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Seville’s Casa de la Ciencia Museum opens today two new exhibitions on biodiversity and plastics

20 February 2024

Seville’s Casa de la Ciencia Museum opens today two new exhibitions on biodiversity and plastics

Andalusia: Laboratory of Biodiversity’ becomes part of the Museum’s permanent catalog of exhibitions

‘Plastisfera: life and death in the Anthropocene” talks about a serious environmental problem: the 430 million tons of plastic produced each year worldwide

Seville’s Casa de la Ciencia museum, a scientific outreach venue of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) will incorporate from today, Tuesday February 20, two new exhibitions that will be part of its renew offer: “Plastisfera: life and death in the Anthropocene” and “Andalusia: laboratory of biodiversity”. Both exhibitions are based on environmental and biodiversity protection, fundamental aspects to guarantee a sustainable future for generations to come. 

The opening ceremony that took place today at the Museum was attended by the institutional delegate of the CSIC in Andalusia, Margarita Paneque, the Delegate for Consumer Affairs, Health, Cemetery and Animal Protection of the Seville City Council, Silvia Pozo Sánchez, and the people in charge of the new exhibitions: Marta Isabel Sánchez Ordoñez, researcher at the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) and curator of the exhibition 'Plastisfera: life and death in the anthropocene" and Bruno Sester Beca, museographer of the Seville’s Casa de la Ciencia Museum and coordinator of the exhibition 'Andalusia, laboratory of biodiversity'.

The delegate of the CSIC in Andalusia said during the inauguration “museums can be agents of development and our mission is to raise constant reflections to the public”. She also added that “we have the responsibility to establish a dialogue with citizens, managers and other institutions to deal with the preservation of natural heritage, and that is exactly what we are looking for with these two exhibitions”. 

For her part, the delegate of the Seville’s city council, Silvia Pozo, said that “These examples of outreach initiatives enrich citizen’s and Public Administration’s knowledge and awareness thanks to studies and research that contribute much to the implementation of strategies to ensure biodiversity and sustainability”.

 ‘Plastisfera: life and death in the Anthropocene

The planet is experiencing a serious environmental problem: contamination by plastics. According to the UN, the world produces 430 million of tons of plastics per year and the equivalent of more than 2000 truckloads of plastic garbage are dumped into the oceans, rivers, and lakes every day. Given these current numbers, contamination by plastics is expected to triple by 2060 if no actions are taken.

This temporary exhibition, available in the museum until next 5th May, was created on the occasion of this global warming. Plastic is found in every ecosystem in the world, even in the atmosphere and in the clouds, creating their own ecosystem, which experts have named Plastisfera. It is so present in our lives that it is possible to find even in the human body, since we eat, drink and inhale plastic every day. This also occurs in the fauna: more than 90% of the world’s waterfowl have plastic in their stomachs, and millions of them die every year for this reason. The exhibition is dedicated to three iconic bird species in the Anthropocene: the white stork, the western cattle egret, and the yellow-legged gull. It counts with pictures of Javier Milla, recognized nature photographer.

The opening of the exhibition precedes the premiere of “Plastisfera”, a dance and music initiative resulting from the collaboration between researchers from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC) and cultural creators from the world of Performing Arts (ArtScience Danza), Music and Literature, with the special collaboration of Beatriz Giménez de Ory, National Prize of Juvenile Literature. The play tells the story of love and hate between plastic and birds, where nature expresses its lament in the face of a human being who strives to destroy the place where it belongs. Both actions are part of the project "Plastisfera; Music and Dance for SOStenability", financed by the FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology). 

‘Andalusia: laboratory of biodiversity

Andalusia gathers an extraordinary biodiversity, a natural treasure that encompasses a large number of ecosystems that are home to unique species of flora and fauna. Numerous scientific research groups focus their studies on the conservation of this natural wealth.

This exhibition, which will form part of the Museum's permanent catalog, reproduces four different areas that define the functioning of ecosystems and the importance of biodiversity protection:

  1. What is biodiversity?

In this small ecosystem, emblematic and attractive species of Andalusia are presented, such as genets, the Eurasian hoopoes, robins or squacco herons. It also shows what vital connections are and how far the negative impact of human beings on the planet can reach.

  1. Andalusia’s ecosystems

Biodiversity is responsible for energy in our homes, food production, water and even medicines. A home can constitute an ecosystem in itself thanks to the complex interaction between living organisms and their physical environment.

  1. Threats to biodiversity

The planet’s biodiversity is in danger, it faces numerous threats, mostly caused by the indelible imprint of humans on ecosystems. However, there are actions, such as those shown in this exhibition that can change the consequences for the future.

In addition, and in relation to the exhibition 'Platisfera' this room incorporates an interactive focused on the work of recycling and the importance of knowing the separation of waste: 'EcoChallenge: recycling mission'.

  1. The importance of science for biodiversity conservation. SUMHAL Project.

The SUMHAL project, Sustainability for Mediterraean Hotspots in Andalusia integrating LifeWatch ERIC, is a European project that was born to protect Andalusian ecosystems through field work, use of high technologies, specialized research staff, data integration and development of virtual research environments and even citizen science. This room houses data on the work that has been carried out during this project in relation to the protection of Andalusian biodiversity and the study of its ecosystems and species.

This exhibition has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) [SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-4, POPE 2014-2020].La importancia de la ciencia para la conservación de la biodiversidad. Proyecto SUMHAL:

 

Information is available in the Museum’s web: https://www.casadelaciencia.csic.es/es

 

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Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 20:00