Museum Proposal 1

Boston Museum of Science Proposal

There are of many values in this world to an individual, but how many items would be

listed before they got to Mother Earth? Within our big, blue planet, 30 million species are

growing and living amongst us, and each day our population of 7.1 billion effects them in many

ways that are often overlooked. An important step in reversing this would be through education,

and with the help of exhibits through the Museum of Science in Boston, we will be one step

closer to slowly reversing the growing damages weve caused and become consciously aware of

our action towards a sustainable future. These three main exhibits will display the following

seven concepts: Sustainability, Tragedy of Commons and Our Ecological Footprints, Scientific

Laws that Govern Energy, Organization of Ecosystems, Energy Flow in an Ecosystem,

Biodiversity and Biological Evolution and Natural Selection. Each exhibit will be interactive and

connected from start to finish, focusing on the minor changes a museum goer can participate in

their everyday lives that will help the fight for sustainable living.

The beginning of the exhibit will focus on Organization of Ecosystems, Energy Flow in

an Ecosystem, Biodiversity and Biological Evolution/Natural Selection. I believe it would be

easy to display all of these concepts within one exhibit, since the listed key concepts tend to

complement each other as individual topics. Biodiversity can be defined as variety of life on

Earth within and between all species of plants, animals, and micro-organisms and ecosystems

within which they live and interact (www.wwf.org). In a world where our species is emphasized

as the most dominant, its easy to see as to why other species within our planets would be
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overlooked. Unbeknownst to most of the population, Biodiversity has a profound impact on our

way of living, such as: medical discoveries through genetic diversity, providing us with oxygen,

and contributions through pollinators, plants, and soils, which all provide us with the produce we

eat. Biodiversity also plays a part in how the Organization of Ecosystems are developed. The

Organization of Ecosystems include: the individual species of an organism, a population of that

given species in the geographic location, a community that includes all the populations within

that location, the ecosystem in which living organisms interact with their environment, a biome

where a set of ecosystems sharing similar characteristics adapt to their environment, and a

biosphere, where different biomes blend into each other. Within any ecosystem, the energy flow

is present and can be shown through the producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer and

tertiary consumer in the ecosystem. This energy flow is found through varies plants and animals,

and with that being said, Natural Selection also plays contributing role. This is where a species

recognizes beneficial genes, and those genes are reproduced in succeeding generations more than

non-beneficial genes (ones that do not contribute to survival). Biological Evolution can be shown

through the species that will be on display in this exhibit, as biological evolution is the result of

cumulative changes that occur in a population over time (which can be narrowed down to

Natural Selection). This particular exhibit will display various exotic plants surrounding the

space of the exhibit, the sounds and humidity from a rainforest will contribute to the interactive

simulation shown through projections. As the observer walks through, they will be shown

various factors to the ecosystem, such as butterflies, beetles, spiders, reptiles, birds and small

mammals (all within enclosed boxes, away from the observer, so that its not disturbed); all
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connected by a thick red thread between each example. This will not only show what elements

make up biodiversity in a rainforest, but will also display the ecosystem and the energy flow

found in that ecosystem. The thick, red thread will connect to the exit of the exhibit, which will

be in the shape of a human that the observer will walk through into the second exhibit. This is to

emphasize that although Biodiversity and Ecosystems are extremely vast, we are a part of the

complex system that helps sustain a manageable life for us.

The second exhibit will focus on Sustainable Living, Ecological Footprints, and Laws

that Govern Energy, since all three tend to fall under the same category and interact with each

other in a given setting. After the observer was able to virtually interact with examples of an

ecosystem and biodiversity, this next exhibit will hopefully solidify the importance and

emphasize to the observer to think of ways to help sustain our environment. Sustainability can be

defined as the Earths capacity of human cultural systems and natural systems to survive,

flourish and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long term future (G.

Tyler, Scott E. Spoolman). Since our Industrial Revolution, the methods in which we treat our

Earth has been more harmful than good; our lack on conscious actions to our environment has

increased the degradation of it rather than its sustainability. Humans heavily depends on what

natural resources the Earth provides to us, both renewable (air, water, topsoil, plants, animals)

and nonrenewable (copper, oil, coal). These natural resources often do not keep up with the rate

of use that humans consume these resources. Expansion of deforestation and carbon emissions

through the burning of fossil fuels contribute heavily to our impact to our surrounding

environment, and this will be something that will be emphasized in the second half of the exhibit.

