Climate Action Museum
Addressing the Climate Emergency through education and inspiring direct action in our everyday lives
The Climate Action Museum (CAM) is an educational space and resource that centers climate mitigation through an immersive experience to stimulate critical thought and facilitate direct action.
CAM focuses on climate mitigation, the reduction of long-term risk resulting from global warming and climate change. Core strategies include greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, decarbonization, and ending fossil fuel use.
Farr Associates has been deeply involved in the making of the museum since its inception and has provided support for administration, art direction, design, development, fundraising, and much more.
Plan your visit or request a tour! The museum is free, open to the public, and located at 300 S Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606.
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Architect Magazine: Still Climate-Depressed—but a Little Hopeful—at the Climate Action Museum
bg&d: A New Museum Hopes to Change Climate Doomsday Messaging
Driehaus Foundation: The Climate Action Museum Offers Steps to Net-Zero
Streetsblog Chicago: CNT’s Jacky Grimshaw discusses Lifetime Achievement Award from Climate Action Museum, and her work to address the transit fiscal cliff
Work Design Magazine: Someone You Should Know: Lesley Showers & the Climate Action Museum
Yale Climate Connections: Chicagoans learn how to cut pollution at new Climate Action Museum
Full-scale replica walls of three architecturally-distinguished Chicago buildings (left to right): Academy for Global Citizenship, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, Monadnock Building
Demonstration walls showing construction techniques, building envelopes, and heat pump technology.
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Who founded CAM?
The idea came from Doug Farr with strong support from Linda Sanchez and dozens of other volunteers. Anyone who attended at least three of the bi-weekly organizational meetings (see Meeting of the Whole below) held between January and April of 2023 are considered CAM Co-Founders. CAM owes its existence to this extended network of committed volunteers.
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What visitor experience does CAM offer?
CAM was designed to provide visitors with a three-part experience, leading to climate action.
1. Part one builds optimism about the prospects for tackling climate change by focusing on comprehensive and clear climate actions; 2. Part two solicits a public climate action pledge from all guests; and 3. Part three seeks to organize the pledgers into like cohorts.
What visitor experience does CAM offer?
CAM was designed to provide visitors with a three-part experience, leading to climate action:
1: Build
Build optimism about the prospects for tackling climate change by focusing on comprehensive and concrete actions.
2: Pledge
Solicit a public climate action pledge from all guests.
3: Organize
Organize pledgers into cohorts.
CAM evolved from a popular exhibition at the Chicago Architectural Center (CAC) called Energy Revolution, co-curated by Eve Fineman and Doug Farr. Prior to the close of the exhibition, CAC staff asked whether Doug had plans for the exhibit or should they just landfill it?