New Wild Center exhibit aimed at educating about climate change

by Dan McClelland

There's an exciting and very educational new exhibit at the Wild Center that goes to the core of one of its original missions- educating its visitors to the dramatic impacts of climate change in the world.

For years the Wild Center has hosted an annual youth climate conference- from which many initiatives by young people have sprung, across the region, across the national and around the world.

The new “Climate Solutions” exhibit, which opened to the public Thursday, is in dramatically transformed space off the great room that has been home to many things over the years- from art shows, to rotating exhibits, to a piece of the Wild Center's “Ways of Knowing” project, according to Marketing Director Nick Gunn.

“The new place is more mission-driven than it is visitation-driven. We've been talking about climate here and climate change for years” and this is the next step, he explained during a press preview Wednesday.

“This is the first time that climate science has been a physical part of the museum,” Mr. Gunn notes. “We've done it programmatically for years, but in terms of physical space it's the first time we've done it.”

On each of the walls of the four-part project are large photographic portraits of people from around the state and the region- and across the park in particular- “who have been significant in the field” of climate change. With them are panels of their backgrounds and their views. With most of them too are 1970s-style telephones that when lifted offer the listener their messages in their own voice. Many have worked with the Wild Center in the past. Many have written papers on research generated in the North Country by themselves and others.

One panel, for example, is

devoted to Sue Powers, a Clarkson University professor, who has been a part of the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit for many years, notes Mr. Gunn.

“Astrid and Ellen are actually youth climate summit alumnae, Lake Placid students who tackled a composting project in their school.

Mr. Gunn said “every nook and cranny of the new exhibit” is filled with so much information about climate change that someone could visit 15 or 20 times and each time find something new.

He said the goal of the new exhibit is that “regardless of who you are, what your age is, where you are from, your thoughts on climate change, you are able to walk out of here feeling there is a way for you personally to engage in the climate discussion.”

“The Wild Center has always been about finding multiple on-ramps to connect with nature. This is just another extension of that!”

Mr. Gunn introduced us to what he called “the exhibit team,” the three young people who researched and saw to the creation of this new educational piece of the Wild Center.

The three twenty-somethings were Charlie Reinertsen, the project manager, Samantha Pierce, a Solutions Exhibit fellow who came to the Wild Center to work exclusively on the project and Stephanie Hanson, the third exhibit developer.

Charlie joined the Wild Center staff two and one half years ago, just after the pandemic started.

He said the project was put on hold for a time and then preparation resumed that September.

Mr. Reinertsen, who grew up in the Mid-west, said the project was initiated by a youth climate committee and by Executive Director Stephanie Ratcliffe who developed some of the initial strategy for it.

After that work he said he and his two colleagues planned everything about the exhibit- the message it would have, how it would be told, the entire visual design, etc.

Stephanie, a Texan, joined the team in June, 2021. Samantha was already a fellow on the Wild Center's educational team who joined the exhibit team this past January.

Wild Center fellows are often young people fresh out of college who are recruited by the museum leaders to work on special projects, before sometimes moving on to permanent jobs in their careers.

All three of the young adults have degrees relating to environmental science.

Charlie has a biology degree and a masters in natural sciences and communication. A science communicator by profession he worked with non-profit and conservation groups for number of years. “When this job came up, I saw this as an amazing opportunity!”

“Some of the inspiration for this exhibit came initially from Project Draw Down,” which produced first book by the same name that listed all the solutions we needed to put into place to get to a future that will be habitable for us and future generations, he said.

“Is there hope solutions can be found to reduce or eliminate the ills of climate change?” we asked them.

“We're never past the point of being able to make our futures better,” was the young man's reply.

“We are currently feeling the impact of climate change,” said Miss Pierce, who was raised in Connecticut. “There has already been harm done, but doing this project has made me feel more hopeful!”

“There are so many different sectors of the problem people are working in and people now are starting to work together,” she said her research showed her.

Stephanie Hanson agreed with her colleague. “Working on the exhibit has shown me that every person has specific skills they can use” to bring to the movement. “That makes me hopeful that people will not only be passionate, but will take action” to help fight climate change. I feel hopeful!”

The exhibit is divided into four parts: Taking Action on Climate Change; Rebuilding Our Food System; Caring for Our One Home and Transforming Our Energy Ecosystem.

There is also what is called the “Tinkering Room” and several displays of tools to combat climate change.

“One of the big things you'll notice looking around here is that everything is entirely driven by story-telling,” Mr. Reinertsen told the Free Press that day. “It's also so much about elevating people who are doing incredible work. We are simply the reporters on the scene and this is entirely about the artists.”

Ken Aaron was also in the exhibit that afternoon. He helped the young exhibit designers with some of the wording on the many panels in the room.

“We looked at the messages and the wording so long, after a while we couldn't tell exactly what we wanted them all to say, so we often said: 'Ken, please help!'” Charlie said of their very productive collaboration.

One of the panels in the room is entitled “Find A Summit,” and when you touch a pin on a two-dimensional map of the world the location of a youth climate summit pops up.

Another screen shows young people conversing at past climate summits. The screen is entitled: “Youths around the world are using their voices and taking action on climate change. They are keenly aware on the impacts climate change will have on our future and that both urgency and clarity are needed in the movement.”

Dave Fadden, an artist from Akwesasne and a member of the Wild Center board of directors, was present that afternoon. He was heavily involved with the exhibit's creation and included is one of his paintings entitled “Release” of a young girl, his young cousin, Lillyanna, with outstretched arms, after releasing a bird. The eight year old was present that afternoon.

Freedom immediately comes to mind viewing the painting.

Mr. Fadden is also associated with the Six Nation Iroquois Cultural Center in Onchiota. He did a workshop for museum members that evening.

Also shown to members and Wild Center board members and guests that evening was the premier of the new film, “The Age of Humans,” featuring Professor Curt Stager in the center's Flammer Theater. The guests that evening were welcomed by the board chair, Karen Thomas, and Mrs. Ratcliffe, Wild Center executive director.

Mr. Fadden said the painting now hanging in the exhibit is a reproduction of the original. It's a mosiac-style similar to pointillism and a duplicate is located in the museum's great hall. Visitors will be invited to fill in each small dab of color with their own tiny image of something they feel depicts climate change.

He said several years ago when he was talking to Stephanie Ratcliffe about the project, she asked him to do a painting that would reflect climate change and the need to work to curb its impact.

His mosaic in the great hall, once all the tiny additions are in place, will be placed permanently in the new exhibit, according to Mrs. Ratcliffe.

Mr. Fadden praised the work of the creators, saying he visited the site several weeks ago and it looked nothing like the finished product, which he said was beautiful.