One of the world’s most iconic cities is about to experience a transformation. George Jacob, president and CEO of the Bay Ecotarium, has plans for San Francisco’s Smithsonian-affiliated Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39: He and his team are transforming it into a startlingly unique Climate Resilience and Ocean Conservation Living Museum.
I visit with Jacob about the Ecotarium’s immersive exhibits focusing on climate change, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, micro-plastics … on possible solutions … and on the consequences of inaction. What will the Bay Area be like in 50 or 100 or 200 years if we continue in the direction we’re going now? Then we get into the Ecotarium’s impressive biomimetic façade that generates power using micro-algae; a holographic waterfall; the “Mother Portal,” which cyber-curates live streaming environmental data from around the world, bypassing geopolitical boundaries; and the Ecotarium’s use of artificial emotional intelligence—which allows machines to react to a human’s emotional state in intelligent ways. Wow!