Imagination and Planetary Health: Science Centers’ and Museums’ Power to Shape the Possible

Science centers, museums, and public engagement organizations have a critical role to play in building a culture of hope and action to address planetary health priorities.Through summer camps, programming for students and teachers, and dialogue and deliberation events, science centers and museums offer opportunities to practice the skills, capacities, and ways of working together necessary to support individual and collective action. In their exhibits, museums depict and address the health of the planet, the interconnectedness between planetary and human health, and human beings’ responsibilities to tend to planetary health.And myriad examples of collaborative, community-centered initiatives spotlight science centers’ and museums’ capabilities to shape policy and implement material changes that affect the health of their communities.In these endeavors (and many others), science centers and museums enact and convey messages about possibility, power, and agency.