Exhibit shows flooding risk from warming

FLOOD WARNING: Google Earth shows the potential for flooding in Boston in 2100, as part of the “Seasons of Change” exhibit. /
FLOOD WARNING: Google Earth shows the potential for flooding in Boston in 2100, as part of the “Seasons of Change” exhibit. /

The year is 2100. Rising world temperatures have pushed up the North Atlantic’s sea level. Then a Category 2 hurricane strikes Boston, bringing with it winds between 96 and 110 mph and a massive storm surge. Downtown Boston quickly floods, all that’s visible in South Boston is the tip of the convention center above the flood and Logan Airport is completely underwater.
The dramatic visual is part of a traveling exhibit designed by a consortium of science centers, Brown University and private companies. Called “Seasons of Change,” the exhibit, now at the EcoTarium in Worcester, Mass., attempts to relay in no uncertain terms the consequences of an atmosphere chock-full of greenhouse gases.
Besides the flooding scenarios, visitors can see a shell disintegrate before their eyes thanks to increased carbon dioxide in the oceans; watch short videos about how warmer weather is threatening the maple syrup and lobster industries in New England and contribute their breath, and carbon dioxide, to a plant that curators say will grow faster than its noncarbon dioxide-infused partner.
“To us it’s exciting when you can show the real phenomenon,” said Alexander Goldowsky, director of exhibits and education at the EcoTarium and one of the leading drivers behind the exhibit. “It’s very different than hearing someone tell you, ‘Yes, the carbon acidification of the ocean will eat away at shells.’ ”
Goldowsky spent about four years pitching the concept and seeking money to pay for it. Three years ago the New England Science Center Collaboration received $1.76 million from the National Science Foundation Informal Science Education Program to pay for the exhibit’s development and engaged Brown University full-time to work on the science behind the exhibit.
What the university and a host of partners delivered was a very personal look at global climate change. The exhibit’s tagline “Seasons of change, in your back yard,” places the emphasis immediately on the visitor’s, well, back yard. The flooding model kiosk provides not just views of Boston but a view of rising sea levels flooding much of the New England coast, including parts of Providence.
“This gives a kind of total coastal perspective and then a focused perspective on Boston,” said Richard Polonsky, a Brown University fellow who managed the project. “It’s just a much more visible way of people being able to understand the effects of sea level rise.” Plans call for the exhibit to circle the region for the next five years, stopping at science centers along the way, including the Save The Bay Center in Providence in March 2012. Polonsky said the collaboration estimates as many as 3 million visitors, or about 20 percent of New England’s population, will see the exhibit.
A digital table puts them in the driver’s seat to control the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Visitors can place hockey puck-like pieces – that represent power plants, industry, transportation and the like – on a map of the world in 2075. As they do, the table lights up with the pollution caused by development. Visitors can adjust the ratios of what’s constructed in an attempt to reduce pollution, but the table will warn them if they are creating an energy crisis or flooding as a result of their decisions.
The idea, Goldowsky said, is to show people how decisions made today – whether to build a wind turbine or a coal plant – hold consequences years down the road.
“The game we’re playing with the world is not how the next winter is going to be but how the next century is going to be,” Goldowsky said.
The exhibit was largely designed by Somerville, Mass.-based Jeff Kennedy Associates, a company specializing in museum exhibits. For the flooding visualizations, the collaborative turned to South Kingstown-based Applied Science Associates (ASA) to add its expertise as well.
Kelly Knee, ASA’s project manager, used U.S. Geological Survey, local topographic surveys and Google Earth imaging to create simulations of rising sea levels flooding area communities.
“The ability to increase awareness of the potential impacts of sea level rise can only help with preparation for any worst-case scenarios,” Knee said.
Michelle Burnett, floodplain manager for the R.I. Emergency Management Agency, does not disagree, but urged caution to avoid presenting overly broad or incorrect information.
Goldowsky said for every piece of the exhibit, designers threw out five proposed pieces after failing to find robust data to back up the concepts. And the scenarios presented, Goldowsky said, are far from the worst case.
“The [worst case] is a good deal scarier than what you see here,” he said. •

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