Montreal, February 15, 2005 - The Biosphère : A Fun Family Outing for Spring Break!

Montreal, February 15, 2005 – Looking for something to do with the kids during spring break? Enjoy a fun outing for the whole family at Environment Canada’s Biosphère! The Water Wonders! exhibition makes quite a splash, offering ingenious challenges involving the properties of water. Budding scientists can conduct a lab experiment and take the One-Tonne Challenge in the Aqualab. Other visitors will want to visit Planet Bucky, an exhibition featuring inventions that support sustainable development, which is also the theme of the creative workshop, where participants can make their own masks. Not to be missed is the Brain Shaker, a multimedia activity that follows the path of a water droplet travelling through a cycle disturbed by climate change. In short, the Biosphère is a fun outing for visitors of all ages.

Build a boat, walk on water, create energy, sink a ship: those are some of the exhibition’s challenges for kids. As they plunge into this fun activity and become active participants, youngsters will learn about various water-related phenomena and issues, and how they can use this valuable resource more wisely.

A scientific lab experiment that illustrates the impact of CO₂ (carbon dioxide), a greenhouse gas. A component of the activity, My One-Tonne Challenge, shows participants how they can reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne in a year. A mission for committed youngsters.

A concrete look at sustainable development, Planet Bucky showcases some examples of contemporary innovations that follow in the footsteps of the Biosphère’s creator, Richard Buckminster Fuller, aka Bucky (1895–1983), and the environmental philosophy that inspired his inventions. Cartoons, models and interactive games have been added to spark the interest of kids between the ages of 6 and 12. Spaceship Earth deserves to be better understood and managed.

Each participant makes a small Italian-style mask inspired by one of three aspects of Fuller’s inventive personality: the thinker, the scientist and the artist. Then they all have an opportunity to become ambassadors for sustainable development.

This virtual experience is sure to capture teenagers’ interest. The multimedia activity uses technology to transport participants along the turbulent route taken by a water droplet, from the tap to the mixer and finally to the sewer, exposing them to the effects of climate change along the way.

This will be the last opportunity for families to visit or revisit Vigili Urbani, which has been extended until March 31. The exhibition features 375 miniature fire hydrants decorated by 1,500 youngsters between the ages of 8 and 12 and large-format illustrations of the urban water cycle drawn by poster artist Vittorio Fiorucci. Visitors of all ages can also test their water and climate change knowledge by participating in the fun Discover Your Level! quiz and comparing their answers with those of people on the street. The St. Lawrence, from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic is on until April 30. The exhibition brings together 19 prizewinning photographs from the fourth annual photography contest sponsored by the boating magazine L’Escale Nautique.

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