Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum opens Sustainability Center that was se…

A 7-foot-tall floating digital globe lit up on the second floor of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Thursday, marking the grand opening of the Sustainability Center.

The hybrid exhibit, meant to serve as an educational tool as well as a gathering space, opened after seven years of planning and development. Along with the globe, the center features an expansive preserved moss wall, a selection of books curated by the Chicago Public Library, and interactive learning stations on food, water, economy and energy.

Chief curator Alvaro Ramos said the exhibit’s centerpiece, the giant floating globe, is one of two in the country. The display highlights a piece of museum history: In the 1920s, the Chicago Academy of Sciences had an exhibit called the atwoodsphere.

The atwoodsphere, which ultimately migrated to the Adler Planetarium, was the first planetarium in the U.S. The academy went on to create the nature museum in 1999.

“At that…