WSU x MMAM Climate Change and Freshwater Sustainability Conference
Recently, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM) partnered with Winona State University (WSU) to present a sustainability conference titled, Climate Change and Freshwater: The Past, Present, and Future of the Midwest. As the Associate Curator of Climate & Clean Water at MMAM, I was honored to help plan and coordinate this conference with Dr. Krishna Roka, Professor of Sociology and Sustainability at WSU. Dr. Roka had conducted the previous WSU sustainability conference in 2024, and although he wasn’t originally planning to have one in 2026, he was open to collaborating on one if I was interested. Since the summer of last year, we had been in the planning process—choosing the theme, venue, and title, securing funding, and reaching out to potential speakers. Let me just say, planning a conference becomes slightly easier when the person you’re working with has done one before, so thank you Krishna!
The conference kicked off with an amazing keynote speech titled Confluences: Weaving Multidimensional Stories of Water by MMAM exhibiting artist, Tali Weinberg at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Tali’s explanation of how she weaves and translates environmental and social issues into her artwork left so many of us in the audience awe-struck. Her artwork has the power to draw us in with its beauty and craft, but the detailing, depth, and care behind the message it holds keeps us there. Being able to highlight the intersectionality of art and the climate conversation through Tali’s work truly helped set the stage for the conversations ahead for the conference. Tali’s work is currently on view in the Water | Craft exhibition, on view through December 27, 2026.
The second day of the conference was filled with great presentations and workshops at Winona State University. They served as a crash course on local, national, and international freshwater issues. We started off the day with a workshop from the Citizens Climate Lobby titled “You’re Anxious about Climate Change? Let’s get to Work”, which really helped prepare us as the audience to handle the heavy topics ahead that day.
Conference participants were encouraged to play a Watershed Game facilitated by Sadie Neuman from the City of Winona Citizens Environmental Quality Committee and John Howard from the City of Winona. We split off into teams and did our best to solve the various watershed issues that were thrown our way. This was such a unique and interactive way to get the audience involved and problem solving, and certainly a highlight of the conference!
Throughout the day we had presentations from the University of Minnesota, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Clean Water Council, Winona State University, Project Reach from the University of Minnesota, Izaak Walton League, and the City of Winona. Each presentation was so good and powerful, and I certainly felt the weight and gravity of these topics and the urgency of the issues at hand. However, these feelings of overwhelm were balanced, if not overtaken, by the sense of community support, motivation, and hope that all of the presenters and participants had. Yes, hearing about all urgent environmental and freshwater issues is difficult, as it should be, but the whole day was filled with examples of people who care and are actively and successfully doing great work for a better future for us all. With everything I experienced that day, the biggest emotions I walked away with are hope and reassurance.
Helping organize this conference has really given me the opportunity to reflect on the role of museums and climate conversation. As a person whose background was entirely in science before I began at MMAM, the intersection between my professional background and an art museum at first doesn’t seem like an obvious match. However, this conference has highlighted how they are actually the perfect pair. MMAM’s mission is to create meaningful art experiences that explore our relationship with water. And in doing so, whether intentionally or unintentionally, MMAM has been a space for climate and water conversations for years through its programming, exhibitions, and work with artists exploring great art inspired by this precious resource.
One of my colleagues mentioned to me that museums help connect people with the human experience. There’s so much great research and work being done in the scientific community with climate and water, but sometimes it doesn’t reach or connect with people in the way you would want it to. It doesn’t have that human connection. And maybe that’s the role MMAM can play; helping bridge the gap between the information and human experience through art. And hopefully through partnership with WSU and this conference, we have had a chance to show that we as a museum, especially as the only marine art museum in the world, can be a place to have that conversation. Water connects us all and we want to be a partner and resource that helps elevate that idea.
I am so incredibly grateful to all of the speakers (listed below) who took time to share their work with us and to all those who attended. I also want to again say a big thank you to Dr.Krishna Roka and WSU for the leadership and help with organizing this event.
Kamala Nair
Associate Curator of Clean Water and Climate
Friday Keynote Speaker:
Tali Weinberg, Confluences: Weaving Multidimensional Stories of Water
Speaker List:
Robert Tereba, Southern Minnesota Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, You’re Anxious about Climate Change? Let’s get to Work.
Victor Teng, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Interactive Model of Upper Mississippi River Basin: The Demonstration
Lynn Carlson, Environmentalist, What does SE MN, Iowa Select Farms, Cargill, Walmart and the Wall Street Farm Bill have in common?
Patrick Kelly, Wisconsin DNR, Using Long-Term Data to Understand Ecological and Environmental Changes in the Upper Mississippi River
Sadie Neuman (City of Winona Citizens Environmental Quality Committee) John Howard (City of Winona) The Watershed Game
Jen Kader, Clean Water Council, "Game changer": How Minnesota's Clean Water Fund has transformed water work in the state
Matt Lindaman, WSU, Past and Future: Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment
Daniel Wilson, Project REACH- U of M, Addressing Environmental Risks from Nitrate Contamination in Private Wells
Anne Conway, Izaak Walton League, Save Our Streams Citizens Science Program
Linda D’Amico, WSU, Can a Forest Have Rights? What Ecuador Teaches Us About Water and Climate Stability
Iris Wang, WSU, The Hai River, Tianjin, and the Making of a Modern Port City in the Early Twentieth Century
Michael Bowler, WSU, Climate Change and Water in Bangladesh: Flooding and Drought
Krishna Roka, WSU, Climate Change and Water in Nepal: Melting Glaciers and Drying Rivers
Poster Presentations:
Bronwyn Byrne, WSU, The Next Drop Matters: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions to Drought
Ayden Orourke, WSU, Drop Into the Future: Rethinking Water Security and Infrastructure in a Thirstier World
McKayla Knaack, WSU, The Price of Plenty
Ray Dean and Frankie Schewe, WSU, What’s Hurting Our Water: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions to Excess Nitrogen and Phosphorous Transport in Our Local Water Systems
Cristian Valenzuela, WSU, Reusing Wastewater in a Changing Climate