Utah museum’s ‘A Climate of Hope’ exhibit lets visitors explore solutions

This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune, in collaboration with The Daily Utah Chronicle, to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism.

A permanent exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah is designed, according to one of its curators, to inspire optimism and action for a better future in the face of climate change.

“A Climate of Hope” — NHMU’s first new permanent exhibition in 12 years — is meant to be different from other such presentations focused on climate change, said exhibit developer Lisa Thompson.

“Typical museum exhibits about climate change were very data heavy, and they tended to be very gloomy … and they tended to often focus on faraway places,” Thompson said. “And we know from the field of climate communication research that’s been growing … that those just aren’t very effective ways to help people learn about climate change or to help them know how they can be part of climate solutions.”

The interactive exhibit shows how climate change impacts Utah, and how people around the state are implementing solutions. Visitors are shown volunteer opportunities in which they can take part to combat climate change at the local level.

Thompson said NHMU has been developing the exhibit, which opened in November, since 2019.

“[We did] interviews and surveys with visitors to understand what they know about climate change, what they feel about climate change and what they would like to see in the climate change exhibit,” Thompson said. “We did that just before the pandemic shut everything down.”

Jason Cryan, NHMU’s executive director, said the exhibit is a part of the museum’s larger climate initiative.

“The ‘Climate of Hope’ initiative also includes large-scale sustainability measures,” he said. “We’re trying to see what it’s going to take to make this a net-zero carbon neutral operation. We have several research programs that are kind of aimed at sustainability, biodiversity and those kinds of things, so all of this wraps up under a very big umbrella.”

Lynne Zummo, NHMU’s curator of learning sciences, is conducting a four-year study to see how people respond to the exhibit’s message framing.

“The whole goal of the research is to understand the learning processes that people go through as they’re experiencing the exhibit,” Zummo said.

Participants in the study, Zummo said, will view the exhibit strapped with cameras and recorders.

“We’ll look for themes and patterns across groups and really try to unpack what are the different influences that come into play in learning around climate change in the exhibit,” Zummo said. “Because it is a very different learning process than around other science issues.”

After seeing the exhibit, participants will complete a survey to learn how they cope with climate change, followed by an interview a few weeks later. The exhibition will adjust its messaging in response to the study’s results.

“We’re excited to see if it helps people feel a little more hopeful, feel like they can take meaningful action, and feel like Utah is a place where a lot of really cool things are happening,” Thompson said. “And then we’re going to find out, which I think is a really unique part of this project, that what Lynne learns is going to help museums … and people all over the country better develop theories and ways of teaching about climate change.”

The exhibition is open daily, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays). It is free for University of Utah students, faculty and staff.

Giovanni Radtke wrote this story as a journalism student at the University of Utah. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.