My name is Deb Todd Wheeler, and I am an artist living and working in the Boston area. I would like to introduce my most recent project, Live Experiments in human Energy Exchange, which was an installation of kinetic experiments fueled entirely by bicycle power, installed Oct-Dec,2006 at the Green Street Gallery in Jamaica Plain, MA.

Central to the installation was a modified bicycle, which was hooked up to a generator and various rigs, gears and pulleys. By pedaling the bike, the rider (a gallery volunteer) activated the installation, generating light, wind, sound, and motion to fuel a series of kinetic studies on the fraught relationships between nature and technology. In one piece the bike powered a DC generator that in turn powered fluorescent lights embedded in hacked ant farms, in which worker-ant tunnels were dug beneath looming silhouettes of 1964 World’s Fair pavillions. In another work, the same bike turned gears that transfer energy to wind power by turning a windmill-like form with sails made of recycled plastic grocery bags.

I chaired the science Working Group for an international conference of arctic indigenous peoples called Snowchange in August of last year (www.snowchange.org). There were several other working groups. Indigenous leaders from Greenland to Siberia gathered to share their stories of what they are seeing in changes to fish, wildlife and habitat. The list of observed changes grows longer each year:

–beaver are now in the arctic as the tree line moves north

–salmon are showing up with lesions and parasites in greater frequency

–weather is much more unpredictable, causing danger and death to hunters

–more and more salmon are appearing in the Chukchi Sea

–water levels in lakes and rivers are going down

–permafrost is melting

–reindeer are having difficulty accessing forage due to freeze-thaw-freeze cycles,

covering tundra with ice

–migratory birds are arriving earlier and leaving later

I just finished convening a workshop of 20 arctic experts to put together a plan to measure climate, climate change, and its impacts on the Arctic, particularly within the Brooks Range of Alaska. Here we brought together climate modelers, field ecologists, glaciologists, air quality experts, micro-climotologists, permafrost scientists, and permitting and compliance specialists to devise a long-term (50 year) plan. The main issue we were addressing is the sorry fact that there is only one long-term weather station in the US arctic (Barrow) and it is on the coast and not representative of the vast majority of the mountains and coast plain there. A few other weather stations exist, but they are not designed for long-term measurement analysis nor do they have the funding mandate to support them long-term. Similarly, there are no permafrost boreholes or glacier studies for long-term analysis through most of the Brooks Range. The National Park Service controls most of the lands within the central and wester Brooks Range, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service controls most of the eastern Brooks Range. All of these regions are therefore under a protected status where any developments are discouraged, and much of it is within “Designated Wilderness” which is under even more strict control. This poses a problem for scientists (and the public) interested in understanding climate, climate change, and its impacts on the landscape and ecology here — how do measure and monitor such changes without affecting it? And how should we decide what a reasonable comprimise is? The wilderness Act and ANILCA (the guiding legislation for these regions) both allow for scientific study, but discourage ‘permanent installations’. Though not specific beyond this, a permanent weather station is a piece of technology that is a permanent installation. For some, installation of a weather station would decrease the value of their wilderness experience (or more likely, their imaginary wilderness experience since only a few hundred people actually visit these areas annually and most would never actually notice such stations), but for others knowing that scientists are implementing the tools that they need to properly understand and manage the areas would increase their wilderness experience. Interpretation of this legislation by park superindendents varies widely, with some wholeheartedly endorsing the need for such data (and the necessary installations for this) and some stating that such installations would occur ‘over their dead body’.