How Miranda Massie Of Climate Museum Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice

An Interview With Monica Sanders

Art is magic! Art can cut through all of these problems and put us on the right course. Art connects us to each other. It’s built into how we relate to being human. It opens us up to new possibilities. At the Climate Museum, we use art to inspire people to see their own ability to take action on climate. Art, learning, and community connection and action will get us through this existential crisis and put us on the road to a climate-safe and -just future.

According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Miranda Massie.

Miranda Massie is the founder and director of New York City’s Climate Museum, which has presented eight major installations and exhibitions and over 300 public events and intersectional climate programs that mobilize people to engage with the climate crisis.

Massie is active within several coalitions focused on climate-oriented work within the cultural sector, serves on numerous international design juries, and speaks frequently on the need to integrate programming on the climate crisis across the cultural sector, and reciprocally, the transformational power of arts and cultural programming for climate.

She left a career in civil rights impact litigation to establish the Museum, having been awarded a Mentorship-in-Residence at Yale Law School and W.E.B. DuBois Institute and Wasserstein Public Interest Fellowships at Harvard University. She was also selected as a Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up in the Hudson Valley as the child of two freelance artists — my mother, a silkscreen-artist, and my father, a photographer. I was surrounded by their fellow creatives, and attention to aesthetics was in the air I breathed. For me, the arts were bound up with the gift of feeling cherished as a child — for example, my father walked me a third of a mile to the school bus stop reading me poetry. From a young age, I was convinced that I, like my parents, would become a visual artist. However, as I grew older, my lack of artistic talent asserted itself unmistakably, and I formed a different relationship with arts and culture. My upbringing instilled in my psychology a deep appreciation for all artistic, creative expression.

Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why”. What is your why?

Climate is the greatest challenge to social justice, to human civilization, and to the web of life we inhabit. I came to see this after my personal experience of Superstorm Sandy. Before Sandy, I had suppressed my sense of the need to work on climate — sometimes quite consciously. Like many who eventually come to work on climate, I wasn’t sure how I could contribute, or even how to grapple with this all-encompassing global crisis. But over the years, my worries grew stronger. I had the sense that I wasn’t directing my energies correctly. Eventually, Superstorm Sandy made climate work unavoidable for me. It was a manifestation of the climate crisis firsthand — the physical experience and evidence, and the emotional manifestation of it and what it did to New York City. In that moment, I came to see climate as the essential question, as my “why.”

You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?

Our public culture does not currently reflect the overwhelming support for transformational climate action that exists across the U.S. Our goal is to build a cultural shift to break the American climate silence and to bust the myth of American climate indifference, both of which are required to enable and sustain the action on climate we need and deserve. Recent research shows that there is a bipartisan American supermajority that supports bold climate policy — but it is a supermajority yet to be activated. While two thirds of us want to see sweeping changes and progress, we so dramatically misperceive climate sentiment that we believe two thirds of us are instead opposed to these policies. The researchers who identified this gap between what we perceive and the truth call it a “false social reality.” The ubiquitous misperception of American climate indifference creates a spiral of silence and passivity, which the Museum counters with inclusive, equity-centered programming that helps people turn away from resignation toward their own courage, connectedness, and agency.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?

In June 2019, 14 high school students took the stage of the Apollo Theatre for the culminating performance of our months-long climate spoken word program, Climate Speaks. The performances of the young people were magical and touched on every deep human emotion: love, fear, anger, joy, hope, connectedness, and more. From the stage, I could sense that the audience was rapt, waiting for the next words with bated breath. But as the night ended, in a flurry of exuberant congratulations that continued for several weeks, I knew that we had failed. It took me several days to understand why I felt this way. Then I realized that while we had provided a profound and collective emotional experience to the audience, one of the foundations of our work, we had not given them any way to use that new sense of shared commitments and community. While in the last moments of the show we included a call to action, it was notional and abstract — in no way helpful to someone looking to lean into their own ability to be a climate changemaker.

