Climate change, agencies and the museum and science centre sector

Climate change is a vast, complex phenomena impinging on biological and social life, economics, politics, and culture, stretching disciplines beyond current limits and inviting a new, critical examination of the roles and capacities of museums and science centres in these complex ecologies. In this article, I present a section of the research findings from Australian Research Council Linkage grant, 'Hot Science, Global Citizens: the agency of the museum in climate change' pertaining to the current and potential roles and agencies of natural history, science museums and science centres in climate change within Australian and US contexts. Through the analysis eight strategic positions and role changes emerge for the different forms of the museum with a greater emphasis on collective action, networking and building more critical information on climate change as a complex issue and governing subject. Within the Australian sample a stronger emphasis was placed on political advocacy and critique.