The Commercial Appeal - Go Memphis
Experience power of nature’s wrath in museum exhibit
Get a taste of tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes
A great deal of the news we see or read concerns natural disasters, though for the unfortunate people who experience tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, “natural” may not be the appropriate term. Just in the 21st century, we have seen Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy; the tsunamis in the Indian Ocean and on Japan’s east coast; earthquakes in Haiti, Kashmir and Gujarat, India; the recurring and increasing destruction in Tornado Alley in the American Plains and Midwest.
What causes these seemingly apocalyptic occurrences?
Having visited the exhibition “Nature Unleashed,” through May 1 at the Pink Palace Museum, I can tell you with confident authority that the cause is heat, that is, the unimaginable heat at the core of our planet and the heat with which the sun, our star, bathes the Earth every day. This constant, inescapable factor in the life of the world and our own lives brings tremendous benefits and devastating tragedy to the inhabitants who trod the planet’s thin crust.
Organized by Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, “Nature Unleashed” examines and explains, at a fairly understandable level, the origins and consequences, historical and contemporary, of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes and tornadoes in a series of passive and interactive displays that range in effect from enlightening to frightening. You can stamp your foot and cause a seismograph to register the impact. You can touch the various forms of
rocks produced by volcanic action. You can choose what kind of volcano you want to create and watch it on a screen. You can stand in a small chamber and watch a tornado develop and roll right over you. In any case, you will leave “Nature Unleashed” with a healthy respect for the forces of nature and their implacable (and utterly indifferent) ability to destroy what the Psalmist calls “the works of man.” Many panoramas of devastated towns and cities are featured.
The exhibition crowds a huge amount of material into its displays, touching on geological, historical, cultural and global perspectives — artifacts left after Katrina are heartbreaking — and most of this material requires reading. Speaking as a father and grandfather, I would say that the exhibition will work best for middle-schoolers who have been prepped at home by parents or in their science classes in some of the basic principles of nature, earth science and meteorology. Much of the informative and RIGHT: An aerial photo shows the devastation caused by the high winds and heavy flooding in the greater New Orleans area following Hurricane Katrina
on Aug. 30, 2005. educational narrative of “Nature Unleashed” was new to me, and I took two semesters of geology in college; yes, that was a long time ago.
The exhibition does not stint from placing some of the blame for what seems to be the increasing ferocity and frequency of natural disasters on the recklessness of human beings, the resulting advent of climate change and a Circuitous Succession Gallery, 500 S. Second St.: Susan Maakestad: “White Out,” through May 6. Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Friday. New paintings. 901-229-1041. circuitoussuccession.com
LEFT: A survivor salvages items in Greensburg, Kan., where about 95 percent of the town was destroyed by a 1.7-mile-wide tornado, with winds estimated at 205 mph on May 8, 2007. strange disregard for good sense. Eighty percent of New Orleans, for example, lies below sea level, between a lake and a river — what a smart place to build a city. On the other hand, volcanoes and earthquakes listen to no commands but those that issue from the Stygian depths of the planet, where irresistible powers hold sway over continents and vast tectonic plates.
By the way, creating your own volcano? Awesome! Watching a tornado wash right over you? Terrifying! By all means, do it.