Kolkata Gets Country’s First Gallery On Climate Change
‘On The Edge?’, the first permanent gallery of the country on climate change, was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Gajendrea Singh Shekhawat at Science City on the EM Bypass in Kolkata on Saturday. The gallery has exhibits of how climate change is affecting earthly lives and the solution to it.
“We have tried to simplify the whole matter with the incorporation of technology. People with no knowledge of science can understand this easily by keen observation,” Subhankar Ghosh, curator of Science City who is also in charge of the gallery, said.
On the wider impact of climate change, Ghosh said, “On Friday, an article in The Nature quoted the IPCC saying the world will rapidly progress towards catastrophe if the 1.5 Degrees limit is breached. But the temperature increase has already started in the last two years and we will be staring at doomsday if corrective measures are not taken.”
Ghosh said ‘On The Edge?’ aims to make visitors aware of the rapid climate change and how it’s gradually destroying everything from Kedarnath to the Sunderbans. People can brainstorm what can be done and 25 per cent of climate change can be arrested by changing lifestyle.
“Climate change is the biggest danger on earth and a threat to human existence. The whole world should together work toward mitigating it. This humongous crisis cannot be stopped by a single nation and this initiative is to aware people of the imminent danger. Embracing technology has made it very easy to understand,” Shekhawat said.
“Inaugurated the “On the Edge?” a state-of-the-art gallery on Climate Change at Science City, Kolkata, a unit of our Ministry of Culture’s National Council of Science Museums-NCSM, earlier today,” Shekhawat wrote on X.
The entire gallery has been digitised. Visitors can see bikes or car racing on digital screens in the gaming zone and can experience the desert atmosphere here. The entry has been made free and later guide facility will be provided with some fees.
The gallery has four divisions — evidence, what’s cause in science, carbon reduction and how to cope with the changing climate.