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Meg
Domroese: So you've heard now about the science that we're interested
in conveying: how this was mounted in an exhibition, what the role
of an exhibition is in an institution, and, finally what people already
know and what they want to learn in a place like that. So what I want
to talk about is how is this Hall of Biodiversity is a resource, and
how can we make the information presented there accessible to a variety
of audiences.
You've heard about the themes of the Hall, the four questions that
organize the exhibition. What is biodiversity and why is it important?
That's a theme presented throughout the Hall, but especially in the
Spectrum of Life and the habitats. What Joel talked about in terms
of the diorama actually addresses all four of our thematic questions,
including, What are the threats facing biodiversity and what can we
do to stem the tide? These four questions are all dealt with in a
specific place in the Central African Republic. What I especially
want to focus on is the fourth question because at the Center for
Biodiversity and Conservation, what we do is work to focus the museum's
scientific, education, and exhibition efforts on really getting people
motivated and involved: how to raise people's consciousness about
biodiversity, the importance of conserving it, and how to motivate
them to act.
A couple of our panelists referred to the term "biodiversity" and
how well people understand it. The decision was made to just get it
out there, which you can see in the Museum's publicity effort when
the Hall opened. The challenges, however, that you've been hearing
about stem from the fact that it's a very complex term. Since biodiversity
relates to many aspects of our lives and the world around us, there's
a lot of information that could potentially be covered, and that's
very daunting. And how do you make it real to people?
In the Hall, one of the ways that this complexity is dealt with is
by layering information so that people have different access points.
So some of them come in and see specimens and models. They see this
diorama. They enter it. They have an experience that's a real wow
for them. But there are others who really want to go deeper into what
is there, and in this example from the Spectrum of Life, visitors
can find out what each of the specimens is called. They're all identified.
There's information about where they live and how they're important,
as well as how they relate within the ecosystem—what the ecosystem
services are that support these species. And, finally, they can also
go on a tour. One of the tours of the vertebrates features Joel as
the guide, and it's on one of these computer kiosks. The part, however,
that I want to focus on is the section that's behind the rain forest—the
resource center that a couple of panelists have referred to—to
emphasize how this method of layering information allows people to
come in and learn as much as they like and feel motivated to come
back and learn more.
The resource center has two sides to it. It emphasizes some of the
threats to biodiversity. Our scientific panel yesterday talked about
how overpopulation and consumption are major root causes of biodiversity
loss; that's one of the categories here. This panel deals with urbanization
and agriculture, and talks especially about New York City.
There are several videos, and this section in particular has a very
powerful video that illustrates population growth. Maybe some of you
saw that one when you were there. It shows how population growth is
really happening in an exponential way and it just explodes across
the map. Following that, however, is a set of maps that morph to show
other information, not just about population, but, even more importantly,
about wealth and energy consumption and how different areas of the
world could be sized differently based on how people live there.
Increasing resource demand is, of course, a huge problem. An example
given here is one family's possessions in Japan versus in India and
it really emphasizes how in different places of the world, people
are consuming much more than they really should be, and how this is
a real problem. Other categories that are dealt with here are the
direct effects on biodiversity, including over-exploitation of fisheries
and forests. Some of the others are side effects, that Ross MacPhee
and others talked about yesterday: spreading alien species and introducing
species and how this disrupts ecosystems, affects our own health,
and has a variety of impacts on biodiversity. And global effects,
such as pollution of the atmosphere and the oceans which are threatening
Earth's ecosystems. And then the tragic and irreversible effects,
which are, obviously, when species go extinct and they're not coming
back.
Ellen alluded to a temporary exhibit called "Endangered" that came
before the opening of the Biodiversity Hall. That exhibit gave us
a chance, as she said, to test out how audiences respond to information.
Clearly this exhibit was very powerful in its message about extinctions
and what a serious problem this is and how humans are driving extinctions,
but people came away from that show feeling powerless, to some extent,
and really wanting to know what could they do. So, in the Biodiversity
Hall, we did not leave people with just the grim picture, but pointed
out that, as all of us have been saying here today, individuals can
make a difference.
David talked about the parts of the Hall that can be updated, and
this is an example of one of those, the Biobulletin. What's featured
here—and changes several times throughout the year — are
stories about new discoveries in biodiversity, what people are doing
to learn more about biodiversity and to conserve it. There are several
categories of responses, or conservation approaches, that are highlighted.
One is reducing resource demand. If we're saying that two root causes
are overpopulation and overconsumption, then obviously one of the
solutions is to decrease how many resources people are using.
Each one of these categories features an introduction and an explanation
of what it means, as well as case studies. There's some really inspiring
stories of how people are being successful, how groups are working
to conserve biodiversity, and examples of what individuals can do.
