Featuring Dr. Qin Dahe and Dr. Elizabeth Wilson

Friday December 10th - 7 pm
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455 (Map It)

Dr. Qin Dahe will share information about his climate research in cryospheric sciences (the study of frozen water on a planet surface) and Dr. Wilson will provide an update on her energy and climate research she conducted in China this past year.

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On March 3, 1990, a team of six men from six different countries and their 42 sled dogs completed the first-ever dogsled crossing of the Antarctic continent. The 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition, led by Minnesotan Will Steger, travelled 3,741 miles in seven months, enduring temperatures as low as -54F and winds as high as 100 mph. In early December 2010, the team will gather for the first time in 20 years to reflect on their journey and its impact, felt around the world by both lawmakers and school children.

We invite you to join us at these public events:

• Free public forum - Perspectives on Climate Change, featuring China team member and scientist, Dr. Qin Dahe and University of Minnesota's Associate Professor Elizabeth Wilson. Dr. Qin Dahe is a well-known glaciologist, climatologist and a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as the former Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration. Dr. Wilson spent 2009-2010 as a guest professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China researching energy and environmental policy issues. Details: Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium, December 10th, 7 pm. Click here for more details.

• Expedition Reunion Event - Team members representing France, UK, China, Japan, Russia and the US will share their stories and video clips from the expedition at a public event on Saturday, December 11th from 3-5 p.m. The event will be held at Anne Simley Theater at Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue, St. Paul. Tickets are available at The North Face Stores in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The tickets are free; a donation of $5 for students and $10 for adults is suggested. Click here for more details.

The landmark expedition could not be replicated today: not only have dogs been banned from Antarctica, but the Larsen A and B Ice Shelves, on which the team travelled for a month, no longer exist, its demise a major indication of the impacts of climate change.

The impacts the team has made on a global scale are monumental. Following the expedition, the team members met with the heads of state in France, China, Russia, Japan and the US, calling for the ratification of the 1961 Antarctic Treaty; the Treaty involves 39 countries that cooperatively manage Antarctica for scientific purposes only. The team and sled dog "Sam" met with President and Mrs. Bush at the White House on March 27, 1990. In 1991, the Treaty was ratified, protecting Antarctica from oil and mineral exploration and preserving it for science.

In 2007, team member Dr. Qin Dahe of China shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his work on climate change. Dr. Qin's scientific contributions were largely based on the ice core samples he took across the entire Antarctic continent during the expedition.

Frenchman Jean-Louis Etienne and Minnesotan Will Steger both have committed themselves to raise awareness about climate change, informing citizens through expeditions and public speaking on how they can make a difference. Locally, Will Steger established the Will Steger Foundation to educate, inspire, and empower people to engage in climate change solutions. UK team member Geoff Somers has worked with numerous polar expeditions and lectured widely. Dr. Victor Boyarsky of Russia heads the Arctic and Antarctic Museum in St. Petersburg and has led numerous expeditions in the Arctic. Japanese team member Keizo Funatsu runs Silver Cloud Kennel in Alaska and has competed several times in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

As a result of the success of the expedition's adventure learning program, the Will Steger Foundation has incorporated the successes of this early online learning model into our nationally recognized climate change education programming. The courage, tenacity, perseverance and commitment to education that defined this expedition are core values of the Will Steger Foundation today.

"The Trans-Antarctica Expedition had a huge impact on my teaching style ," explains Louise Huffman, a teacher from Illinois, and past presenter at the Will Steger Foundation Summer Institute for Climate Change Education. "The expedition was truly interdisciplinary; students experienced the interplay between social studies, art, math and history. Also, I was inspired by working with the Antarctic scientists and was able to bring more energy to my teaching."

The educational program, which relied on the early computer networks of Prodigy, CompuServe, Minitel and Apple (as the internet was not yet available to the public), reached 25 million children worldwide. The team received letters, cards, handmade books and drawings from schools around the world, including rural communities in China and even the Australian Outback.

