San Francisco proudly hosted thousands of scientists, business and political leaders from around the world during last week’s Global Climate Action Summit. Now the city is once again poised to demonstrate visionary and world-class climate leadership close to home. Bay.org, one of the largest non-profit watershed conservation groups in the Bay Area which includes the Smithsonian affiliated Aquarium of the Bay, is marking its transformation to become a first of its kind Bay Ecotarium – an immersive, sustainability-driven and multi-disciplinary education, research and climate leadership facility.
The vision for this landmark institution will be unveiled on October 5, 2018 at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco. The key note address for this beacon of hope for the future will be delivered by Dr. Jill Biden with opening remarks by Dr. Sylvia Earle. (www.bayecotarium.org). An international team of experts from across the US, France, Germany and the UK are involved in its planning and design phases.
The visionary initiative, conceived by world renowned museum leader Bay.org President & CEO George Jacob, reflects a concerted envisioning of the future with priorities for protecting and preserving the San Francisco Bay and its watershed. A cornerstone of the transformation will be its Climate Literacy and Ocean Conservation Living Museum with free education for all children and evocative experiential learning of the regional environmental challenges, innovation and indigenous cultures to exponential technologies, bio-mimetics and clean-tech energy alternatives, among others.
Drawing from the iridescence of fish scales, ocean geometry, ohlone shell-mounds and rippling waves, the design elements incorporate bio-mimetic facades, an unusual micro-grid using fish waste, native plant palettes, immersive story-telling, free education for all children, machine learning devices, wet-labs, deep ocean exploration learn and launch center, an enhanced aquarium experience with 30,000 animals and portals into the world of exponential technologies, prototypes and possibilities that could change the way carbon could be sequestered, sea-level rise/ sea-wall mitigation measures, pollution and energy dependencies could be transformed, materiality could be morphed, and equations of sustainability in a growing framework of population increase and scarcity of resources, would be addressed.
Established 37 years ago as the Bay Institute, Bay.org/Bay Ecotarium and its six branches are united under one mission to enable conversations on climate resilience and ocean conservation globally, while inspiring actionable change locally by protection and preservation of the San Francisco Bay and its ecosystems, from Sierra to the Sea™. Visit www.Bayecotarium.org.
