Practicing Archival Sustainability Through Degrowth

As archives continue to face threats from global climate disasters and increased institutional pressure to accomplish more with fewer resources, there is a need to evolve archival practice through a sustainability lens. While archival literature has frequently discussed sustainability practices such as eco-friendly building standards, how to reduce energy consumption, and other green initiatives, less focus has been placed on the underlying structures of unsustainability. This article proposes degrowth as one framework for considering archival sustainability. Degrowth is an ecological, economic, and political theory that advocates for the deliberate reduction of activities that rely on non-renewable resources. This article draws on degrowth literature and archival theory to outline a three-part framework for archival sustainability based on the ideas of minimizing consumption, promoting community, and putting individual well-being first. Together, these principles interrogate archival assumptions and provide archivists with a means to center their work on ethical and sustainable stewardship.