OMSI is set to open a permanent, bilingual climate gallery this spring that treats global warming as a lived local story as much as a stack of charts. Climate of Change/Clima de Cambio is scheduled to debut April 25 in the museum’s newly renamed Nancy Stueber Natural Sciences Hall, with films, hands-on interactives and a multimedia installation focused on community-led responses. The project aims to move visitors from climate anxiety toward action by highlighting how Oregonians are adapting and designing alternatives.
According to OMSI, the 7,000-square-foot hall includes a showpiece entrance sculpture made from reclaimed yellow cedar and an updated Science on a Sphere program. OMSI says the gallery centers Indigenous, Black, Latine, rural and coastal voices and will feature a story theater of six short films about place-based climate solutions from partners across the state.
The immersive multimedia experience was developed by design studio Tellart, which builds multi-sensory museum installations. OMSI also worked with community groups so the films are produced with partners such as Adelante Mujeres, Albina Vision Trust and student leaders from Our Future, who will appear in a film about youth-driven food-system solutions.
Energy, Carbon And Hands-on Learning
Portland General Electric is the gallery’s energy sponsor and the exhibit includes an interactive carbon display that highlights the utility’s role in the region’s clean-energy transition. As reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, the gallery opens April 25 and PGE said the activation is intended to help young Oregonians understand how the energy system works and how they can participate in the state’s shift to cleaner power. The sponsorship is slated to run through 2030.
Policy Context
The gallery arrives as Oregon’s utilities work under HB 2021, the state law that requires retail electricity providers to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 80% by 2030 and to eliminate them by 2040. The law is shaping how companies and communities think about power, resilience and jobs, and OMSI’s organizers say the gallery is designed to help translate that technical policy into tangible choices for visitors. According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, utilities must file clean energy plans and consider community benefits as part of that transition.
Voices, Craft And 'Active Hope'
“This exhibition invites visitors to deepen their connection to place, think more expansively about our changing landscapes, and recognize their own capacity for action,” OMSI creative director Ciera Iveson told The Oregonian/OregonLive. The result is a gallery that blends regional craft, like the reclaimed-wood entrance built with Timberlab, with films that put community leaders, not experts, at the center of the climate story.
Climate of Change/Clima de Cambio opens April 25, and tickets and schedule information are available from OMSI. For Portland audiences, the gallery is meant to feel less like a lecture and more like a neighborhood meeting about the future, with stories, tools and experiments you can walk through film by film.
