Why should people in New Mexico care about Polar science?
How can thousand-year-old ice from the Arctic and Antarctic help us understand Earth’s future climate?
Who are today’s polar explorers and why do they study some of the most extreme conditions on the planet?
The answer is POLAR-PALOOZA … and it is coming to New Mexico!
The NM Museum of Natural History and Science is making POLAR-PALOOZA a month-long event throughout October, 2007. POLAR-PALOOZA is designed to bring Antarctica and the Arctic (as part of the International Polar Year (IPY)) to students, teachers, and the general public of New Mexico.  We are planning a series of events throughout the month of October, culminating in October 22-24 when six scientists/writers/Native Alaskans will come to Albuquerque to participate in a series of school outreach programs, a teacher workshop, and multiple public events (this 3-day visit is funded by NSF and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and is traveling to about 25 cities nationwide as an official educational activity of the IPY).
We invite you to participate with us in the October celebration of polar science and its relationship to New Mexico.  If you have a connection of any kind to the polar regions…Native Alaskan artifacts or art, artists or photographers who have been to the poles, scientific research on endangered species, climate change, ice cores, volcanism in Antarctica, or meteorites found on the ice, or more….please think about scheduling a “polar” event during October.  If you would like to hold an event at the NMMNHS, in partnership with us, we would be happy to work with you.  If you are interested in holding your own event(s), we would be happy to help spread the word to our audiences and as part of the general POLAR-PALOOZA publicity.
Together, we can educate and excite the people of New Mexico and bring all of our expertise and resources to this celebration of the International Polar Year.  Please join us.
Interested?  For more information, contact Jayne Aubele, NMMNHS Polar-Palooza Coordinator and Co-Investigator for Polar-Palooza National Informal Education and Outreach. (jayne.aubele@state.nm.us; 505-841-2840).