About the Exhibit | Further Reading

April 15, 2008 - May 1, 2009
Changing Exhibit Gallery

silavut \SEE-la-voot\, noun (Inuktitut)
'Our climate' or 'our weather.'

Inuit have been keen observers of their environment for generations. Traditional knowledge and skills are passed down through generations through oral history and practice and are blended and incorporated into new knowledge and experience. Inuit intimately understand the Arctic landscape, including its variability and changes. Their knowledge helps them know when to travel, find food, be safe on the sea ice while hunting, and where to build shelters in the snow. So when the signs they have relied upon for their daily activities became less dependable, Inuit elders were concerned by the change.

Through the exhibit, SILAVUT Inuit Voices in a Changing World, learn about Inuit knowledge regarding sea ice, glaciers, snow cover, and arctic animals. Explore the environmental changes Inuit elders and hunters have witnessed in their lifetimes, as unpredictable storms and blizzards create problems for traditional weather forecasting, weakened sea ice poses dangers to regular travel, and changes in animal health impact the quality of community food resources and provide inferior skins for making clothing.

Find out how Inuit elders and hunters work with Shari Gearheard, PhD, a researcher who lives in the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut to document their knowledge and to link that knowledge with science. See the results when scientific research and Inuit knowledge work together to help us understand more about climate change. Learn techniques of preserving oral history to research your own community's collective knowledge about climate, the environment, and the way things used to be.

It is very important to get the information out there about what is changing, so others can understand what is happening.

—Ilkoo Angutikjuak

Funding for the exhibition and associated programming is provided by the National Science Foundation and the University of Colorado Arts and Cultural Enrichment (ACE) Fee.

This exhibition and associated programming are a collaboration between the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and the Inuit of Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada.

The International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Joint Committee for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 endorsed this project as a prominent and valued part of the International Polar Year program. For more information on the International Polar Year 2007-2008, please visit www.ipy.org.