Museum of Science hosts rise up boston a climate event

Skye Morét, a recent PhD graduate from the interdisciplinary design and media program at Northeastern University, guided children on using her interactive artwork, which featured photos of wildlife from one of her 11 research expeditions to Antarctica.

Morét said she was excited to present her artwork on warming marine ecosystems to Rise Up Boston visitors during a talk on Saturday afternoon.

“Having this big, very focused climate event and bringing scientists and artists and designers together to engage kids of all ages is really exciting,” Morét said.

Jonah Ellis and Talia Feinsod, seniors at Brandeis University representing the school’s environmental studies program, told families about the City Nature Challenge, a four-day “bio-blitz” where people from more than 480 cities around the world document urban biodiversity using a smartphone app.

Ellis and Feinsod said Rise Up was an opportunity to encourage children to take photos of animals and plants in Boston, which scientists will use to study how climate change is affecting certain species.

“It’s been really fun. All the kids come up and they want to touch everything,” Feinsod, 21, said. “We’ve been telling the parents about how they can then take that love of learning that they have in their kids, and use the app and make it into a fun way to contribute to science.”

Jen and Julian Vance, both 31, respectively a teacher and engineer from Westbrook, Maine, stumbled upon the event during a visit to the museum with their 11-month-old daughter. They said they had enjoyed learning from organizations working in their interest areas, like architecture and whales.

Crystal Johnson Massachusetts Assistant Secretary for Environmental Justice gave the keynote at Rise Up Boston Climate Event.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

“We’re really liking it,” Jen Vance said. “It’s cool to find out about all the other little things. There’s so much going on here.”

This year’s Rise Up Boston is part of the Museum of Science’s “Being Human,” engagement initiative, which considers how people are connected.

The event on Saturday focused on the resilience of coastal communities, according to a museum spokesperson. Speakers included the chief climate officer of Cambridge, a professor of coastal resilience at UMass-Boston, and a marine biologist.

Crystal Johnson, the assistant secretary for environmental justice in Massachusetts, gave a keynote address on the potential of young people to help mitigate climate change.

“Every job can be a climate job, a climate career, if you give yourself an understanding of how to do it in a sustainable way,” she said.

Johnson said her work is “rooted” in youth.

“If you empower a 7-year-old to understand climate and clean energy, they will bring it up at breakfast, at dinner. They are a constant message board,” she added.

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