Exhibition Statement
The greatest issue facing the 21st century—facing all of us, wherever we live—is our growing impact on the Earth and the natural systems and cycles supporting life. That impact goes back deeply into the past, but it has become more serious and threatening over the past few decades. Climate change is the most talked about impact, but species extinction, acidification of the ocean, soil erosion, and other planetary changes demand attention too. While the role of the natural sciences in measuring and explaining those changes is now well established, explaining the ultimate causes and finding solutions requires knowledge of the law, the social sciences, and the arts and humanities.
Through scientific inquiry we can know a lot more about how increases in CO2 are changing the global atmosphere, but we also must learn more about why such increases are occurring. Why do we burn carbon-based fossil fuels, and why do we burn so much of them? Why do we want automobiles? Why do we travel and watch television and use computers? Why do we produce food in the way we do? Why do we plow up grasslands that keep the soil in place? Important answers can come from research into human culture and society.
Obviously, we need more knowledge about the state of the Earth. But we also need to know more about the workings of our minds, and about the development of economies, institutions, and cultures. The University of Kansas has wisely invested resources in scholars who study that development. We need to know and respect nature, but we also need to know ourselves better through the study of poetry, painting, psychology, and history.