In the case of reducing resource demand, there are examples of fuel
alternatives, energy-efficient appliances, looking for recycled or
organic materials and products, and community-based projects—especially
for women. One idea that I'd like to feature is resource outreach
because that's the kind of work that I'm involved in and that goal
is what the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation is working on
within the American Museum of Natural History. It's basically putting
science to work for biodiversity conservation through collaborative
field projects in various places around the world that are very rich
in biodiversity but not so well off in terms of resources to set up
conservation and management initiatives.
We also train conservation professionals in these places as well as
the New York metropolitan area, and we assist other museums by holding
forums, like today's. We've had some very successful collaborations
with the Museum exhibition department in terms of training professionals
in other areas of the world, like Madagascar and Guatemala. And by
improving communication among scientists, policy makers, and concerned
citizens, we hope to promote better understanding of ecological and
social issues and better address conservation.
Other categories of solutions include protection and restoration—the
importance of setting aside areas or restoring ecosystems to their
former state. A couple of others are laws and regulations and management
for biodiversity.
I encourage you if you have an opportunity to go back to this part
of the Hall to really explore the information that is available to
you there on the kiosks, where you can learn about things to do. You
can e-mail organization web sites with resources and groups that are
working to address conservation. There are titles of books that are
very useful—and there's a lot of information in the Hall. And
it's organized so that diverse audiences can get at it in terms of
their own experience, their prior knowledge, their level of interest,
and the amount of time that they're willing to spend in the Hall.
The information is layered, but technology enables them to find the
access points appropriate for them. We certainly need to build on
this exhibition as a resource, because the information is very complex
and somewhat overwhelming. I don't know how many of you walked in
there and immediately picked up on four questions that we're trying
to convey. But what all this means is that the museum is really making
an effort to expand on the exhibit's message so that people like you
and many others feel empowered to be a part of the conservation process.
Some of the Museum's various educational efforts were described this
morning by our panelists. These programs target important audiences
like educators and students, and young children and their families.
I want to describe a few other projects that reach out to the scientific
community, as well as to other professionals in the New York City
area, with the objective of motivating people to act.
Our Spring symposia have been mentioned several times. One of those,
"Biodiversity and Climate Change," clearly picked up on one of the
themes highlighted in the Hall of Biodiversity. Other symposia have
been on past extinctions and preventing extinctions, which we did
in collaboration with Ross MacPhee; and another about the value of
plants, animals, and microbes to human health. The one that we held
just recently, "Nature and Fragments: the Legacy of Urban Sprawl,"
covered an issue that is very much in the media, but that is most
often dealt with in terms of quality-of-life issues like transportation
and pollution, and not really specifically about biodiversity. So
in all of these symposia, we're seeking to convene scientists, conservation
professionals, and other people in the community to talk across their
various interests or specialties or disciplines to get at aspects
of important issues for our society that also relate to biodiversity.
Another strategy that we've used is to target the New York metropolitan
area with a series of evening programs. These programs are little
bit of preaching to the choir, and I would have to say that we're
looking to bring new audiences and further develop this idea. Basically,
the people who came to this event were interested already to some
extent in biodiversity, but felt like they really needed some specific
tools to know what they could do as individuals. That's what these
programs dealt with: your food, water, energy use, and overall consumption
in terms of biodiversity. We brought together a panel of people who
talked about these issues. This is the panel from "Biodiversity and
Your Food." We had a scientist who talked about fishes; a chef who
serves only organic food in his restaurant as part of a chef's collaborative;
and someone representing Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet who's
active both at the national level in organics legislation, as well
as at the community and household level. They talked about things
that really matter in people's homes, and the kinds of decisions that
they make. And the audience had an opportunity to ask them the questions
that they really wanted answers to and to interact with other groups,
who had resources for people who wanted to get engaged and active
in their communities.
The Hall and the educational programs that you heard about this morning,
as well as the ones that I've just described, offer a lot of resources
to teachers and also serve as models for other museums and nature
centers. We certainly welcome your ideas, based on your experiences,
and what you see while you're here at the museum. As Ellen said, there's
more we could do. We worked very hard in the Biodiversity Hall to
present a positive message and to give information that would be useful
for people to get involved in conservation themselves, but they still
came away with questions about what they could do. I think that's
always going to be an issue, and, as Ellen said, it's something we're
always struggling with in our society, and despite our efforts, it's
still there. Basically, what it comes down to are partnerships, communication,
and meeting people where they are and developing a dialogue that's
relevant to their concerns—as is illustrated in this drawing.
This is taken from a manual in the Center for Biodiversity that we've
developed to train educators in Bolivia, in Madagascar, and at some
of our other field sites. It's basically a universal approach: knowing
your audience, talking to them about things that really concern them,
and working together to meet the challenge of conserving biodiversity.
Thanks.
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