NYSCI is part of a national project to communicate issues of climate change to the public. In partnership with the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), the C3 project is part of an International Action of Global Warming Initiative. C3 fosters innovative partnerships between research centers, the media, and science centers, and showcases science centers’ central role in educating the general public about global climate change.

NYSCI has the following organizations as advisors: American Geophysical Union; Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University; Natural History Magazine; ScienCentral, Inc.; University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Office of Education and Outreach; Yale Project on Climate Change, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

NYSCI activities for C3 include the launch of a family workshop where families take on the role of scientist and learn how to collect data for national use, development of an interactive after-school program for 3–8th graders held in Spring 2010 at NYSCI, and Earth Day activities including the launch of a new wonder cart demonstration in April 2010.

A 2009 Audience Research report (pdf) conducted by David Heil & Associates, Inc found that:

• Visitors to museums are interested in learning about the most recent research regarding climate change. We will be discussing current research in our family workshop.
   
• Visitors want to know about ways they can help mitigate climate change. We are addressing this in both our family workshops and after school programs.
   
• Visitors are interested in how climate change will affect human health and biodiversity. We are addressing the biodiversity aspect of this by looking at the effects of climate change on different tree species.

In addition to NYSCI, other participating science centers include Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, Arizona; Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, California; EdVenture Children’s Museum, Columbia, South Carolina; the Franklin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Maryland Science Center, Baltimore, Maryland; Museum of Discovery & Science, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, San Diego, California; Sciencenter, Ithaca, New York; and Saint Louis Science Center, Saint Louis, Missouri.

C3 is funded by the National Science Foundation.