"Wherever I go," explained Will Steger, "I meet people who were affected by the expedition. Many of them followed the expedition in elementary school. Now that they are parents, they are teaching their children about global cooperation and the importance of working together to solve problems like climate change."

The expedition was the focus of four hour-long ABC-TV specials which won the station a National Sports Emmy Award. It was featured in the November 1990 issue of National Geographic Magazine. Jazz great Grover Washington wrote a song and dedicated his 1990 national concert tour to the expedition, called Protecting the Dream. Major sponsors Target Stores, The North Face and Gore-Tex launched an expedition exhibit in an 18-wheeled truck that travelled the country, providing armchair explorers a "vicarious" experience.

When the team reached the South Pole they shared this message with the world, still very relevant today:

"The 1990s will be a decade of global change, demanding a new way of thinking and renewed commitment to action. For the first time in history, there is hope for world peace, and yet the planet is threatened by an imminent environmental disaster. This generation must reverse the tide of destruction and strive to preserve the future. As we learned anew in crossing Antarctica, the only limit to achievement is the limit you place on your dreams. As you seek your own way in the world, look beyond personal gain to your responsibility as stewards of the Earth. Let your vision be guided by hope, your path be adventurous, and the power of your thought be directed toward the betterment of tomorrow." International Trans-Antarctica Expedition Team Statement

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Special Opportunity!

As someone who supports reducing our global warming pollution and educating and empowering a new generation of climate leaders, we know you’ll want to mark your calendar for this special day where your donations are eligible for a $1,000 match! Help us create a clean energy future by making a gift on Nov 16 or any day.

Letter from the Executive Director

Will Steger's Trans-Antarctica Expedition 20th Anniversary

We have some very important milestones in Will’s history and ours to celebrate! Will was the featured speaker at Hamline University’s Center for Global Environmental Education 20th anniversary on November 4th, which he helped to establish in 1990.

In early December, Will Steger's Trans-Antarctica Expedition, the historic seven month, 3,741-mile International Trans-Antarctica Expedition in 1989–90 is celebrating its 20th Anniversary in Minnesota!

We’ll be sharing updates about these events and ways you can be involved in the coming weeks!

Just as we are excited about these celebrations, it is important that we also take a step back and understand the recent political shift and what it means for our work.

We’ve spent the past two weeks interpreting the midterm elections and what the results mean for our state, regional and national efforts to advance climate and clean energy policies. The scoop:

Nationally: Despite the national shift towards more conservatives in Congress, this did not stop California from defeating Proposition 23 and saving its landmark climate legislation, one of the first policies to price carbon and promote clean energy in the U.S. The legislation supports more than 12,000 clean tech companies, over 500,000 clean tech employees, and encourages $10 billion in private clean tech investment. It has been a huge success and an example of how climate policy can encourage economic growth. The top three election issues seemed to be the economy, healthcare, and the size of the government. While the party in power usually loses seats in the midterms, these losses were pretty significant (60-70 in the House, 6-8 in the Senate). Among Democrats in close races,who voted for Waxman-Markey (the climate bill that passed in the House), 61% lost the election (Source: E&E). Interestingly though, among Democrats in close races, 79 % of those who voted against Waxman-Markey lost – faring even worse. Also interesting is that 7 of the 8 Republicans who voted for Waxman-Markey were re-elected. So it looks like being a Democrat, rather than supporting climate policy, was the real fatal flaw in this election.

Midwest: Most of the newly elected Midwest Governors should be reasonably pragmatic and open-minded when it comes to clean energy, environmental protection, conservation and high-speed rail.  However, the results do not bode well for support of federal climate change actions or for early movement on the Midwest Governors' Association's climate initiative.

Minnesota: While Democrats lost control of the state legislature and the governor’s race is still in recount mode, we do have an opportunity to shape Minnesota’s role in growing a clean energy economy and continuing to follow California’s lead.

If all the news has got you down, we really loved this piece by The Onion.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rom, Executive Director