Event name: National Museum of Natural History
Event time and place: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC October 20, 2024
The Cellphones: Unseen Connections Exhibit provides a few posters, electronic slides, and interactive screens to engage any visitor to walk into the exhibit. Amongst the three strategies, the posters had a large block of text making it difficult to engage myself, the electronic slides were organized neatly which made it easier to consume, whilst the interactive screens were a mix of fun and educational, making it the most effective of the three strategies. Within the exhibit, it provided information about the materials making up the phones, and how it can also negatively affect and impact human rights and the environment. The exhibit also highlights the environmental impact of cellphones through statistics and personal narratives. For example, the creation of a singular cell phone creates 123 pounds of carbon emissions, and the disposal of cellphones can also lead to further carbon emissions and electronic waste. The exhibit also discusses the technological and social impact of cellphones. One technological impact explored was a board of physical items which compared these items before and after the introduction of cellphones. For example, some people dont carry around wallets anymore due to the introduction of electronic money, such as Apple Pay, which can be accessed through their phones. Some social impacts due to the cell phone can be from the easy access to social media, which is touched on within the exhibit. For example, graphic images can be easily accessed on accident by people online, resulting in trauma. Another example is the easy access to connections across the world. Social media makes it easy to contact someone who is on the other side of the world, basically connecting the whole world with one another through the internet.
The next exhibit is Climate Change in David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. THis exhibit discusses the evolution of humankind and its impact on the world environmentally. Some topics discussed were agriculture, the rising of CO2 levels, and population growth. Agriculture was not introduced until humans had evolved to respond to their own environments, which led to them discovering hope to breed and grow plants and animals. CO2 Levels were also steady, then was significantly affected by the industrial revolution which had increased CO2 emissions greatly. This directly correlates to climate change. Finally, our population growth was an outcome of us settling down, which allowed us to grow significantly in numbers. As the human population grows, so will the need for basic necessities which will involuntarily affect the earth as a whole. The exhibit, despite it focusing on climate change, de-emphasizes our impact on the environment and climate. The exhibit overall mainly focuses on the evolution and new habits gained as we evolved, however, undermines our impact overall on if we negatively or positively impact the earth.
Another exhibit was Climate Change and Human Impact in the Sant Ocean Hall. In this exhibit, there were the Satellite of the Sea and Great Pacific Garbage Patch videos. In the Satellite of the Sea video, it discussed the temperature of the sea and how the salinity of the ocean can provide information about the local forecasts, which helps determine an approaching hurricane. THe video also discusses methods to collect the information, for example, a drifter or glider. The information provided in this video helps visitors to the museum through easy to understand data and charts, making the experience more enjoyable. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch video garbage patches, which is a large amount of debris concentrated into the ocean which is formed by ocean currents or whirlpools. They are constantly moving and are difficult to get rid of. The data can be considered understandable due to the diagrams which makes it easier to understand. The Global Ocean Video which is provided on the Science on the Sphere screen also discusses the impacts of increasing CO2 emissions, which can affect the climate and ocean health. There were datasets which provided this information and the video was used to portray the image, as it rotated the information around the globe. The information was useful as it made connections to the videos previously discussed.
The final exhibit that was visited was the Climate Change in David H. Koch Hall of FOssils - Deep Time. This hall contains a lot of fossils of specimens, and throughout the hall theres a lot of paleoenvironmental dioramas. One of these dioramas is the floodplains diorama. It represents a time period around 66-67 million years ago, THe CO2 levels were around 600-700 ppm, which is extremely high. The temperatures were warmer and more humid than the modern day, as well as the sea levels which were 200 ft higher. This exhibit was visually appealing and informative, making it easier to consume the information as it did a good job presenting the information it was trying to convey. The second diorama represented a morrison formation in colorado, which represents 150 million years ago. The climate was warmer and more tropical than it is today, and the CO2 levels were extremely high at 300 ppm. THe sea levels were also more than 200 meters higher than today. Within the exhibit, there also consists of some skeletons in the hall which describe the climate changes past and present. THe time discussed a period 56 million years ago, where a global heat wave occurred, which doubled atmospheric carbon and caused temperatures to rise about 6 degrees Celsius.