The Challenge
How can museum collections help communities reimagine their relationship with climate change and envision more resilient futures?
The fenlands of East England face a climate paradox. Emissions from UK peatland increase the UK's total emissions by 3.5% each year, yet the communities living on this land often feel disconnected from conversations about climate action. As water tables drop and emissions rise, there's growing urgency around fenland management strategies—but these discussions frequently happen without the voices of those who will be most affected.
Traditional climate engagement often relies on fear-based messaging or technical solutions that feel abstract and disempowering. Meanwhile, museum collections sit largely untapped as resources for climate dialogue, despite containing centuries of human responses to environmental and social challenges. And young people, particularly those in rural communities, face a dual burden of climate anxiety and limited agency in shaping their own futures.
At the Fitzwilliam Museum, medieval illuminated manuscripts tell stories of alternative social structures, ways of living without fossil fuels, and of life in the fenlands before they were drained. Yet these histories remain disconnected from contemporary climate conversation.
We envisioned a project to bridge the gap between historical wisdom embedded in museum collections and the urgent need for communities to envision and shape their own climate-resilient futures.
