SUNDAY EVENTS

Inuit Cultural Performers
© Hans Blohm

The Inuit Cultural Performers are young Inuit sisters from Ottawa, Canada. They enthusiastically preserve and share the Inuit culture through performing traditional cultural presentations including throat singing and drum dancing. Throatsinging is a unique type of vocalization whereby usually two people face each other and throatsing songs that imitate sounds found in nature and sounds of tools, such as: seagulls, geese, the wind, running water, and the saw. Their performance will include an explanation of throat singing and a description of their clothing.

Olav Orheim
© Olav Orheim

Olav Orheim has been the senior advisor to the ResearchCouncil of Norway and head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Program. What is happening now in the Arctic? Are we at a climate tipping point? How has the change in climate impacted the people and wildlife in the Northern Communities? The Norwegians have seen real changes in their lands and the effect on their lives is a concern for the entire country. Experience these changes with reknowned scientist Olav Orheim.

Mary Albert
© Polar Palooza

From a snow expert, to a marine mammal specialist to an Alaskan native biologist, hunter and community leader, we have the perfect vantage point for looking at how our planet has been changing and adjusting. Join our team for another multimedia experience with Mary Albert, U.S. Principal Investigator on the Norwegian-U.S. Traverse from Troll Station to the South Pole, Michael Castellini, University of Fairbanks Alaska, studying both Arctic and Antarctic seals and marine mammals, and Orville Huntington, an Alaskan biologist committed to sharing stories of his culture and subsistence lifestyle. Includes hands on artifacts to touch and examine.

Matthew A. Henson
© U.S. Library of Congress

Matthew A. Henson met Commander Robert E. Peary in November 1887 in response to a search for help on an expedition to Nicaragua. Henson impressed Peary with his seamanship and he was recruited to join Peary on many following expeditions. For years they traveled together, including voyages to the Arctic voyages. Several of these voyages lasted for years. In 1909, Peary mounted his eighth attempt to reach the North Pole, selecting Henson to be one of the team of six who would make the final run to the Pole due to his mastery of the Inuit language, his ability to build sleds, and train dog teams. Matthew Henson lived for many years in New York City, and was once employed at the museum. The presenter has recently completed the forward for Henson’s newly reissued biography.

Risten and Marielle Gaup
© Risten and Marielle Gaup

The Sami are the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, and their traditional style of singing is referred to as 'joik'. Sara Marielle and Risten Anine, Sami sisters from Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino), in the north of Norway, have both been practicing Joik, since early childhood. Taught by their father and other relatives, they have performed since they were about ten years old. They are now passing down the techniques of joik to the next generation by hosting workshops and joik classes. Traditionally, joik is performed a cappella, but Sara Marielle is currently the lead vocal in the band Adjàgas that combines traditional Joik with modern instruments. Learn more at www.myspace.com/adjagas. Sara Marielle and Risten Anine will perform various types of traditional joik, and tell the story of joik and its important role in Sami society. They will also host a little quiz and showcase duodji artifacts, which are traditional and modern Sami handicrafts. The art of duodji was passed down from their mother. Risten Anine has been a duodji apprentice in northern Finland, while Sara Marielle is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in duodji.

Inuit man and child

A silent assassin is destroying the Inuit community in Greenland. Chemical residues from all over the world accumulate here invisibly, poisoning humans and animals. Via currents in the ocean and attached to snow, pesticides like DDT are carried northbound into Inuit land, causing illness and premature death. Silent Snow is a documentary project investigating, together with the people who are affected the most, what turns out to be a structural pollution of the entire global environmental system. Join us for a look at some of the film clips and discuss with scientists how this has traveled, and what are some ways we can combat these issues.

Pål Brekke

What could be more beautiful on a cold winter night than catching a glimpse of the northern lights dancing across the sky? This stunning phenomenon is embedded in the mythology of many cultures and has been characterized as everything from dancing spirits to God's anger. There has been a hundreds of stories and theories to explain the Aurora (also known as the Northern or Southern lights). But no one suspected a connection with the Sun until a little over a century ago. Norwegian solar physicist Pål Brekke delivers a spectacular multimedia presentation on the myths and modern science behind the northern lights.

Fire and Ice Ceremony
© Fire and Ice 2009

Fire & Ice 2009 is about brings increased attention to the significance of the melting of the Big Ice, as well as new recognition and respect for indigenous peoples and their perspectives. This event adds the traditional indigenous voice to the dialogue on global warming and care of the earth, providing a very necessary, missing perspective. Through Fire & Ice 2009 the indigenous voice powerfully focuses the attention of the world on our most urgent global issue, expanding our awareness and ultimately bringing about the paradigm shift that is of such vital importance to our survival and wellbeing.

Wildlife Theater

Join Wildlife Theater for a show about two of our favorite polar opposites: penguins and polar bears! Antarctica and the Arctic Circle are two sides of the world that look and feel the same, white and cold. But very different types of animals call these icy lands their home. Explore their similarities and differences through our family-friendly and participatory shows "Polar Bear and the Beat" and "A Penguin State of Mind."

Stephen Pekar and colleague
© Stephen Pekar

Today, the climate is changing faster than any time of the last 65 million years, with rising temperatures occurring at an alarming rate. A growing body of knowledge indicates that these changes are due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases such as C0₂ in our atmosphere. Predictions of future atmospheric C0₂ levels expected to occur by the end of this century range from 500 to 1,000 ppm. The last time that atmospheric C0₂ levels were this high occurred between 45 and 25 million years ago. Today’s presentation will examine climate and C0₂ changes during this time and how Antarctica evolved from a forested continent to a polar desert.

Richard Alley
© Polar Palooza

Join us for this family-focused multimedia experience! Through immersion in polar sights and sounds travel with Richard Alley, Pennsylvania State University, a climate researcher and field scientist and Andy Revkin, New York Times award winning science writer, as they explore the impacts of climate change on our poles. Dr. Alley's field seasons in Greenland and Antarctica brings his presentation of climate change alive. Andy Revkin, has authored numerous articles on climate change and a book "The North Pole Was Here." This session includes hands on polar artifacts to touch and examine.

Shackleton expedition, January 14, 1915
Frank Hurley © Royal Geographic Society

One hundred years ago, the heroic age of exploration was underway. Two of the most famous expeditions, that of Fridtjof Nansen in the Arctic and Sir Ernest Shackleton in the Antarctic, wound up having much in common. Both ships were frozen into the sea ice and meandered at the whim of the pack, both leaders left their crew at some point, and all crew members survived both expeditions - an outcome highly unusual at the time. Were Nansen and Shackleton lucky that ice and ocean delivered them and their crew to locations where they could be saved? Or were their fates more or less inevitable, within the normal range of natural conditions?