The Learning Team at Manchester Museum have come up with a number of objects that we would want to put in a Carbon Ruins exhibition.
Please note that we are sharing these to give you a better sense of the scope and range of objects that could be submitted. We also hope that you find these useful to show how narratives can be used to tell the story of an object and how it represents the change that has happened. You will also notice that the labels have been written with an audience of educators in mind.
Coal (South Yorkshire)
On display here we have the mother of all fossil fuels: coal! This was the fossil fuel responsible for most emissions and pollution during the fossil era.
By 2021 just 3 coal fired power stations remained active in the UK and it appeared that we were on target to phase out coal fully by 2025. The energy and cost of living crises of 2022 threw a spanner in the works and in spite of mass protests, the remaining three stations were kept open until 2028.
Even after the closure of the last coal power station in 2028, it remained available as a ‘back-up’ for a further decade and was reactivated on two further occasions during the 2030s. It took a period of political unrest and another energy crisis in the 2030s before the UK fully committed to renewable power sources.
Alongside the growth of renewables, the UK eventually launched a national funding scheme to subsidise the retrofitting of insulation and efficient systems within homes and businesses. This, along with a change in lifestyles – reducing energy use and waste – has seen the UK finally overcome its long term addiction to coal.
The National Curriculum in England (2013/2014)
Two decades after the 2013/14 National Curriculum in England, and after years of politically-driven revisions, the National Curriculum in England was finally withdrawn.
When the Sustainable Development Goals failed to be met by 2030, we were forced to admit that business as usual was not working. Educators started to reflect upon the impacts of a system that reinforced human exceptionalism and took the joy out of learning.
It was not simple but when schools were eventually extracted from the political system, and teachers were handed back the autonomy to deliver relevant content through a local, place-based curriculum, a new era emerged.
By 2050 education has a shared purpose of promoting ecological justice by teaching the arts of living respectfully and responsibly on a damaged planet and learning to survive well together.
iPhone 5c (c. 2013)
The smartphone became an essential part of everyday life for children and adults alike and by 2025 full 5G coverage meant that over 98% of the UK population (5 years and over) owned at least 1 smartphone. The design of these status symbols included “in-built obsolescence” and their purposefully limited life spans required regular replacement; guaranteeing market profits.
As the mountain of discarded mobile phones reached a peak in 2030, a lucrative new mining industry emerged around the extraction of valuable raw materials from mobile phones. As the raw materials used in mobile phones became depleted, and with the 2035 law that banned the extraction and trading of raw materials for mobile phones, tech companies were forced to transform the smartphone industry.
Based on the recycling of raw materials in old phones and the redesign of handsets to enable fixing and the replacement of individual parts, the 2040s saw a new era of smartphones. While the smart phone remains a must-have, it is now purchased once and continually updated and fixed by the owner.
Single-Use Plastic Bag (2014)
Single use plastic carrier bags used to be given out free in supermarkets and shops and people would use them once or twice before throwing them away.
Plastic bags take hundreds of years to decompose so even when people threw them away, they didn’t disappear. With the discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 1997, it became apparent that a lot of our discarded plastic bags were ending up in the oceans.
When the UK government introduced a 5p charge for plastic bags in 2015, people started to think twice about using them. However, it wasn’t until the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 series was broadcast in 2018, that the public really took note of the problem. Film footage of plastic bags floating in the ocean and being eaten by turtles and albatrosses shocked the public into action. This along with the UK plastic bag charge doubling to 10p in 2021 marked the real turning point in our addiction to plastic bags.
By 2022 there had been a 97% reduction in the use of single use plastic bags compared to 2015. It took another 5 years for the UK to stop producing single use plastic bags and replace them with more sustainable canvas bags for life.
Fast Fashion Garment (manufactured by SHEIN c. 2021)
This garment, manufactured by Shein, was worn just a few times before it was discarded: a classic example of ‘Fast Fashion’. At it’s peak the Fast Fashion industry was a trillion dollar market, and one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Our addiction to cheap, disposable fashion caused over 10% of fossil fuel emissions, yet over 80% of textiles produced ended up in landfill.
Fast Fashion companies, like Shein, ruled the markets by constantly inventing new trends. People would want to keep up with the latest styles and some even went as far as purchasing hundreds of items of clothing and displaying them online as ‘hauls’ for their followers to admire.
By the early 2020s, people were starting to realise the destruction being caused by these so-called Fast Fashion brands, and some began to boycott them. As environmental concerns grew, so too did questions about worker’s rights and the conditions of those involved in making these garments. Gradually the social media ‘influencers’ who had previously promoted these brands were ‘cancelled’ for lying to their fans. Influencing became out of touch and embarrassing, and Fast Fashion soon followed.
The final demise of Fast Fashion came in 2027 when the UK government announced restrictions on the amount of waste that companies could legally produce and fines for companies who sent too many products to landfill. With sales already low, Shein announced its bankruptcy just a few months after other fast-fashion giants Boohoo and Primark had done the same.
The end of Fast Fashion has meant that people now re-wear outfits, repair clothes if they break, and buy second-hand when they really need something new.
Carbon Ruins, Manchester 