conservation

Got your attention?  The purpose of the museum’s Climate Change Exhibition is to raise public awareness of global warming. That’s also the objective of this 1.5-ton floating sculpture, and frankly, we can’t imagine a more effective way to have accomplished exactly that.  After all, the polar bear’s the poster mammal  for a warming planet, and this big bear and her cub are on thinner ice than ever:  summer sea ice cover in the Arctic continues to shrink.  The sculpture was commissioned by Eden, a new British television channel devoted to the natural world, to coincide with the launch of its Fragile Earth series.  Inspired use of public art, or just a clever PR stunt —  what do you think?

We’d like to second Fran’s suggestion that you take a look at the three finalists for the X Prize Foundation’s Energy and Environment Challenge, and vote for your favorite video. The stakes are $10 million+ in prize money for the competition most likely to “end our addiction to oil and stem the harmful effects of climate change.”

Much as we appreciated the proud-to-be-a-nerd spirit of the “Capacitor” and “Energy Independence” contenders, we agree with Fran: we think that a competition to “Reduce Home Energy Usage” would be great. The concept is that over a two-year period communities would compete to see which could reduce its home energy consumption the most. The videomakers point out that participants wouldn’t need to be technology experts, and that teams could consist of school districts or homes within a zip code. Could you come up with other kinds of communities that might mobilize around this challenge? What do you think about the approach of using the prize to tackle energy consumption instead of alternative energy production?