Wondering how changing global temperatures will affect Wrangell? The Nolan Center has you covered.
A new exhibit sits just inside the Nolan Center lobby. The display is free to the public and will remain up through the end of the month. It was put together by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s (UCAR) Center for Science Education in 2019, though it only began traveling again in 2022 after sitting dormant during the pandemic.
Wrangell is the first stop of the exhibit’s Alaska leg. Next up it will travel to Fairbanks, Anchorage, Homer and then one final, undecided location.
The nonprofit, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, is comprised of more than 130 North American colleges and universities focused on research and training in Earth science.
Auliya McCauley-Hartner is a project specialist for UCAR. She traveled with the exhibit in January to help make sure it was set up properly in the Nolan Center lobby.
She said the display is twofold.
“(The first part) talks about how we know the climate is warming … and also talks about individual stories that people, such as farmers, are experiencing,” she said.
The second half of the exhibit is completely solutions-oriented.
“It talks about what you can do as an individual to limit or mitigate or respond to the impacts of climate change. And it ends with this really cute concept board,” McCauley-Hartner said.
The concept board poses a question to the exhibit’s attendees: “If you could invent anything to address climate change, what would it be?” A desk in front of the pin board has pencils and paper for guests to offer up their ideas.
The exhibit is predominately a series of panels, many of which are interactive. But one piece, the Wrangell-specific display, has not arrived, though McCauley-Hartner expects it to arrive this week.
She said the exhibit’s curators include a community panel at every stop along the way; that way locals can understand some of the tangible effects that a changing climate will have on their hometowns. In building that specific panel, McCauley-Hartner explained that researchers spoke with several local stakeholders to ensure the panel is as catered to Wrangell as specifically as possible.
UCAR initially approached the borough to see if there was any interest in Wrangell being a host site for the traveling exhibit. When City Hall officials introduced the notion to Nolan Center Director Jeanie Arnold, she was thrilled.
“We absolutely wanted to host it,” Arnold said. When Arnold took over the center’s reins in 2023, she said an increased number of exhibits was one of her main goals.
“One of the requirements for a host location is that the host is an enthusiastic person,” McCauley-Hartner said. “That’s really what sold us on coming to Wrangell.”
She added that reaching a rural audience was also important, noting that often similar traveling exhibits go exclusively to larger cities so they can get the most sets of eyes on the displays. Here, McCauley-Hartner hopes that visitors will be able to see and learn things that they often lack access to.
Wrangell schools partnered with the Nolan Center and UCAR, so on Feb. 21, different classes will take turns walking through the exhibits, reading about how they can aid the ailing climate and even take turns posting their ideas to the concept board.
The following day, on Feb. 22, the Nolan Center will host a climate presentation at 6 p.m. Sean Kelly, a University of Alaska Fairbanks assistant professor, will lead the evening event.
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