This weekend we started a series of community workshops at Otago Museum, discussing and mapping the various climate resources and threats in the Dunedin area. We learned a lot from the community about the harbour, its estuaries, and mining history as we located areas of preservation and vulnerability. Dunedin is a fascinating convergence of city and natural forces in a picturesque setting, and it was exciting for us to learn more context as to how the city has taken shape over the last 200 years.
We will continue to conduct public workshops over the next six days with community members, university students, and Museum guests. These will look at the city through various climate lenses, including environmental sensing, aerial photography, coastal mapping, and iconography.
Image: Beth Ferguson | Climate Kit mapping at the Otago Museum.
Meanwhile, we are learning so much about the local animal life and natural setting from the staff of the Museum. We were given a tour of the collection of New Zealand land birds, including the extinct moa. Staff explained the changing understanding of moa stature over the last hundred years, from that of an upright ostrich to that more like a kiwi with a low stance. Discussing science as an evolving understanding of the past is helpful for us as we think about how to work in the changing environmental conditions of the present.
To learn more, check out the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment Climate Change Projections for the Otago Region.