Alternative Education

Climate Change and Global Warning have always been topics of discussion, however it has only been in the past couple of years where they have become mainstream topics. It's not just scientists and researchers, it's everyone (regardless of what side they are on). However, with new issues/discoveries emerging every day, this topic is starting to sound like a broken record: the climate is changing, the world is getting warmer, if we don't do something soon then we will lose our planet. 

from JunkScience.com

Some people are starting to tune out the warnings and either believe it's not happening, or that yes it is happening but there is no way to stop it. In order to reach and educate these people, new methods of delivering the information need to be established. 

On display at the Dennis W. Dutzi art gallery on campus at California State University Long Beach, there is currently an exhibit titled "Glacier". The exhibit consists of 5 ceramic pieces that are shaped and textured to look like melting, eroded, and crumbling glaciers. Mary E. Beierle, a Master of Fine Arts grad, is the artist and hopes her creation provides more awareness about the melting polar ice caps. Beierle also created a video to go alongside her sculptures as an interactive piece. She believes, "We're all on this planet together" and hopefully this exhibit provides a new medium to change people's minds about climate change.

Mary E. Beierle & her "Glacier" exhibit 

Another artistic medium bringing awareness of climate change to the forefront, is music. Jonathan Perl, a music professor at City College of New York has created "sonificaitions" (musical soundscapes) with Marco Tedesco, a climate professor at City University of New York. Their creation has merged music with the sound of Greenland's glacial ice melting over the past 54 years. 

Perl believes this musical representation allows people to connect with the concept of climate change on a much deeper level than just hearing "it's melting". He translated the data graphs of the ice cap changing over time (melting rate and annual temperatures) and set it to sound. Increased melting rates became increased clicking sounds, where as the lower albedo ratio (measures the reflectiveness or whiteness of a surface. The ratio decreases as the surface becomes less reflective due to melting) is represented by lower bass frequencies. Perl's vision was to "display this graph to someone who was visually impaired". 

With these alternative forms of education emerging, it is becoming harder and harder to people to ignore the fact that climate change is here. These alternative forms of awareness can also draw tourists in to a destination, because who wouldn't want to hear the sounds of Greenland's melting ice caps played by an orchestra? 

Sources:

California State University Long Beach: "Glacier" exhibit turns melting ice caps into art.

CTV News: What does 54 years of melting glaciers sound like?