Events

Lummi carvers transport an orca totem pole, salmon carvings, and our award-winning “Whale People” exhibit to communities throughout the Salish Sea and Snake River bioregion, drawing attention to the extinction crisis facing Pacific Northwest salmon and orcas, and building support for the movement to remove the Snake River dams.

As record-breaking heat waves and floods ravage our continent, we join members of the Lummi Nation for a coast to coast expedition, transporting a 25-foot, hand-carved and painted totem pole from Washington State to Washington D.C., visiting many sacred and historic places under threat from dams, climate change, and resource extraction.

Organized as part of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) annual convention’s official programming, this bus tour will take participants upriver to witness the impact of industry on the environment of the Southern Louisiana region, as well as the historical transitions from plantations to refineries along the “Cancer Alley” corridor in the River Parishes.

The Natural History Museum team is heading to North Dakota this week to join thousands of Water Protectors and Indigenous leaders at Standing Rock in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Scientist Linda S. Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) joined this expedition along Brooklyn’s waterfront with interest in assessing contamination exposure risks to human health, and threats from extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy. The Sunset Park neighborhood an environmentally overburdened area within NYC’s storm surge zone.