Rio’s museum about sustainability opens with thought-provoking exhibits

World Today

Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Tomorrow resembles a giant bleached dinosaur skeleton, inviting visitors to look to the sky and to the future. CCTV America’s Lucrecia Franco reports from Rio de Janeiro.

Powered by solar panels that follow the sun, the museum is dedicated to sustainability. It’s cooled by water drawn from the bay it sits on and is lit, in part, by its big open spaces.

Designed by famed Catalan architect Santiago Calatrava, the goal of the museum is to make people think that there can be better tomorrows, based on what they choose to do today, Leonardo Menezes, the museum’s content manager, said.

The disturbing centerpiece of the museum, known as the Anthropocene (the new age of man) includes huge video screens that strike visitors with images and statistics that show how much energy, water, and meat the earth’s growing population is consuming. Data is constantly updated.

“If we can make people more interested about how they can consume more responsibly, how can they reflect on the actions they do and how they are impacting biodiversity or the climate. Our work will be worthwhile,” Menezes said.

One part of the museum highlights how the world is facing great challenges including a swelling population and how that will change the ways that we live.

“I left worried about how future generation will live. What are we going to leave to our children and our grandchildren,” Visitor Paul Reis said.

Since it opened to the public five months ago, the Museum of Tomorrow has attracted more than 350,000 visitors.