Scientists Fault Climate Exhibit Changes

"As you know, I am heavily involved in the Smithsonian Ocean Hall developments, and the issue of 'unintended political consequences' is quite serious," wrote Richard Spinrad, assistant administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in charge of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. "This will be especially so with the Arctic Exhibit as well."

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Spinrad said in an interview, "My goal in this was to stick to the science, focus on research activities and not have this become a political debate."

The idea for the Arctic exhibit emerged in 2001 as the museum was developing its "Forces of Change" series that had included an El Niño exhibition. Bill Fitzhugh, director of the Smithsonian's Arctic Studies Center, suggested the idea, writing in an e-mail, "It seems silly not to include the arctic, where climate research has been so productive and so prominent, and where the impacts of change also include humans."

In an interview, Fitzhugh said that from the beginning, the exhibit was meant to focus on anthropology, not the climate.

"We were not doing an exhibit on modern climate formation," Fitzhugh said. "There are some things we can't do easily because we're in the political limelight. We have to walk a difficult line."

Fitzhugh added that the scientists knew they needed to avoid upsetting lawmakers such as Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who is a skeptic about human causes of climate change. "He's out there, we know he's out there, but it hasn't influenced what we've done."

Before the exhibit opened in the spring of 2006, a NOAA official referred to "the HQ push to appease the senior senator."

"Arctic Meltdown," the original name of the show, was designed to "explore dramatic changes during the past half-century in the Arctic environment," according to a June 2003 statement of purpose. The exhibit would show "global changes can have local consequences and local changes can have global consequences," the statement read.

Igor Krupnik, a Smithsonian scientist who reviewed the initial statement, called it a "very good start," but said it was important to find "a new title (or better title)." He suggested one based on a University of Colorado researcher's interview of an Inuit tribesman who had referred to Arctic weather as uggianaqtuq, which she interpreted to mean "you are not yourself."

Smithsonian researchers changed the title later in the summer of 2003 to "The Arctic: A Friend Acting Strange," and later the last word became "Strangely." That title also was almost jettisoned when a linguistic expert questioned the translation, saying uggianaqtuq really means "being eaten by dogs or lice."

The phrase "arctic meltdown" wound up being used on an exhibit panel in the midst of the show.

After two years of work, the Smithsonian planners convened a final series of meetings before the scheduled mid-October premiere date in 2005.