From that moment forward, our team convened around the goal of focusing not only on what we want our audience to think and to feel — though those are critical components of our work — but on what we hope they will do, and on recognizing that the problem we face is largely that most people who want to do something don’t know what to do.

None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?

By far my most critical early mentor on this project was Lou Casagrande, a museum leader of enormous repute who had led the Boston Children’s Museum and placed it, and children’s museums generally, on an entirely different trajectory. When a friend connected us, Lou was already living on borrowed time, with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis in the face of which he retained not only his extraordinary brilliance and wisdom, but an unforgettable, vibrant lust for life and belief in the power of museums. He readily assumed responsibility for advising me on launching the Climate Museum, a project he openly described as “insane.” His insight into virtually every problem I encountered, the amplitude of his thinking, and his compassionate kindness will always be with me.

One time, I called him before heading into a meeting with a potentially difference-making funder. Lou reminded me that he had just gotten chemo and that if I wasn’t able to call him back by a certain time, say 4pm, he probably wouldn’t be able to talk for 36 hours. Sure enough, the meeting ran past 4pm, and it was brutally demoralizing. I called Lou up just to leave him a message — maybe because I needed to hear his voice on the outgoing recording — and said I would report back when he resurfaced from chemo brain fog.

Five minutes later, I got a call from Lou, his voice gravelly and low. He said he heard the tone of my voice in my short and simple message and simply had to call to let me know that what I was experiencing, Post Funder Meeting Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PFMTSS), was common, non-fatal, and something I would grow used to.

Lou lived for several years after this moment, and over time, I lost the need to joke (sort of) about PFMTSS because as he had suggested, my skin got very thick. But it was an extraordinarily helpful touchstone and a way to mitigate the disempowerment that can come with looking to raise funds for a new idea. Above all, it’s one of the many precious memories of Lou that will stay with me forever.

Thank you for that. Let’s now move to the central part of our discussion. Let’s start with a basic definition of terms so that everyone is on the same page. What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?

I see climate justice as the central goal of the climate fight. It’s only through prioritizing equity and inclusion that we can tackle the range of challenges we face, including threats to our democratic systems and the climate crisis. To reach climate justice, we need to rebuild a genuine commons in the United States and around the world — spaces of universal access where people can trust and connect with one another. We need to confront and uproot racial hierarchy and white supremacy in American society, which have created and intensified the unequal impacts of the climate crisis. We won’t have succeeded on climate until we’ve achieved climate justice.

Science is telling us that we have 7–10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?

1. We’re shifting the culture on climate, because broad public support is required to achieve the climate policy that we need and deserve.
2. We’re empowering people to see themselves as more than consumer actors — the very idea of the “carbon footprint” was created by BP! — and instead as civic actors who have the agency to make change by calling their representatives, switching to fossil fuel free banks, voting for climate candidates, talking about climate, and much more.
3. We’re inspiring other museums and institutions to join in this fight and present more climate programming; we have an obligation to use our superpowers as trusted, popular institutions.

Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you in your mission?

1. Within our communities, among friends and families, we need to talk about the climate crisis. We need to acknowledge that we all have a tendency to turn away from this emergency because it’s very unnerving and hard to cope with. But that can change if we bring people into the conversation in a way that makes discussion feel safe and personally meaningful. Scientific or policy expertise is not required to talk climate. You can start with your own thoughts and feelings — and remember, more than two thirds of American adults want to see a Green New Deal and other climate justice policies!
2. Across society, we need more climate coverage and content to bring climate into the mainstream. We can do this by pushing for interdisciplinary climate curricula in schools and advocating for more climate coverage across all forms of media — newspapers, local news, radio.
3. Politicians need to turn away from the fossil fuel industry and rid them of their influence, starting with the rejection of fossil fuel campaign donations and an end to subsidies for Big Oil. They must listen to the bipartisan supermajority for climate justice by supporting renewable energy, the phase out of fossil fuels, immediate and sharp greenhouse gas emissions reductions, the creation of green jobs, and other climate initiatives that integrate social justice solutions. Our leaders must stop sleepwalking and address climate change as the all-encompassing threat to humanity that it is.

