NEW YORK—The American Museum of Natural History previewed it’s new exhibition ‘Climate Change: The Threat to Life and a New Energy Future’ on Tuesday. It opens to the public on October 18 and runs through to August 16, 2009. The exhibition will begin an international tour to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Mexico and South America in January 2009.
Climate Change aims to explain the currently understood science of climate change and the implications of unchecked climate change for future generations. The information displayed is eye opening and sobering. But there is hope, a light at the end of the Climate Change tunnel.
“This exhibition on climate change endeavors to empower visitors to understand and address this urgent and complex global challenge,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History.
“Presenting the latest information about what climate change is, what causes it, and alternative energy options, the exhibition makes clear both that there is no single solution for addressing this imperative issue and that a combination of individual and societal actions are necessary to and can successfully mitigate it. In addressing climate change, the museum is seeking to demystify one of the most pressing and difficult issues of our time, and to educate and better enable individuals to make thoughtful and wise choices for our shared future.”
As you enter the gallery, the first thing you’ll see is a 60 foot long time line, dating from the year 1600 to today. Along side a panoramic illustration of technological advances since the Industrial Revolution is a red LED line tracking the corresponding rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. CO2 is basically stable up until the early to mid 1900’s when it began a rapid increase.
Through interactive stations and videos as well as dioramas conveying the latest scientific concepts and research, the exhibition presents evidence that human activity over the past three hundred years—including especially, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and other changes in land use—has dramatically altered the natural world. Greenhouse gases like CO2 have increased rapidly in the atmosphere, which scientists conclude changes the Earth’s climate.
The exhibit proposes what could happen in the future, how global warming could severely stress human societies and damage ecosystems by causing sea levels to rise, increasing the incidence of drought and intense storms, drastically raising temperatures, and other changes to the world around us.
“Climate Change presents the compelling scientific evidence for global warming as a result of human activity. At the same time it acknowledges the areas where the understanding of the problem, its impacts, and its solutions are less certain,” said Michael Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost for Science at the American Museum of Natural History. “Yet the basic message is that the problem is real and, given the right decisions and strategies, we have the means to deal with it.”
The exhibition focuses on solutions and moving away from independence on fossil fuels. It also teaches visitors how they can help by making simple changes in their everyday life, such as taking mass transit instead of driving, using energy efficient appliances, and paying your bills online (to save the trees).
“The exhibition couldn’t be more timely because the window of opportunity to fix this problem is closing fast. But, as the exhibit shows, the future still remains largely in our hands,” said Curator Michael Oppenheimer.
The exhibit has some big time sponsors. Bank of America recently announced a $20 billion, 10-year corporate initiative to address climate change, and the exhibit received part of those proceeds. The Rockefeller Foundation also chipped in with part of their $70 million fund dedicated to countering the global climate crisis.
Before exiting the exhibition visitors get the last word, with the opportunity to write down their thoughts and concerns for the future, ask questions, and read the responses of others, which are all clipped to a 12-foot wall. One child drew a picture of a spaceman standing next to a tree. He wrote, “Since trees are able to absorb so much CO2, why not plant a whole bunch out in space, and let them do the work.”
