Environmental Matters
Everything has a history, including the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the environments we inhabit—as well as the ways we think about, understand, and confront waste, pollution, and climate change.
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
How Two Outsider Scientists Saw Inside Climate Change
Eunice Foote and Guy Callendar showed the warming effects of CO2 in the atmosphere.
EXHIBITIONS
Is the Plastic Bag History?
This outdoor and digital exhibition explores the history of a familiar object from a surprising number of angles.
DISTILLATIONS PODCAST
Rare Earths: The Hidden Cost to Their Magic
There are plenty of these essential elements, but getting them out of the ground leaves behind massive environmental damage.
EXHIBITIONS
Playing Dirty
This outdoor and digital exhibition explores the intersections of environmentalism, education, and fun through board games from the 1970s.
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
Ruth Patrick’s Lovely Creatures
The groundbreaking ecologist showed that the biological diversity within a stream can be used to diagnose its health.
SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHIES
Susan Solomon
In 1986 the atmospheric chemist provided the most conclusive evidence that CFCs were destroying the Earth’s ozone layer.
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
River Gods, Lake Monsters, and the Abiding Power of Myth
How ancient (and not so ancient) cultures thought about water purity and contamination.
DISTILLATIONS PODCAST
Whatever Happened to the Ozone Hole?
An environmental success story.
DISTILLATIONS VIDEO
CSI: Gowanus—Cleaning up the Canal
Take a trip down Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal with cartographer and citizen scientist Eymund Diegel.
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
Oral History: Mario Molina
Interview with the Nobel Prize-winning chemist who first discovered the dangers of CFCs to the Earth’s ozone layer.
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
Environmental Board Game Collection
Educational board games focused on water, pollution, and climate.
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
Smith Griswold Sells the War against Smog
To fight air pollution, officials first had to convince Californians that carmakers were the enemy, not cars.
SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHIES
Rachel Carson
The marine biologist’s book Silent Spring marked a turning point in society’s understanding of the environment.
DISTILLATIONS PODCAST
How Philadelphia’s Water Pollution Problems Shaped the City
Hear how Philly became an unexpected water pollution pioneer.
DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS
Biting Words
In the mid-20th century, tensions between humans and mosquitoes reached fever pitch.