Welcome to the modern day “nature” museum. It seems that in an attempt to preserve nature, the museum has now shifted to a dual focus: to explain what nature is and show different populations of animals in addition to the new concept of preserving nature. While innocent enough in theory, I noticed on my trip to the The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum this past weekend that a good portion of the exhibits revolved around gas, electricity, plumbing, and water.
So, what I mean to say, is nature museums are starting to focus their exhibits on the components destroying nature. Is this a shift we should be making? What will “nature” museums look like in 100 years? Will there be anything alive, growing, and non-human created to witness and understand?
Field Guide to Nature 