23^rd to 27^th February was the University of Oxford’s Green Action Week, and this year’s theme was: ‘The top 5 things to do for the environment’.   

Recently, I was certified Carbon Literate by The Carbon Literacy Project. Over two half-day sessions attended by colleagues from across the Garden, Libraries & Museums (GLAM), we discussed the causes and consequences of climate change, and explored opportunities to effect change in the workplace. At the end of the course, we pledged to take two actions: one as an individual, one as part of a group. So, Green Action Week has arrived at a perfect time as an opportunity to turn words into action!

Green Action in Libraries

In 2022, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) launched the Green Libraries Campaign. Since then, hundreds of libraries—including the Bodleian Libraries—have signed the Manifesto. We have also experienced three of the warmest years on record, reflecting a warming trend that spans over a century and shows no signs of abating. 

Institutions in the cultural sector are uniquely positioned to shape the narrative of climate change through knowledge-sharing, preservation, and storytelling. The Museum of Climate Hope, for example, is a collaborative multimedia storytelling project featuring items from across six GLAM institutions, including the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Oxfordshire and Shikshapatri in the Weston Library. Community action and partnership form core aspects of the Green Libraries Manifesto. In the spirit of this, Green Impact teams are at work across the Bodleian Libraries and the wider University to further the University’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy.  

GLAM finalised their Net Zero Strategy in 2024. That same year, purchases, electricity, and fuels constituted the largest sources of GLAM’s carbon emissions, totalling over 9000 tCO₂e. That’s approximately 1600 times the UK’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 (5.6 tCO₂e per person).  

Since then, we have made progress in several areas to mitigate emissions, particularly from fuels, electricity and waste. LED lighting was rolled out in museums alongside the replacement of gas humidifiers, while passive design strategies were trialled in buildings. In more recent news, the recently completed Schwarzman Centre has become the largest Passivhaus certified university building in Europe. GLAM continues to engage with the public through lectures, conferences, workshops and events. 

In this post, we’ve showcased examples of green action in our libraries, along with items in our collections relating to environmental change.

Bodleian Old Library – Rebecca

Often, when we discuss climate change what we’re really referring to is anthropogenic climate change. That is, the climate forcing associated with human activities—such as fossil fuel combustion and land use change—that are collectively driving a net increase in Earth’s energy. We experience this as global warming. But the climate is inherently variable. It has been changing throughout the Earth’s history, albeit at a considerably slower rate than today.  

Understanding how the climate has changed in the past is crucial to understanding how it’s changing in the present. Historical evidence exists not just in geological or biological forms, but also in proxy data (i.e. indirect observations) such as literature, art, and written records. For example, a study by Trouet et al. (2016) connected records from the 15^th to 19^th century of Spanish shipwrecks in the Caribbean to climatic changes affecting the tropical cyclone activity in the same period. 

So, if you’re reading around climate change, don’t overlook our English Literature collection. Those of you interested in gothic literature may be familiar with the ‘Year Without a Summer’ (1816), a phenomenon that influenced contemporary works such as Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ (1818). When Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, it ejected massive amounts of volcanic ash and aerosols into the atmosphere, resulting in global cooling. Fast-forwarding to the Industrial Revolution, Charles Dickens’ ‘Hard Times for These Times’ (1854) famously depicts the consequences of rapid industrialisation on society. Anthropogenic influences on the environment even emerges as a central theme in Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’ (1928). 

For a scientific perspective on climate change, there is a diverse humanities collection in the Gladstone Link, alongside a more modest history of science collection in the Upper Reading Room (e.g., ‘Historical Perspectives on Climate Change’). Meanwhile, in the Duke Humfrey’s, titles such as ‘Early Science in Oxford’ offer insight into the evolution of climate and meteorological research in Oxford. 

But our penchant for preservation can be a double-edged sword. Decarbonising heritage buildings such as the Old Library and Radcliffe Camera (both Grade I listed buildings) proves troublesome owing to additional planning permissions and the risk of harm to features of historic or architectural interest. This doesn’t mean change is impossible. In 2014, the New Bodleian, a Grade II listed building, re-opened as the Weston Library following a three-year renovation project. Despite a major glow-up, 88% of the original façade was retained and key heritage features preserved. The contractors even repurposed 140 tonnes of salvaged stone from a former extension, bolstering the building’s sustainability credentials. The Weston remains a prime example, having earned several architectural awards including the Architects’ Journal 2016 Retrofit Award and the RIBA National Award 2016. 

Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library – Olly

The wide range of topics covered in the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World library means we have a lot of books about how the environment and climate crisis are portrayed in art, how historically people have interacted with their environment and how changing environmental conditions intersect with archaeological findings and the practises used in the field.  

