ltd.", "Wuhan University Press" and "Antenna Publishing Network". Under the spark and inspiration of creativity, the museum uses a wealth of activities to make serious cultural relics more approachable and to make profound collections easier to understand. Today, the issues discussed in the context of museums are no longer limited to the protection and display of cultural relics, not only the super exhibitions that cost huge sums of money and the bustling scenes of crowded places. By connecting with social development issues, museums can enter real daily life and enter the hearts of the public.

In the museum, we learn the concepts of green life and harmonious society from the wisdom of the ancients: visit in a civilized manner, take photos without flash, ask for promotional materials on demand, and take away the garbage around you...