Open Forum

Museums as Catalysts for Climate Action

Contending with the climate crisis at scale requires a transformation of our public culture. As deeply trusted and popular institutions, museums have the responsibility to mobilize for climate progress. A supermajority of American adults support bold climate action, but we perceive ourselves to be in the minority, and thus remain silent. Arts and cultural programming on climate can help us move toward courage, connectedness, and agency, accelerating a necessary shift toward climate dialogue and action.

Siobhan Starrs (Moderator) is an exhibition developer and project manager at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian). Her most recent exhibition project is "Deep Time" at the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils. "Deep Time" covers Earth's entire living history, shows that all life is connected, and explains that humans are now shaping all life on Earth.

Lisa Thompson, Exhibit Developer at the Natural History Museum of Utah, led content development for A Climate of Hope, a new climate change exhibit at the Natural History Museum that seeks to inspire rational hope and foster productive dialogue around shared values. Thompson is also a co-PI on an NSF-AISL project conducting in-depth visitor research on the learning strategies employed in A Climate of Hope to build knowledge that can be applied across the museum field. She collaborates on climate solutions projects with a variety of partners in Utah.

Miranda Massie directs NYC's Climate Museum, the first climate-dedicated museum in the US. The Museum mobilizes arts and cultural programming to invite visitors into climate engagement. Massie is active in several coalitions focused on climate and culture, serves on numerous international design juries, and speaks frequently on the need to integrate climate across the cultural sector. She is a Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.