Monday, February 18, 2008

"Water" at Natural History

This weekend my beloved and I went to the "Water" exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. This is one of those "blockbuster" exhibits - flashy displays, big ad pub budget, newspaper articles, etc. You have to buy tickets especially for this exhibit (general admission doesn't cover it), and you can only go at a certain time and have to wait on a long line to get in.

So does it live up to the hype? My verdict: it's worth seeing but overrated (In case you didn't know, water is the source of all life on earth). There are some very pretty displays, including a waterfall you walk through and a globe that talks and some other things that kids will have fun with (like playing with a block of ice), but this exhibit doesn't blow me away. It's more cutesy than amazing. I've seen more impressive shows like Jackson Pollack at MOMA or Turner/Whistler/Monet in Toronto or Salvador Dali in Venice. However, I did learn a few interesting facts:
  • There is more water in the rocks under the earth than on its surface
  • Only 3% of all water on earth is fresh
  • Only one third of this fresh water (so 1% of all water on earth), is accessible for drinking. The rest is frozen in the North and South Poles and fjords (or whatever they're called).

    You can also take an electronic quiz that teaches you how to be water efficient. One lesson: don't let your faucets drips!

    WATER



1 comment:

  1. Hm, went to the Mythical Creatures exhibit at the Natural History Museum in September, which was fun. Good to know I'm not missing too much now...:)

    ReplyDelete

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