A Few Degrees of Change

A Few Degrees of Change is offered in conjunction with the 1.5 ° Celsius exhibition on view at the MSU Museum. This exhibition and its supporting public programs explore the global climate crisis. A Few Degrees of Change features MSU Faculty, Students, and Alumni.

We are 0.4° Celsius away from catastrophe.

In 2015, the Paris Agreement outlined the need to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature increase to no more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This goal aims to avoid irreparable damage to our climate, our ecosystems, and our ability to inhabit the planet. Failure to do so may cause disastrous calamities including extreme weather events that impact everything from our ability to grow food to accessing fresh water.

Currently, the global temperature increase sits at 1.1°C. Therefore, we must urgently consider the actions we need to take, individually and collectively, before it is too late.

In this exhibition, we invite you to examine the scope of our impact on the planet and the ways that our lives are deeply interconnected with the well-being of the environment. We hope that you will start to imagine new ways of addressing the social and environmental issues connected to climate change, and how we can build brighter, more sustainable futures. This exhibition was curated by Mark Sullivan, MSU Museum CoLab Studio, Creative Director, and a faculty member in the MSU College of Music. Sullivan is a music composer, a photographer, and educator. His music compositions have been performed, and his photographs published and exhibited, around the US, Europe, and Asia. He has focused on research and creative activity in the arts, involving creative use of technology, and innovative approaches to education. During the last couple of decades, he has become increasingly involved with the pedagogy of composition, and the pedagogy of creativity, and now, as CoLab Studio Creative Director, on nurturing collisions between the arts and sciences. This exhibition is sponsored by the MSUFCU, the MSU Museum, the MSU College of Arts & Letters, and the MSU Department of Art, Art History, and Design.