Lath Carlson is the Executive Director of the Museum of the Future in Dubai. The Museum of the Future is dedicated to telling stories about how humans might adapt to current global crises. Right now, the climate crisis is the most pressing issue. For example, the main story takes people on a journey to 2071, where they experience a world where people have adapted to climate change by collecting solar energy from the moon and beaming it back to earth, giving clean energy to the majority of the world. In order to ensure the science behind these ideas, the museum worked with collaborators from around the world who vetted the science, including people at NASA and at the European Space Agency. Recently, Stanford University proved that this technology wasn’t just something created by a museum, it was actually possible.
The Museum of the Future opened its doors in 2022 and since then over 20 world leaders have visited. Lath says that this is important because climate change is an issue that requires international collaboration. These leaders are among the ones in a position to make changes that will positively impact their countries. Because climate change is an issue that requires large-scale structural changes, the best thing individuals can do is lobby their governments for change. Lath goes on to say that the best hope we have for addressing some of these complex challenges is more Indigenous knowledge than scientific understanding because scientific understanding and reductionist understanding is, in a lot of ways, what got us to where we are today.
In this Chatter Marks series, Cody and co-host Dr. Sandro Debono talk to museum directors and knowledge holders about what museums around the world are doing to adapt and react to climate change. Dr. Debono is a museum thinker from the Mediterranean island of Malta. He works with museums to help them strategize around possible futures.
EP 85 Furniture, basketball and family with Buddy Bailey
EP 84 Human trafficking in Alaska and decolonizing data with Josie Heyano
EP 83 Moving home, revitalizing a language and the magic of radio with Shyanne Beatty
EP 82 A chip on my shoulder with Mario Chalmers
EP 81 Life lessons from fish camp with Angela Gonzalez
EP 80 Searching for understanding and forgiveness with Robert Stark
EP 79 There is no excuse with Andrew Kurka
EP 78 Deconstructing the myth of The Last Frontier with Kaitlin Armstrong
EP 77 The history of slime with Christopher Michlig
EP 76 What we’ve been through is not who we are now with Travante Williams
EP 75 From middle school teacher to pro wrestler with Freya the Slaya
EP 74 Embracing the variance of poker with Adam Hendrix
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 73 Futures thinking, perseverance and climate change with Kristin Alford of the Museum of Discovery at the University of South Australia
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 72 Creating sustainable exhibitions with Lizzy Bakker of NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 71 How climate change is affecting the traditional Sámi way of life with Anne May Olii of the Sámi Museum in Norway
Museums in a Climate of Change: EP 70 The myth of climate indifference with Miranda Massie of the Climate Museum
EP 68 Frances changed my life with John Gourley
Ep 67 Culture comes from our environment with Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie
EP 66 Inuit soul music with Qacung
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