In October, 2010, NOAA awarded a $1.25 million environmental literacy grant to the Worldviews Network , a project to develop innovative, planetarium-based ecological literacy programming.  The three-year project will link a network of participating planetariums and GeoDomes across the country and create visualizations and programming that will educate audiences about global change issues, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and ocean acidification, using the planetariums’ unique immersive visualization technology as a teaching tool.

Quarterly events among the institutions in the network will engage audiences in dialogues surrounding environmental issues crucial to their region’s ecological integrity, and inspire them to take action to improve regional ecosystems.

Partners include the California Academy of Sciences and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, both of whom acquired a GeoDome Theater through the grant; NOVA/WGBH in Boston; The Elumenati; and NOAA’s Climate Program Office, in addition to a national collaboration of planetariums, scientific institutes, and community-based organizations. Programs will include the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, CO (May 24, 2011), the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) in Asheville, NC (September, 2011), the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA (November, 2011),  and the Minnesota Planetarium Society in Minneapolis, MN (December, 2011).

Learn more at the Worldviews Network website (www.worldviews.net).