How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?

No business or industry is protected from the impacts of climate change, nor is any exempt from contributing to climate solutions. Climate-fueled weather events have already caused massive financial damages — in 2021 alone, direct economic losses and physical damage resulting from weather and climate-related natural disasters were estimated at $329 billion — a figure that leaves out a range of quantifiable healthcare and other social costs (Aon’s 2021 Weather, Catastrophe, and Climate Insight). By acting on climate now, businesses can avoid losing their profits to future climate-fueled disasters. Every business and industry has a role to play in this.

In March at our Soho pop-up, we hosted an event in support of the Fashion Act, a groundbreaking piece of sustainable fashion legislation spearheaded by New Standard Institute to drive global change in the fashion industry, which is currently a leading contributor to the climate crisis. A remarkable coalition has formed in support of this new piece of legislation that aims to significantly improve the climate, labor, and ecological profile of the fashion industry. Support for the act is vast and varied, and includes leading apparel industry players that will themselves be regulated by the law. This is a fantastic example of how businesses can be leaders in pushing for industry change.

This is the signature question we ask in most of our interviews. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why?

1. We’ve been brainwashed into thinking that we caused the climate crisis. It’s a major oil company (BP) that invented the term “carbon footprint” in 2004 as a way of manipulating us into feeling guilty and anxious. They’ve made us feel that consumer choice is the only way we can make a difference. The reality is that by speaking out, we can have a huge impact on what happens next. Big oil has controlled the narrative that defines our culture for decades. It’s time for us to take that narrative back and control the truth.
2. The climate crisis and the justice crisis are one and the same. Five years ago, I would have said the steam engine, as a stand in for the industrial revolution, started the climate crisis. But the steam engine wouldn’t have happened without colonialism and the violent theft of land, natural resources, human labor, human rights that made the industrial revolution possible. The climate crisis and the justice crisis, including racial hierarchy and white supremacy in American society and globally, are built into one another, and we can’t solve one without solving both.
3. There’s a bipartisan supermajority of American adults that supports climate justice and transformational climate action. An even larger supermajority supports reparative payments to the Black and brown communities that have been hurt the most by the fossil fuel industry and the climate crisis itself. Even though we all want these changes, we underestimate the support by half, which creates a spiral of silence that causes us not to speak out for the policies we need and deserve.
4. Philanthropy is part of the system we inhabit and its part of the problem. Two percent of overall global philanthropy goes to climate work of any kind. That is not rational given the size of the problem we face. Most of that 2% goes to policy analysis and advocacy, which shouldn’t occupy the whole terrain. We need climate justice, climate arts and culture, and a whole range of other endeavors that can empower members of the public — you and me — to take action on this crisis that confronts humanity.
5. Art is magic! Art can cut through all of these problems and put us on the right course. Art connects us to each other. It’s built into how we relate to being human. It opens us up to new possibilities. At the Climate Museum, we use art to inspire people to see their own ability to take action on climate. Art, learning, and community connection and action will get us through this existential crisis and put us on the road to a climate-safe and -just future.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

The person I would most like to have a private meal with is Beyoncé. She is an extraordinary individual with a jaw-dropping work ethic whose genius continues to deepen without apparent limits, and whose contributions to our shared culture become ever more meaningful. What I understand of her social perspective is needed in the world. There are other people about whom you could say at least some of this. But Beyoncé has more power than any other individual I can think of to move our culture toward climate dialogue and action.

Alternatively… my next boyfriend! It will be nice to get to know him!

How can our readers continue to follow your work online?

Your readers can join our mailing list at climatemuseum.org/follow. They can also follow us on all the major social media platforms — we’re @climatemuseum on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!

About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org