Climate change exhibit coming to Notebaert Nature Museum

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Climate change is the inspiration for a new exhibit opening this weekend at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Storm clouds are gathering not over, but inside the Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park. The exhibit is still under construction, but by Saturday it will be open to the public. Storms and all other kinds of weather in a show called "Weather to Climate: Our Changing World."

"Weather is what's happening today but climate is what's happening over the course of thirty years. The average weather over time," said Steve Sullivan, curator, urban ecology.

And what's happening over time is scary. Carbon dioxide and other gases are being trapped in our atmosphere and causing a warmup of the planet, and that brings about wide ranges of severe weather which someday may cause a giant drain on the Great Lakes.

"If the trend for climate change continues the way we expect them to ... Other states and even other countries will need to start using the fresh water that we take for granted in our own backyards," Sullivan said.

It seems like the exhibit spins the wheel of misfortune, but it isn't all about big storms and big troubles ahead. There's also a lighter side.

One of the neatest things about this new exhibit is that you or your kids could actually get to be a TV meteorologist. Did you know that since the 1950s, winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity?

Climate change will not just affect us, it could destroy many animal species - for instance, turtles. Just one degree of year-round change might mean the end for creatures that have survived for millions of years.

"With incubating turtles it could spell the difference between whether they're a boy or a girl and if they're all boys that could be the end of the species," Sullivan said.

The exhibit opens April 2 and runs through October 23.