On the Third Thursday of September, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum hosted an evening of events that celebrated community and climate action. The night kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of the museum’s 163.8 kW rooftop solar array. This was a big moment for MMAM and the community, and museum staff were grateful to celebrate this milestone with partners from MnCIFA, Solar Bear and CERTs, as well as community members. The solar array has not only been a goal for the museum for many years, but as the Associate Curator of Clean Water & Climate, it was one of the first projects begun in that role at MMAM. Over the past year, staff worked hard to turn those hopes and goals into meaningful impact.
The Associate Curator of Clean Water & Climate role at MMAM is rooted in staying informed and participating in meaningful and sustainable climate action. The curator looks for ways for the museum to build climate resilience through operations, development and engagement programs. A major factor in MMAM’s carbon footprint is the building itself. Buildings contribute to around 40% of global carbon emissions. MMAM, like countless other museums, has to meet specific climate control standards to safely store, conserve and responsibly steward the art and artifacts it houses. Because of these specific needs, museums in general are more energy intensive than other buildings. Therefore, staff felt that solar energy was a meaningful step to reduce MMAM’s carbon impact and help build resilience in a changing climate.
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Over the course of its 25-year lifespan, MMAM’s new solar panels will power 50% of the museum’s average energy needs, produce an estimated 4 million kWh and save the museum around $825,000 in energy costs. This will make a significant difference in the energy MMAM consumes and will also save the nonprofit organization money.
After the ribbon-cutting, MMAM highlighted some of the local organizations involved in climate work, giving visitors the opportunity to learn more about the work being done in Winona and how they could get involved.
Following the community books, MMAM held an author talk featuring award-winning authors Tamara Dean and Anna Farro Henderson. Facilitated by the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Bob Tereba, Tamara and Anna shared their insight and experience of using art and stories as a way to bring people together in the face of climate issues and events. It turned into a lively and insightful conversation between the audience and the authors about how, although the overarching issue of climate change can seem overbearing, there is still hope. The more people come together, share and celebrate, the more it becomes clear that there are big wins in moving toward combating climate issues. That is a fitting way to summarize that evening at MMAM. There may still be a long way to go, but celebrating what can be achieved along the way gives more reason to push forward.
Thank you to MMAM’s solar partners, Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority (MnCIFA), BlueSky Solar, Solar Bear, Clean Energy Resource Team (CERTs) and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. Thank you to the community partners for the evening, including the Izaak Walton League, the City of Winona’s Environmental Quality Commission, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Cotter Environmental Club. And thank you to the Morgan Family Foundation for helping to support the position of Associate Curator of Clean Water & Climate.
Kamala Nair is the Associate Curator of Clean Water and Climate at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM), which is a two-year grant-funded position by the Morgan Family Foundation. She has a B.S. in environmental science from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (2021) and an M.S. in environmental science and policy from Johns Hopkins University (2023). Her educational and internship experiences were centered in natural resource management, policy analysis and environmental equity. In her role at the museum she is tasked with leading MMAM’s efforts to create a five-year climate action plan and manage the transition into clean energy and sustainable practices. She strives to help build community resilience in the face of climate change and explore the ways in which museums and cultural institutions can be a resource for the community to help elevate the climate conversation.
