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November 16, 2007

Smithsonian Global-Warming Exhibit Got Caught in Political Snags, Scientists Say

Several government scientists have complained that officials at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History ordered last-minute changes to a 2006 exhibit on the Arctic to avoid criticism from congressional appropriators and global-warming skeptics in the Bush administration, according to new documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The internal documents and correspondence obtained by the newspaper indicate that the museum’s director, Cristián Samper, delayed the project for six months to allow review of the proposed exhibit by higher-level officials in other government agencies and that he subsequently asked for changes in the text of the exhibit that would play down the effects of global warming in the Arctic.

Mr. Samper, who is now the acting Secretary of the Smithsonian, said he was concerned that the exhibit showed more certainty about global warming than was scientifically accurate.

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