Protesters Urge Smithsonian To Cut Ties With Climate Denier David Koch

"Protesters in Washington, D.C. gathered outside of the National Museum of Natural History on Monday, urging the Smithsonian Institution to cut ties with noted climate denier David Koch, who sits on the museum’s board.

'The fossil fuel industry is driving this train to the end of the Earth,' Beka Economopoulos, director of the mobile museum bus The Natural History Museum, told the crowd of protesters. 'We need science museums to take a stand.'

The Smithsonian has come under fire for its association with the Koch brothers and its Hall of Human Origins exhibit, funded by a $15 million grant from David Koch. The exhibit centers on a relatively new hypothesis, based largely in speculation, that extreme climate change in the past made humans incredibly adaptable. It also claims that humans will continue to adapt to future extreme climate change, illustrating this idea with an interactive video that lets visitors create future humans that have adapted to warmer temperatures simply by growing taller or adding more sweat glands."
 
Natasha Geiling reports for Climate Progress June 15, 2015.