Special issue editorial

Abstract

Reflection from Sarah Demb, Coeditor The theme of this issue, Records management in the Anthropocene: pathways and challenges presented by climate change was set in motion over five years ago by a Harvard study group entitled Catastrophic Risk: Technologies and Policy that I attended, which was run by Cryptographer and Data Security Expert Bruce Schneier in autumn of 2015. Climate scientists develop models projecting how various emissions scenarios over decades may affect everything from global average temperature to sea-level rise to glacier melt. Whether it is carbon capture for greenhouse gas emissions or blockchain for recordkeeping, advances in technology are often presented as the primary and even singular solution by which complicated problems will be resolved. Commentary on the papers in this special issue In this stage of the Anthropocene, records management presents us with a neat paradox – the processes that create, maintain, deliver and preserve records, which currently rely primarily on fossil fuels and their greenhouse gas outputs, are themselves agents of the climate change threatening our records and archives.