Archaeology intersects with the natural environment both by the practice of digging into the ground or searching bodies of water- and by using knowledge of climates, flora and fauna to glean information about what is found there. ‘Understanding imperiled earth: how archaeology and human history inform a sustainable future’(2024) argues that we can use archaeology to learn how humans have lived in their environment, and that this can inform how we navigate the climate crisis, changing distribution of species and biodiversity loss. 

In our art and architecture collections we have plenty of eco-criticism books that interrogate how ecology and nature are used in visual art, and how interpretations can change amidst a climate and biodiversity crisis. ‘Picture ecology: art and ecocriticism in planetary perspective’(2021) and ‘The origins of the world: the invention of nature in the 19th century’ (2021) each cover eco-criticism in the art world, the former in a broad look at several disciplines, countries and time periods, and the latter with a focus on 19^th century European painting.  

In our architecture collection we have literature to encourage thinking about the sustainability of our buildings- not just from a perspective of energy use and waste, but how buildings can be designed with a changing climate in mind. ‘Architecture: from prehistory to climate emergency’ (2021) tells the story of energy and architecture over the past 15,000 years, examining the energy used to construct them and how energy influenced their design. Given that the buildings and construction sector account for 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions and that the median thermal efficiency of houses in England and Wales is 68.5%, it’s vital that we think about how architecture interacts with the surrounding environment.  

Managing the heating of a large building is difficult, especially when you have to consider the preservation of books. Despite this, at the Art library (thanks to efforts by our Finance and Administrator Officer Elisabet Almunia) energy use has decreased by approximately 60% from 2007 to 2025, and 2026 has had lower energy use for January and February than previous years. Changing our air handling units to work at lower capacity when occupancy is lower, reducing the number of humidifiers needed by replacing them with more efficient ones and replacing all lights in the buildings with LEDs has dramatically reduced the energy needed to keep the Art library running. We’ve also just set up a Green Team at the Art library, with one of our preliminary aims being to improve how users of the building, staff and readers alike, engage with their energy use.  

Social Science Library – Summer

We’ve got an active Green Team here at the SSL, working hard this year to win a Gold Award in Green Impact, a UN award-winning environmental accreditation scheme. Green Impact is implemented across the University and GLAM (Gardens, Libraries and Museums), and provides a toolkit for staff and students to help meet the University’s mission of reaching net zero carbon and achieving biodiversity net gain by 2035. 

To mark Green Action Week, we currently have a Green Action week book display up and are regularly posting sustainability tips for our readers on social media and the library’s display screens.  At the moment, we’re particularly promoting plant-based eating, as food production accounts for around 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As staff, we’re also very good at making tasty vegan snacks for our team meetings! 

The combination of geography, politics and refugee studies within our collection means we hold a wide range of books examining the climate crisis and the inherent inequalities in how it is experienced around the world. In ‘Just earth : how a fairer world will save the planet’ (2025), Tony Juniper explores how inequality lies at the heart of the lack of effective global action on climate change, highlighting the intersecting relationship between affluence and environmental destruction. In 2019, the richest 1% of the world’s population produced as much carbon pollution as the five billion people who make up the poorest two-thirds. Juniper argues that only by addressing wealth inequality and promoting a fairer society can we successfully tackle the climate crisis. He sets out a ten-point plan for change, emphasising wellbeing and sustainable consumption over a narrow focus on GDP growth. 

Alongside works exploring policy and economic debates around climate action, the SSL’s refugee studies collection includes significant material on the growing plight of climate refugees and migrants. ‘Climate Migration: Critical Perspectives for Law, Policy and Research’ (2014) and ‘Immigration control in a warming world : realizing the moral challenges of climate migration’ (2018) both examine concerns about the future impact of climate-driven displacement. Estimates vary widely, projecting between 50 and 500 million additional migrants by 2050. In an age of rising anti-immigrant sentiment and increasingly restrictive immigration policies in the West, Keyserlingk, in Immigration Control in a Warming World, explores potential solutions that could help mitigate this growing crisis, while also critiquing current political inaction in the face of mounting evidence. 

Looking Forward

Green Action Week may have come to an end, but the climate crisis continues to mount. While a little goes a long way, ‘quick wins’ only go so far in achieving decarbonisation. To achieve sustained reductions in carbon emissions, technological solutions must be accompanied by culture change. Hopefully, this post shows how everyone can contribute to the conversation and every voice counts.

If you’re looking for opportunities to get involved in climate action, check out Reach Volunteering and environmentjob.co.uk. For groups local to Oxford, see the University of Oxford’s Community Links.