Increasing alarm about the condition of our planet means Earth Day is evolving into Earth Year, especially at PEM.

With multiple exhibitions examining the current climate crisis, themes are starting to emerge. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that we cannot change the current situation without first changing ourselves.

As part of PEM’s school vacation week programming, the museum is partnering with Rare, an international organization that identifies human behavior as the root of our global conservation and development challenges. The nonprofit will be on site Friday, April 22, and Saturday, April 23, to help celebrate the opening of the new exhibition Climate Action: Inspiring Change. Rare will set up their colorful exhibition booths in the Main Atrium to educate the community about four specific climate-positive actions they can adopt: Eat More Veggies, Save Money With Community Solar, Make Your Next Car Electric and Give Back to Nature.

While people often want to help address the issue of climate change, they often don’t know where to even start, says Frank Lowenstein, a senior director at Rare, who works in regional sustainability in Greater Boston. “But the most important thing you — as an individual — can do to help change behavior is to talk about it. Share your actions with others. People are most likely to change if they see change happening around them. Your actions can inspire others to act too.”

Lowenstein says that while government and corporate action are both essential, our individual actions move more quickly, creating momentum. “We are social animals — we look to people we like, and people we want to be like, for cues on how to behave,” he says. “So if we eat less meat or install solar panels on our homes, and we make these actions observable to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues, we are helping shift social norms toward sustainability and pave the way to large-scale, systemic change.”

While an individual’s actions may seem small, the collective impact can be huge, says Lowenstein, adding that if 10 percent of the residents of Greater Boston adopt new climate supporting behaviors, then emissions will be reduced by twice the amount of the annual emissions produced by the entire MBTA system. Lowenstein has worked for over 30 years in the nonprofit sector to advance climate protection and land conservation, most recently serving as the Chief Operating Officer of New England Forestry Foundation.

When asked how he continues to feel hopeful, Lowenstein says, “Our economy has the power to drive a transformation that will preserve a livable climate and improve our lives.” One example is electric cars, he says, adding that they aren’t just better for the climate, but also less prone to breakdowns, quieter and safer. “We can block future vulnerability to economic blackmail around high oil prices by just getting rid of gasoline-powered cars quickly, through collective effort. And collective will is what is needed across the board. Every serious study of the potential to prevent climate breakdown concludes in much the same way: that restraining climate change is possible today using proven technologies.”

On April 23, Lowenstein will be joined by Jordan Sanchez, a writer, educator and climate advocate, who currently studies mathematics, physics and education at Harvard University, for a special event in PEM’s Morse Auditorium. The student climate advocate will kick off the program with an original poem, then join a panel that includes a clinical psychologist and youth climate leaders to discuss the range of emotions brought on by threats to our climate and their tools for maintaining hope.

Sanchez agrees that individual actions are important, especially when they spark others to follow. “If you’re an individual looking to take action against climate change, I challenge you to pick three habits to change in your own life and encourage others in your community to do the same. Changing the culture around you causes a ripple effect, and it starts one person at a time,” she says.