1: The Power of the Atmosphere

Our powerlessness before the primal forces of nature has been a fundamental human experience. In the first room of the exhibition, the visitor finds objects that have become evidence of the powerful forces of weather or of changes in climate. These range from a fossil skull of the extinct European hippopotamus to a New Orleans road sign twisted by hurricane Katrina. The weather and the climate have no sympathy for anything on Earth — not even Man.

 

2: Observing and Analyzing

The second section deals with climate as an object of research in past and present. Unlike weather, climate is a phenomenon expressed in media and data — one that requires tremendous computing power to grasp fully. The latest instruments and satellites are continuously recording and analyzing almost all weather phenomena. How fast is the sun’s radiation changing? How do clouds form? Are the speed and scale of the present climate change unique in the history of mankind? What can the history of the climate teach us about its future?

 

3: Defending and Adapting

The third room presents past and present attitudes towards weather and climate, and describes the energy we draw, individually and collectively, from this phenomenon. Human culture often functions as a kind of air conditioner, trying to turn the outside world of nature into a well-ordered interior. But at the same time Man has learned to adapt to changes in the climate, and to make do with the resources available.

 

4: Making Weather

One of mankind’s oldest dreams is that of shaking off our dependency on the gods or the blind forces of nature, and shaping the weather ourselves. Today this dream has become a reality, but in a fateful way. The fourth section of the exhibition shows the world as an experiment in which human beings are both the active subjects and the affected objects. Will we be able to control our interaction with the atmosphere so that human civilization on this planet can continue? Is the problem a purely technical one? Or do we need to develop completely new, globally acting political and scientific institutions? And — what can individuals do right now?