​Hong Kong climate change museum puts on a show

​Hong Kong climate change museum puts on a show

by staff reporter in 2015 in Hong Kong

The first climate change museum in Asia is located in building on the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and it's become a model museum for climate activists and art curators around the world hoping to build similar exhibitons in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

​Could it

 happen here,

​too? But while a 

climate museum  would be a good idea, if funds could be raised either from the private sector or the central government,

​ ​

it would be 

​good 

to study how the Hong Kong museum has 

​done 

it.

The Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change, as

​it is formally

​

 known, opened its doors in 2013, and its goal, according to program director Cecilia Lam

​,​

 is to raise awareness of man-made global warming as an educational field trip venue for school children in the former British colony.

"Stories of personal experience are a powerful medium of communication and learning," Lam says. " Our museum has adopted a storytelling approach to take visitors on a journey to the polar areas, as well as to observe and learn the impacts of global warming and see for themselves what scientists and the local community have been doing to help mitigate climate change."

The goal of the museum, according to Lam, is to prod visitors, be they adults or young people, "to ponder their individual responsibility for leaving a sustainable world for future generations."

A U.S. lawyer and climate activist, Miranda Massie, recently flew to Hong Kong to visit the climate museum there, hoping to find ways to bringing her own vision to fruition in New York, where she has set up the so-called Climate Museum

​

Launch Project for an imagined museum that does not exist yet in any physical space yet and mostly likely never will and is currently raising funds and finding an architect to design the place.

With climate change issues in the news on a daily basis now, from a major drought in California to water shortages facing the public (and farmers) worldwide, climate museums will likely find a place in countries around the world. But it will take curators with vision and perseverance to build such exhibitions halls, and patience for the long haul of fund-raising will be key.

​

However, not everyone thinks climate museums can do much to raise the level of global warming awareness. Jonathan Jones, a British art critic writing in the Guardian recently, said that in general museums around the world need to ''stop dumbing down science and start putting education before entertainment.''

"How can a museum deal with [man-made global warming] in a way that is genuinely informative, intelligent, honest and accessible without being patronizing? " Jones asked. "The Science Museum in London has notably failed to do so. Its Atmosphere gallery manages to patronize visitors of all ages. Poorly conceived interactive displays turn climate issues into a bad computer game."

While the growing number of climate museums around the world, from Berlin to Hong Kong, are good ideas on paper, they also need to find a way to teach basic science, he said.

"Only a scientifically-literate public will ever be ready to face the facts about climate change," Jones said.

2015
>
> Dear Sir,
>
>
>
> Thank you for your interest in the Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change (MoCC).
>
>
>
> We should be grateful if you could let us have the following information:-
>
>
>
> 1.      the issue or aspect of the MoCC that you are interested in
.....the ways in which mocc communicates issues of climate change?
> 2.      name of your media / company.......freelance reporter
>
> 3.      the newspaper on which the story about the MoCC will be published (it will be great if you could send us the web link)
>
...print edition and website
> 4.      types of photos preferred (exhibits or environment).....exhibits only
>
> 5.      Apart from three photos and the quote from our director, is there any other information that you would like to have?
>.....that's perfect. Article will be positive to introduce mocc to future visitors

>
>
> Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.  Thank you very much.
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank you for your attention.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> =================================
>

>
> Programme Executive
>
> Office of CUHK Jockey Club Initiative Gaia
>
> The Chinese University of Hong Kong
>
> 3943 3912 | www.cuhk.edu.hk/gaia
>
> =================================
>
>

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