Manchester wins first Climate SmART Museum Award

The Climate smART Award is the first cultural initiative of SUNx – Strong Universal Network, which exists to actively encourage the massive Travel & Tourism sector to play a leading role in response to eXistential Climate Change. It is a legacy to our friend Maurice Strong, a champion of Sustainable Development and advocate for Travelism to radically revitalize its climate resilience actions, through Impact-Travel: measured; green; 2050 proofed.
Professor Geoffrey Lipman, SUNx Co-founder said:
“Climate Change is eXistential. SUNx strongly supports The Paris Accords which are under irresponsible threat. Travel and Tourism must stand up to this challenge, and public opinion can play a big part. This award will honor museums and cultural centers that make public education a priority and we are delighted to join up with Leading Culture Destinations Awards (LCD) – sharing their vision of Museums as focal points for education of travelers.”

Geoffrey Lipman

Building partnerships is an essential part of climate resilience strategy. Our partnership with LCD is an important step. We believe that by creating a movement of organizations and individuals committed to climate education, innovation and resilience, we can catalyze change in the Travel & Tourism sector.
The judging panel of the Award is drawn from SUNx Council members with environmental, business, art, civil society and climate expertise. The process took into account the substance of the project, as well as outreach, quality, imagination and innovation. From a dozen longlisted nominees, we narrowed down to a shortlist of three leading-edge institutions, from different parts of the world, with the following result.

WINNER 2017 LCD/SUNx “Climate smART Award

• MANCHESTER MUSEUM: CLIMATE CONTROL Manchester, UK.

RUNNERS UP 2017 LCD/SUNx “Climate smART Award”

• ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 Melbourne, Australia
• FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: CHANGING EARTH Philadelphia, USA 
• MANCHESTER MUSEUM: CLIMATE CONTROL Manchester, UK.

Climate Control was developed as part of Manchester’s time as European City of Science. They wanted to connect people with climate change as it is a tremendous challenge, that goes far beyond the scientific, but into the social, economic, and social justice spheres.
Climate Control took place in two main areas: a specially designed exhibition in our special exhibitions space, that had as its starting point ‘we can’t change our past but we can change our future’.

Maurice Stron

The exhibition took inspiration from the Chinese Yin and Yang symbol. It had two entrances- ‘explore the past’ took the visitor into an all-black room which linked coal and fossil fuels with industrialization and impacts on Arctic wildlife and worldwide. The other entrance took visitors into an all-white room, ‘explore the future’, where people shared their ideas and concerns around climate change, and solutions for a more sustainable future.
Climate Control has gone beyond a special exhibition, to represent the Museum’s commitment in this area of work. The Museum won its Carbon Literacy Organization Award in 2016, being the first carbon literate museum in the world.
ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 Melbourne, Australia
A festival of exhibitions and events harnessing the creative power of the arts to inform, engage, and inspire action on climate change. ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 presents over thirty curated exhibitions at leading museums and galleries in Melbourne and regional Victoria including EXIT, the highly acclaimed 360° video installation commissioned by the
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris. EXIT investigates human migrations and their leading causes, including the impacts of climate change.
Its complete 2015 update coincided with the pivotal Paris based United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21). Together with keynote presentations and public forums by leading international and Australian artists, scientists and activists, ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017 will help us to acknowledge the challenges we are facing, and embrace the solutions that are already here.
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: CHANGING EARTH Philadelphia, USA
Each experience in Changing Earth provides insights into repercussions that may result from our responses to changes— natural or manmade. Changing Earth is constructed of sustainable materials.
The flooring is made from recycled content and post-consumer waste products. All wood is Forest Stewardship Council certified or bamboo. All metal is recyclable. Paint is low-VOC and graphics are printed on recycled material using water-based inks.
Dynamic sensory experiences demonstrate the interconnected systems of earth science. Calculate your carbon footprint, find solutions to reduce carbon emissions, explore seismographs of recent earthquakes, and construct a building to see if it can withstand an earthquake. Experiment and discover how dams and water volume effect river flow and erosion. Go “on camera” and deliver your own weather forecast.

JUDGING PANEL

Tom Selänniemi – Director, Finnish Nature Centre Haltia (Chair) Finland
Geoffrey Lipman – SUNx Co-Founder, President ICTP. Former ASG. UNWTO CAN
Felix Dodds – SUNx Co-Founder- Former Exec Director Stakeholder Forum, US
Ignace Schops – Director RLKM, Goldman Award, President Europarc Fed. Belgium
Tom Goldberg, MBE – Chair AWI, former M.D. Atlas Ward UK
Richard Prosser – Chair Audley Travel and Tusker Direct UK
Maureen Lipman, CBE – Actress, Columnist, Comedian UK
Paul Wilke – Former Global PR Manager Visa, CEO Upright Position Communications US
Rose Mukogo – Economist & former Director Research Zimbabwe Tourism Authority ZIM
Madan Bezberuah – Former Secretary Indian Ministry of Tourism IN
Jeanine Pires – Former Head of Embratour, Brazil Tourism BR

The Climate smART Award is part of a journey to raise awareness, develop education systems and to foster innovation. By 2030 we aim to have a SUNx Centre in every country and to inspire a cadre of committed next generation transformation advocates. These SUNx “Champions” will help to drive the behavioral change and influence the fundamental government and industry actions needed.