On September 21, at the occasion of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit, ASTC, in cooperation with the World Ocean Network (WON), UNESCO, the Millennium Campaign, and major science center networks worldwide, will host a reception and discussion at the Flanders House in the New York Times Building in New York City. ASTC CEO Bud Rock will host the discussion, which will feature speakers from UNESCO and leaders of the informal science education field, including Lesley Lewis, CEO of the Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, and initiator of the Toronto Declaration, and Margaret Honey, CEO of the New York Hall of Science, Queens. The event will include discussion with delegates from several countries represented at the Summit to define additional concrete steps of action to implement in support of the MDGs.

The Millennium Declaration, adopted in 2000, and the actions set forth in the Millennium Development Goals correspond closely with the priorities of science centers and museums worldwide, and support for the MDGs is a principle set forth in the Toronto Declaration, the unified statement of the international science center field’s goals and beliefs endorsed at the 5th Science Centre World Congress in June 2008. Science centers and museums now are taking the opportunity of the MDG Summit to highlight the important role that these institutions play in advancing education and public engagement concerning the MDGs and have circulated a formal Declaration (PDF, 432 KB) to the UN High-Level Plenary Meeting. The Declaration urges strong endorsement and action at national, regional, and global levels to enable science centers and museums worldwide to inform, educate, and engage the public more deeply in these critical issues.

Today, in a White House event, President Obama endorsed the role of science centers and museums in helping today’s youth excel in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A formal White House announcement on this topic specifically applauded the ASTC-led Youth Inspired Challenge, a major new initiative designed to expand the impact of science centers and museums to assist the nation’s youth to become the innovative and creative thinkers needed for the 21st century workforce. Inspired by President Barack Obama’s goal of strengthening the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge of America’s students, the Challenge—extended to more than 300 science centers in all 50 states—sets a three-year goal to engage thousands of youth, ages 10–19, in 2 million hours of science enrichment.

Expressing his support for the Youth Inspired Challenge, President Obama said, “Our success as a nation depends on strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of discovery and innovation. I applaud the Association of Science-Technology Centers and its members for lending their resources, expertise, and their enthusiasm to the task of strengthening America’s leadership in the 21st century by improving education in science, technology, engineering and math.”

ASTC and its member institutions are well positioned to support the President’s goals. “It is an opportunity tragically missed if we fail to spark the interests of our young people in all that science has to offer,” states ASTC chief executive officer Anthony “Bud” Rock. “For this reason, science centers and museums located in communities throughout the country are providing unique educational programs that excite, energize, and enrich our understanding of science and its many applications. Our challenge is to provide more of these enriching opportunities to more students in more communities across America. Inspiration is not restricted to the youth who benefit from these learning opportunities, but also to the many people who work to ensure the continued successes of our science centers and museums everywhere.”

For more information, visit the Youth Inspired Challenge page.

IN THIS ISSUE
September/October 2010

As respected members of their communities, science centers are well equipped to tackle science-based global issues in ways that are locally relevant. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) outline some of the most critical issues facing the world today, many of them with a basis in science: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development. With the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs approaching, science centers across the world are addressing these global issues within their local communities.

Contents
• Ideas Changing Minds: Science Centers and the Millennium Development Goals, by Jan Vandemoortele
• Declaration of Science Center and Museum Leadership Worldwide to the MDG Summit (PDF, 432 KB)
• Voices of Support for Science Centers, by David Dickson, Lidia Brito, Mohamed H.A. Hassan, and Luisa Massarani
• From Congress to Summit, by Brenton Honeyman
• Thinking Globally, Working Locally at Gujarat Science City, by Narottam Sahoo
• Energy, Health, and Climate Change: A European Perspective, by Maria Xanthoudaki
• Climate Change: A Global Issue in Our Own Backyards, by Walter Staveloz, with Kate Crawford
• A “Glocal” Approach to a Climate Change Exhibition, by Elaine Reynoso Haynes
• Targeting Climate Change Initiatives to a Rural Community, by Stephanie Ratcliffe
• A Local Response to a Global Story: Demystifying the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, by Hela Sheth
• Tackling Tough Issues in Science Centers: Two Local Responses to HIV/AIDS, by Derek Fish, Graham Walker, and Barbara Streicher
• Raising Avian Flu Awareness in Indonesia, by Finarya Legoh

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By Hela Sheth
From ASTC Dimensions
September/October 2010

Every summer, staff members at the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile, Alabama, get together to review weather disaster plans in preparation for a major hurricane. We look at our insurance policy, take down the tent in our courtyard, and get new batteries for our weather radios. During the past decade, the Gulf Coast has experienced many devastating hurricanes; Ivan, Dennis, and Katrina remain household names that evoke feelings of despair for homeowners and businesses in the region, particularly those that rely on tourism. This summer, however, staff members got together for a different reason. We met to discuss how our center could help to explain the science behind the oil spill that began after Deepwater Horizon, Transocean Ltd’s drilling rig licensed to BP, sank in the Gulf of Mexico on April 22.
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In 2002, as a member of the U.S. Department of State, I attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, I led a team responsible for forming global partnerships in resource management and social welfare. Organized by the United Nations (UN) Commission on Sustainable Development, the summit was convened to build upon the landmark UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held 10 years earlier in Rio de Janeiro. (more…)