A storm surge threatens to flood Venice, and you can help shopkeepers safeguard their businesses even though you’re 4,000 miles away. An interactive exhibit at the Museum of Science, Boston tasks you with barricading faux storefronts with protective panels to minimize the water damage.
The task is part of “Changing Landscapes: An Immersive Journey,” which takes museum visitors to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites grappling with the effects of climate change. The rising tide at the museum might be digital and the barricades made of foam, but the threat to Venice is all too real.
The historic Italian city of maze-like canals and elegant Renaissance architecture has always been at risk of flooding from the Adriatic Sea. But the danger has increased due in part to global warming, which is melting glaciers and ice sheets, causing sea levels to rise.
According to official city records, Venice has seen 324 high-intensity water events since 1872, and more than half have occurred in the past 30 years. In November 2019, Venice suffered its worst flooding since 1966 when water almost 6 feet high submerged more than 80% of the city. The floods gutted ground floor homes and businesses and devastated centuries-old historic buildings like St. Mark’s Basilica cathedral, one of the city’s most famous structures.
“It’s an apocalyptic disaster… Venice is on its knees,” Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, said after the first day of flooding.
Such is the sobering reality the Museum of Science, Boston wants visitors to consider as they wander through “Changing Landscapes,” which features high-resolution floor-to-ceiling video projections that immerse visitors in the sites, along with tactile models and hands-on activities that underscore the perils these culturally significant locations face.
The exhibit opens January 19 and will be on display in Boston through May 5 before traveling to other museums around North America.
A Third Of Natural Heritage Sites Impacted
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is responsible for protecting almost 1,200 World Heritage Sites across 168 countries, including places as diverse as the Great Barrier Reef, Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, Yosemite National Park and Old Havana. UNESCO estimates that one third of natural World Heritage sites and one in six cultural sites are experiencing the impact of climate change.
“The exhibition serves as a poignant reminder of the fragility of these irreplaceable landmarks and the urgent need for global action to address climate change,” Tim Ritchie, president of the Museum of Science, said in a statement. The exhibit sounds a screeching alarm, but also makes a point of highlighting innovative solutions to mitigate climate change, such as synthetic trees that can capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
In addition to Venice, museum goers travel to the ancient pyramids at Giza to learn how intense heat and rainstorms are imperiling these famous Egyptian antiquities. They visit Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado to see how wildfires fueled by drought erode cliff dwellings carved into rock by ancestral Puebloans.
And they journey to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a remote volcanic island off the coast of Chile in Polynesia whose ecosystem is shifting due to climate change, resulting in a loss of biodiversity both in the sea and on land. The island is known for its moai, the iconic human-shaped statues carved from rock that dot the landscape and are said to house the spirits of the Rapanui ancestors. Rising sea levels are eroding figures along the island’s coast.
“There is an urgent need to give everyone a sense of agency and active hope about the roles that we all play in response to this global crisis,” David Sittenfeld, director of the museum’s Center for the Environment, said in an interview. “It can be very easy to feel either overwhelmed by the changes or feel helpless about them.”
Yearlong Exploration Of Climate Solutions
“Changing Landscapes” is part of the Museum of Science, Boston’s yearlong “Year of the Earthshot,” which will explore climate remedies through in-person and digital programs covering topics such as environmental justice, resilience planning, future agricultural practices and transportation and energy policy. The programming will include virtual tours of green buildings, a youth-focused climate summit, a job fair focused on employment in the environmental sector and a fashion show focused on sustainability.
UNESCO, meanwhile, is developing its first toolkit on climate action. The collection of resources will feature case studies on topics such as climate adaptation, and will include examples of solutions that may help World Heritage sites tackle climate change—tapping local and indigenous knowledge, for example, ecosystem services such as carbon storage or action to reduce the carbon footprint of management operations.
“These places that we treasure and that are vulnerable to the impact of a changing climate,” Sittenfeld said, “are a great way to highlight the fact that places around the world are facing hazards.”
