2002/-- (a)

BACKGROUNDER

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION FUND PUBLIC EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

GENERAL PUBLIC STREAM - MUSEUM PROJECTS

General Public Stream Projects funded under the Climate Change Action Fund - Public Education and Outreach Program (CCAF-PEO) aim to increase public awareness and understanding of climate change, and to encourage Canadians to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the first three years of the CCAF-PEO program, projects have targeted the general public through three main areas: museum exhibits and presentations, tools and information products, and national or regional climate change awareness-building events and initiatives.

Under the General Public Stream of the CCAF-PEO program, the Public Education and Outreach component is continuing to support new climate change museum exhibits, and expand outreach activities for existing CCAF-PEO-funded museum projects. As a result of the most recent round of CCAF-PEO funding, nine new museum exhibits and activities will be developed to help Canadians increase their awareness of climate change.

Previous CCAF-PEO funding has supported the development of twelve climate change museum exhibits and outreach programs across Canada. With this new round of funding, the number of museum projects helping Canadians to address climate change will rise to twenty-one. Adults, teachers and children alike have responded enthusiastically to the chance to learn about the impacts of climate change where they live, and what they can do about it.

NEW MUSEUM PROJECTS ANNOUNCED MARCH 8, 2002

CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM

The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver is developing an educational program on the causes and impacts of climate change. The program will initially launch public presentations and then be incorporated into the Centre's school programs.

The project includes a 40-minute planetarium show on climate change called Spaceship Earth: Who's at the Climate Controls?, an adaptation of the highly successful Climate Changes show developed by the Montréal Planetarium with CCAF?PEO funding. In addition, a 20-minute interactive science presentation will be shown in the Ground Station Canada multimedia theatre. An Enviro-fair will help launch the program by displaying climate change exhibit, displays and programs produced by other organizations.

THE CLIMATE CHANGE SCHOOL BUS

In the summer of 2002, the Falls Brook Visitor Centre in Knowlesville, New Brunswick, will be revving up its vegetable oil-powered Climate Change School Bus to travel to schools, community events and fairs, and First Nations communities throughout the Maritimes. The fully converted school bus is brightly painted on the outside, with a range of interactive displays and activities inside. The roof of the bus is equipped with solar panels and a wind generator. The bus will help visitors understand the source of their greenhouse gas emissions, and through demonstrations and information, illustrate actions allowing them to "do their bit" to reduce their own emissions.

CYCLES OF LIFE

The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa is planning a multimedia exhibition called Cycles of Life, an on-site display that will also travel to other museums. Exhibit themes include traditional knowledge, the impact of climate change on ecosystems, how species adapt, relationships between water, climate and the natural world, and what individuals can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The exhibit will be supported by a school outreach program that includes ten portable suitcase exhibits packed with resources and backyard projects. A lecture series, forums for public discussion and debate, and the museum's Web site (www.nature.ca) will also help to support the exhibit.

CLIMATE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Climate and Climate Change in British Columbia will be part of a new large-scale permanent exhibit that integrates the human and natural history of British Columbia. Using biotic zones, the Royal British Columbia Museum exhibit will explore biological and physical elements of the landscape and the ways those elements influence and link to culture and people. A self-contained portion of the exhibit will explain climate, climate change and its likely consequences. Additional elements will include school programming and a traveling exhibit.

ONE WORLD

This project builds on Science World B.C.'s Our World, an exhibit all about sustainable living that includes the issue of climate change and what people can do about it. The Calgary Science Centre will adapt the interactive climate change segments of the Science World exhibit to include Alberta content. The One World exhibit will be on display for five years, from March 2003 to 2007, and will coordinate with Alberta's school curriculum, especially for elementary grades.

NORTH MEETS SOUTH

The North Meets South pilot outreach program brings students from the northern and southern parts of Manitoba to the Fort Whyte Centre to learn about climate change and discuss impacts on their respective regions. Students will develop ideas for individual and community action that they can implement back home, with the ongoing support of the Centre. Actions on climate change within each community will include green commuting, tree planting, decreased home energy consumption, and recording plant phenology data that will help them understand how plants can be used to indicate climate change.

WHAT PLANTS CAN TELL US ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

The Yukon Beringia Interpretative Centre will develop an exhibit identifing the impacts of climate change on the north. The exhibit will have a special section on plants as indicators of climate change in the north, particularly in Beringia as well as include interactive displays and a presentation. Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in Plantwatch, a national phenology program to monitor climate change in Canada.

CANADIAN TOUR OF THE CLIMATE UNDER SURVEILLANCE

'Under the Weather' is a traveling, bilingual exhibit developed by the Musée du Séminaire de Sherbrooke, to deal with the issue of climate change at a national level. It offers visitors information on climate and how it works, greenhouse gases and climate change, the impact of warming on the future climate and how individuals can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The exhibition will tour Canadian museums and exhibition sites for two years.

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER AND THE GREAT LAKES

This exhibition at the Montréal Biosphere will explore the impact of climate change on water levels in the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. This issue concerns both residents directly affected by these waterways and the population at large. Variations in water levels may cause major social, economic, environmental and health consequences. For example, lower water levels will significantly change water quality, natural habitats and biodiversity. The project aims to lead the general public to take actions that will minimize the current and future impact of climate changes, by lowering their greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information on the Government of Canada's action on climate change, please visit www.climatechange.gc.ca.