Aquarium of the Pacific: Project Coastal Crisis

This team focused its efforts on the group most likely to be impacted by SLR: children.Children are most likely to be impacted by sea level rise, and they are also most likely to create life-long habits that are eco-friendly. This interactive exhibit was created to be a lighthearted and fun experience for children, and to push forward the primary message that small actions can—and do—make a difference. For example, sliding “wave-like” panels and an interactive “greenhouse gas” wall reveal facts and information, while a game of hopscotch teaches about sea level rise. Telescopes show what at-risk cities—Long Beach, San Francisco, New York and Atlanta—might look like in the future, and participants can take a shower test to learn how to prevent wasting water. A game of limbo with a pole shaped like a wave between two cities illustrates how much work must go into making sea level lower, while a character created for the exhibit, Seymour, teaches children adaptation strategies for communities living near the shore. The exhibit includes a takeaway booklet and stamps called I Commit to Make a Difference, featuring fun-to-achieve action steps children can take every day. Children not only have a great day at the Aquarium, but they are encouraged and empowered to take action from this day forward.

This team began by framing the problem for the general public: Where are we now? Where do we need to be? And where are we headed? Beyond public education, the campaign aims to push the reality that our future will be impacted by sea level rise—it’s not if, but when. All concepts were conceived to be economically sound, versatile and low-tech. An accordion pop-up exhibit is designed to feature climate change mitigation strategies, while an interactive table, placed in the high- traffic café area—is intended to spark education and dialogue while visitors eat and relax. The table features a futuristic United States map, customized with missing key pieces of the coast as a result of sea level rise. Magnetic sand underneath the tabletop is reactive to magnetic salt and pepper shakers, allowing users to physically add land back to the map, thereby metaphorically taking action to mitigate sea level rise. Napkins with messaging and tips (drive less, conserve energy, be consumer conscious) serve as consumer takeaways.

Choose Well for the Future: This team designed a complementary piece to the exhibit with the goal of representing the benefits of aquaculture and its role in addressing climate change and SLR. Messaging was created around the importance of aquaculture and its benefits. Benefits of this system include reduced emission of methane by substituting for meat-based diets more fish-based proteins, while developing healthy marine ecosystems and a sustainable form of food production to replace agricultural areas lost to sea level rise. The pinball game was designed to reaffirm these messages by releasing a ball, which represents nutrients. Players aim it toward the “sustainable” side of the game board—a difficult feat. The nutrient balls then tumble through multiple “eco-systems,” which cycle the “nutrients” for downstream systems. The rewards of multi-trophic aquaculture are represented as the “nutrients” travel through the sustainable side of the board with bells and lights that signify the benefits of a balanced, non-toxic, biological cycle of food production. Conversely, unsustainable fish farming is represented by the one-way flow of “nutrients” and chemicals through one, fish-specific “eco-system,” with increasing build up of “toxins.” Nutrient balls traveling through the unsustainable system are greeted with buzzers and error lights as the balls collect and build up on the sea floor. Exhibit takeaways include postcards and petitions supporting integrated multi- trophic aquaculture to send to local legislators

The goal of the Think Sink campaign is to raise awareness through humor, to encourage audiences to decrease carbon emissions, and to garner public support to implement policy change around the issues. Think Sink takes a deliberately fun and light-hearted approach, encouraging interest while disseminating key information around critical issues. Ready-to-market products include: reusable coffee cups and “float pens” that cleverly visualize rising sea levels in cities like Los Angeles; Sea Level Socks, Boxers and Panties with “rising wave” designs of various levels meant to be visible on the body; the Sea Level Rise Bikini, which can be inflated and used in a sea level rise emergency; and others. The clothing and product lines developed around Think Sink, although whimsical, share a common goal of driving traffic to the campaign website—envisioned as a space to catalyze a grassroots movement around mitigation and adaptation. After viewing the exhibition, viewers are directed to a ThinkSink website where they can sign a petition urging mitigation and adaptation responses from governing bodies.