In New York’s Soho neighborhood, a small museum hopes to stimulate dialogue and spur the public to push for change across the globe.
The founder and director of the Climate Museum, Miranda Massie, decided to open a pop-up of the first such institution in North America last October in this fashionable neighborhood of New York City, one of the prime touristic destinations in the United States.
In a chic cobblestone street in the middle of Soho in Manhattan, surrounded by fancy boutique stores, there is an unusual storefront that invites passersby to enter, get inspired by art and take action to defend the climate
Not only it is free, they even give you a postcard with an environment message that they will mail to the president of the United States, or other elected officials.
The museum started modestly with one large blank “Climate Action Wall.” Next to it they put stickers with call-to-action phrases — “I’m going to talk about climate more,” “I’m going to march,” “I’m going to donate,” “I’m going to spend time in green spaces” — and encouraged visitors to add their names and place the stickers on the wall.
It is now covered with them
Their statistics state that some 70% of people in the United States care about climate issues and want a greener world. The hope, Massie said, is to “mobilize the power of arts and cultural programming to accelerate a far-reaching, urgently-needed shift toward climate dialogue and action, building community and advancing just solution.”
Their main display is a mural called “Someday, all this” by artist David Opdyke, consisting of hundreds of hand-modified landscape postcards that explore themes such as climate displacement and migration.
The museum planned activities to mark the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, centering on this year’s them: “invest in our planet.”