Statement On Climate Change
Minnesota is warming slowly but surely: Over the past 130 years, our state has warmed by nearly three degrees while averaging more than three inches of additional annual rainfall. And although an extra three degrees may sound minor (and even welcome to Minnesotans at times!), its negative impact is not minor. Climate change is real, and so are the challenges it represents. As a society, we have the power to help address these challenges. The Science Museum of Minnesota is committed to sharing what science tells us to help you stay informed about our changing climate. From the environmental research happening every day at our St. Croix Watershed Research Station to the creative strategies that we are employing to mitigate the effects of our warming climate, we are using science to find solutions.
Science Museum of Minnesota’s Climate Change Statement
Human-caused climate change is real. It is urgent. And it is solvable through courageous action informed by science.
Activities such as land use, the burning of fossil fuels, and the clearing of forests are releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are warming and destabilizing our climate, increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, and causing sea levels to rise and oceans to acidify. These changes place great stress on our ecosystems, even here in Minnesota. They affect all of us—and they disproportionately impact communities of color, women, Indigenous groups, and people with limited wealth.
With our exhibitions, education programs, research and collections, leadership, policies, and practices, the Science Museum of Minnesota commits to being a resource on climate change and a hub for climate action. We will amplify collective solutions that ease the impacts of the climate crisis and that enable us all to imagine, design, and realize a better future.
With our mission as our guide, we will:
Inspire learning by sharing data, evidence, and stories from diverse perspectives, especially those of Indigenous cultures. We will develop learning opportunities about both the science of climate change and potential solutions, giving our audiences the tools to understand and take meaningful action.
Inform policy by encouraging policymakers, businesses, and community leaders to make evidence-based decisions. We will lead by example, improving our own climate action work while advocating for climate-forward policies on local, national, and global scales.
Improve lives by embracing climate justice and centering the needs of those most impacted by climate change, because most power lies in the hands of people who are likely to suffer the least. We will demonstrate ways to reduce and eventually eliminate climate-altering emissions.
Tackling human-caused climate change is achievable. Remarkable innovations in how we power our society, raise our food, manage our forests, and sustain our fisheries have already demonstrated powerful economic, employment, equity, education, and environmental benefits. There’s great potential for much more.
At the Science Museum of Minnesota, we commit to climate action. To do this, we will complete an organization-wide review and revision of our programs, practices, and policies each year, and we will make this information publicly available. Please join us in taking action. Together, we will create the change we want to see.