The Laws of Thermodynamics go as the following: energy cannot be created, or destroyed, only
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converted from one form to another, whenever energy is converted from one form to another, we

end up with a lower-quality than what we started with, and when the entropy of a system reaches

a constant value as the temperature reaches absolute zero. All of these key concepts complement

each other, in the sense that through creating a large carbon footprint, the forms of energy found

in any ecosystem will lessen, and this will make any given ecosystem develop difficulties to keep

up with the supply and demand of nature and its natural resources. In this second exhibit, it

will also be interactive with the observer: there will be displays of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

where the observer can learn to properly recycle with given objects (cans, plastic bottles,

biodegradable materials) or encouraged to properly recycle their waste that may have been

gained during their visit. There will be interactive programs on small monitors (or iPads, if given

the funds) that will inform and encourage the idea of sustainable eating. Sustainable eating can

be achieved through making the compromise of eating less meat (Meatless Mondays) and

choosing to have a larger plant based diet. More often than not, it is a common thought that

Americans should have a high protein diet that is found in meat products rather than finding their

protein elsewhere. The meat industry heavily contributes to our growing ecological footprint, and

this is found through the degradation of our environment to make room for larger pastures for

industrialized grazing. The meat industry contributes to heavy consumption of water; it takes

over 2,000 gallons to produce one pound of beef, compared to a mere 25 gallons to produce one

pound of wheat. In this part of exhibit, the observer will become properly informed of the

nutrients found in a high plant-based diet, the health and environmental benefits, and can also be

encourage to by local produce. Here, there will be a list of local farmers markets and companies
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willing to deliver fresh produce to your door. These monitors will also display examples of how

Thermodynamics operate in an ecosystem, with examples of how our many industries burning

natural resources such as coal and oil, influences the growth of global warming. At the end of the

exhibit, there will be a display of materials that were created through recycled goods, and local

produce will be displayed, where the observer will be able to talk personally to the famers and

companies behind these products. This can be purchased at a reasonable cost, where the proceeds

will be given to programs that support sustainable living, and preservation of the environment for

future generations.

Through interactive displays, the opportunity given to me to properly inform the public of

the impact each individuals actions will in turn, curve the growth of damages we make to our

environment. After all, it isnt the publics fault for being uninformed of how we impact the

world we live in. The more emphasis that we are able to aim on a sustainable way of life, the

higher the chance that we have to avoid the inevitable future that many people are aware of, but

to not firmly believe in. We must learn and retain the idea that realistically, we are One; we are

One planet, we are One large ecosystem, and collectively, we are the One hope that the Earth

depends on to help cure its number one disease: the unconscious awareness of our everyday

actions
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References

"Ecosystem Services - National Wildlife Federation." Ecosystem Services - National

Wildlife Federation. National Wildlife Federation, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

<http://nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Ecosystem-Services.aspx>.
"Footprint Basics." Footprint Basics. Global Footprint Network, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_basics_overview/>.
"Levels of Organization in an Ecosystem." Levels of Organization in an Ecosystem.

ESchool Today, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://eschooltoday.com/ecosystems/levels-of-

organisation-in-an-ecosystem.html>.
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Environmental Science. Belmont, CA:

Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.

Phares, Emily H. "5 Tips for Sustainable Eating." The Nutrition Source. Harvard T.H

Chan, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/06/17/5-tips-for-sustainable-

eating/>.
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Recycling Guide. N.p., 25 June 2008. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/rrr.html>.
"The Environmental Impact of a Meat-Based Diet." Vegetarian Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 28

Mar. 2016. <http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/the-environmental-impact-of-a-

meat-based-diet/>.

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 "Thermodynamics." Thermodynamics. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.sustainablescale.org/ConceptualFramework/UnderstandingScale/BasicConc

epts/Thermodynamics.aspx>.
"The Three Laws of Thermodynamics - Boundless Open Textbook."Boundless. N.p., n.d.

Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <https://www.boundless.com/chemistry/textbooks/boundless-

chemistry-textbook/thermodynamics-17/the-laws-of-thermodynamics-123/the-three-

laws-of-thermodynamics-496-3601/>.
"What Is Biodiversity? - National Wildlife Federation." What Is Biodiversity? - National

Wildlife Federation. National Wildlife Federation, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

<http://nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Biodiversity.aspx>.