Jensen Arctic Museum

Laurence Padman, PhD., senior scientist, Earth & Space Research.

"The Arctic, and global climate." The Arctic is warming more rapidly than any other place on Earth.  The consequences of Arctic warming extend to the entire world as Greenland ice loss contributes to global sea level rise, changes in Arctic sea ice affect the behavior of the North Atlantic Ocean, and methane release through permafrost melting enhances global warming. If warming continues through the 21st century at currently predicted rates, the consequences for ecosystems and human society will be profound. This talk will review what we know about the Arctic’s role in climate change and describe how scientists study these remote and hostile, but spectacularly beautiful, polar regions.

Brad Griffith, PhD., Research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and unit scientist in the Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Arctic Biology.

Dr. Griffith and his students conduct large-scale and long-term studies of the interacting effects of climate change and industrial development on wildlife habitats and resulting population implications.

William Hensley, Inupiat author of "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow."

"Inupiaq Ilitqusiat: Sustainability of Inupiaq Values in the Changing Arctic"
Native activist Hensley served four years in the Alaska House of Representatives and six years in the Alaska State Senate. He was also president of the Alaska Federation of Natives and worked with the NANA Regional Corporation, the United Bank Alaska, the Alaskan Department of Economic Development, and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

Lunch break

Jensen Arctic Museum tours

Carol Zane Jolles, Ph.D., associate professor and member of the anthropology socio-cultural research faculty at the University of Washington.

"Twenty years an outsider/insider in the Alaskan Arctic: observing and experiencing “Eskimo” culture, community and survival in a rapidly changing world." In April 1987, on her first trip to Alaska, Carol Jolles spent six weeks as guest of a tribal administrator in the Native village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. For the next 12 years, she moved back and forth between Gambell and Seattle, recording aspects of St. Lawrence Island Yupik culture.

By 1997, Jolles had expanded her research base to include the Native villages of Wales, on the Seward peninsula, and Inalik, on Little Diomede Island. In this presentation, Jolles describes experiences in the three communities that have impacted and shaped her personal and professional life and argues that there is much to learn from these and other northern peoples, whose homelands are challenged by global climate change.

Robert McGhee, Ph.D., fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and the Arctic Institute of North America, and has served as president of the Canadian Archaeological Association and as editor of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology.

In 2000 he was awarded the Massey Medal by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. McGhee is an archaeologist whose research has focused on the archaeology and history of Arctic North America. He has undertaken fieldwork across northern Canada, from Labrador to the Mackenzie Delta and northwards to the High Arctic islands, as well as in Svalbard and Siberia. His work has addressed problems such as the first peopling of the New World Arctic; the origins of Inuit culture; reactions of prehistoric populations to episodes of climatic and environmental change; and the relations between aboriginal peoples and early European visitors to Arctic Canada.

McGhee has investigated the archaeological remains left by the sixteenth century Northwest Passage expedition led by Sir Martin Frobisher, and crewed for a portion of the North Atlantic voyage of the reproduction Viking ship "Gaia."

Reception at Gentle House

Arctic Film: "Qallunaat: why white people are funny"

This is a collaboration between filmmaker Mark Sandiford and Inuit writer and satirist Zebedee Nungak. Zebedee is CEO and head researcher of the mythical Qallunaat Studies Institute. According to Nungak, "Qallunaat ought to be the object of some kind of study by other cultures. The more I thought about the way they have studied us over the years it occurred to me, why don't we study them?” A humbling portrait of what it must feel like to be the object of the white man's gaze. Fresh and original, this documentary has that rare ability to educate with wit. Mockumentary 2007, 99 min.

Registration

Welcome

Adele Schepige, Ph.D., professor of science education, Western Oregon University, NASA Explorer Grant. Drs. Schepige and Schoenfeld (below) are the leaders of a team working on the NASA grant funded Global Climate Change Institute for K-8 Teachers (GccIFT). GccIFT is an interdisciplinary approach to learning about climate change.

William Schoenfeld, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, Western Oregon University, NASA Explorer Grant.

Greg Craven, math and science teacher, author of "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" 

Greg Craven is a local high school science teacher who found himself at the middle of the climate change debate after his “Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See” went viral on YouTube, garnering 8 million views. Based on two years of immersion in the online debate, he proposes a decision-making process for everyone—layman to expert—to come to their own confident decision on a complex, uncertain, and potentially imminent and threatening topic. He then outlines very simple but powerful steps for the individual to put that decision into action (and it doesn’t even include changing your light bulbs).

Noon

Lunch break

Poster session: "Our Environment"

Mary Pettenger, Ph.D., associate professor of Political Science at Western Oregon University. She received her Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Denver. Her research interests include international politics with a focus on climate change, national security and active learning techniques.

"Arctic security issues: territory, resources and waterways"

The presentation will cover the impact of arctic ice melt on security issues in the polar north. Topics will include territorial boundary disputes between the arctic states, disputes over access and ownership of resources to be found on or under the seabed, and the potential use of arctic waterways for transportation and trade.

Arctic Film: "Before Tomorrow"

Set in 1840 in Canada’s far north, a time when many Inuit had yet to meet white people, the story centers on elder Ningiuq (Madeline Ivalu) her ailing friend Kutuguq (Mary Qulitalik) and her grandson Maniq (Paul-Dylan Ivalu). The three take on the task of drying the community’s supply of fish for the long winter on an isolated island. Maniq’s father promises to fetch them, but as the fall hunting season ends and he fails to return, Ningiuq finds her worst fears confirmed. Feature film, 2008, 93 min.

Celebrate storytelling, dancing and art!

Museum staff will read "Berry Magic" by Teri Sloat and "Caribou Girl" by Clare Rudolph Murphy. Children can make story knives, dance fans and beaded crafts. Videos of Inuit dancing will be played throughout the day.

Adults are invited to participate in a skin sewing and bead work project.