By Martin
I recently visited the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven, northern Germany along with cultural anthropologist Werner Krauss. Klimahaus is a unique
museum dedicated to humanity's relationship to climate. The main body of the
museum leads visitors on a journey along the line of 8-degrees Longitude,
following a modern-day explorer as he heads south from Bremerhaven to
Switzerland, through Italy and the Sahara, into Cameroon, across the south
Atlantic and over Antarctica. From there visitors head across the Pacific,
calling in on Samoa and Alaska, before looping back to northern Germany at
Hallig Langeness. At each stop, visitors enter an exhibition dedicated to the
climate of the location, exploring its role in shaping human life and culture.
In a rather old-fashioned anthropological tradition, we are introduced to the
'customs and traditions' of the locals, while immersed in the heat or cold,
humidity or aridity of their climate.