MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Even though I am most known as a polar explorer, my career and lifelong passion has been as an educator. As soon as I graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 1967, I taught middle-school science.

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National Geographic Grantmaking Reaches 10,000 Mark

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Excavation of the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu by archaeologist Hiram Bingham. Jane Goodall's groundbreaking study of wild chimpanzees. The pioneering exploration of the deep sea by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. All the legacy of National Geographic grants.

December 07, 2011

Coca Cola is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund to conserve the ice the bears live on, which is melting at a dramatic rate. To raise awareness, the company is bringing out limited-edition Coke cans.

by Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio
November 28, 2011

St. Paul, Minn. — Tree growers have long touted their product as the environmentally friendly way to enjoy the Christmas tradition.
Because new trees are planted every year, the whole "you're killing a tree" accusation lobbed in the direction of real tree buyers just doesn't have the same sting.

CHRIST-LIKE ENVIRONMENTALISM - Arctic explorer Will Steger provided a presentation on his observations of global warming at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church Thursday evening. Steger was joined by J. Drake Hamilton, Science Policy Director for Fresh Energy and ELCA North East Synod Bishop Tom Aitkin.

December 07, 2011

 Aside from wanting to tell the real story of Jim Morrison, write a book about her family connection to Al Capone, solve every backstory street rumor you've ever heard . . . and hide from photojournalists, Christine Cassano and her stunt doubles want to take over the 36th Street diner, Our Kitchen, for one night. Her store, Amelia Flower and Garden Shoppe is housed in a building owned by Danny and Julie Zeigler, who also own Our Kitchen.

Climate Literacy Workshop
By Kristen Iverson Poppleton, Education Program Manager

On October 12 representatives from the Climate Literacy Network came together to provide an all day workshop at the North American Association for Environmental Education Conference.  The workshop, Climate Change Education:  Science, Solutions, Inspiration, and Empowerment, gave participants an introduction to climate science, common climate change misconceptions, educational materials educators can use to integrate climate education into curriculum & professional development programs, and the importance of integrating climate solutions into climate change education.

Repealing the Cross State Air Pollution Rule would put Americans at risk.
By Christy Newell, Policy Intern

 In yesterday’s letter to the editor, “More Mercury Regulations,” Joseph Cronick expressed concern about the impact of mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants on his health and our environment. He is not alone.

Dream Trip: Traverse the High Arctic, Canada - by Will Steger

Twenty of the world's top athletes and explorers share their wildest dream trips—a dazzling list of never attempted feats daunting to even these world-class competitors. For the rest of us, consider their must-do adventures—and start planning.

Some scientists worry the warming could melt substances called methane hydrates trapped in the frozen floor.

Norway’s King Harald V and Queen Sonja Open South Pole Exploration Exhibit at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ~Explorers Liv Arneson, Ann Bancroft and Will Steger also on hand for exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen’s polar expedition

Polar Explorer and Environmentalist Will Steger stopped by the Loll HQ in September on his way through Duluth. Via 1% for the Planet, Loll has teamed up with Will’s foundation to aid in the global goal of positive climate change solutions. Will believes many of these changes are doable and at the same time will improve our economy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create jobs all at the same time.

by Cycling
By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A group of 125 bicycle riders left Fortuna bound for San Francisco on Sunday as part of Climate Ride California, a 320-mile ride that is a benefit for environmental organizations.
That was the only sunny and pleasant day, said Sandra Lupien, outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition and a ride participant.

By Will Steger
Ely
10/16/2011

Americans, at our core, traditionally have aspired to be the best at what we do. First in flight. First on the moon. Leading in innovation and medical discovery. We strive to lead. And that definitely resonates here in Minnesota.

By Shawna Hedlund
Minneapolis
Updated: 09/15/2011

Broken promises
I have unconditionally supported our president since his candidacy, but as the mother of a child with asthma, I feel deeply disappointed in the choice he recently made to delay critical air-quality standards for smog pollution. Given the opportunity to follow the laws set forth in the Clean Air Act and set a protective smog standard, Obama chose to follow the legacy of George Bush. Minnesotans should be appalled at the Obama administration's failure to protect families from air pollution.

CAMEL is a free, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, online resource for educators to enable them to effectively teach about climate change. 

Prominent Minnesotans, including former WCCO-TV anchor Don Shelby, polar explorer Will Steger and Science Policy Director for Fresh Energy, J. Drake Hamilton, will share their connection to Minnesota, how climate change is impacting their sense of place and daily lives, and what people can do about the issue at a free public forum moderated by MPR’s Kerri Miller, sponsored by the Will Steger Foundation.

Letter of the Day (Aug. 21): Moose

Aug. 21, 2011

Have you picked up a seed packet at a garden store lately? If so, look at the zone map on the back, and you'll see that Minnesota's coldest, most northern temperature zone for growing has shrunk from anything north of Brainerd to a tiny area near the Boundary Waters.

The front-page Aug. 17 story, "A drastic strategy to rescue an icon," described the loss of our beloved moose across the northern stretches of our state, but never connects the true cause, which is the same warmer temps shown on the seed pack.

Article by: Jeremy Herb

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s position on climate change has now shifted from “one of the most important issues of our time" to “most of it, maybe all of it, is because of natural causes.”

In a wide-ranging interview with the Miami Herald, Pawlenty questioned whether humans have had any effect on climate change.

“The weight of the evidence is that most of it, maybe all of it, is because of natural causes,” Pawlenty said. “But to the extent there is some element of human behavior causing some of it — that’s what the scientific debate is about.”

The public event will be held Wednesday, Aug. 10, at Edina Public Works.

The EPA is working to strengthen the Clean Air Act, some in Congress are acting against it, and this evening the public is invited to learn more about it.

Along with Mayor Jim Hovland, scientist J. Drake Hamilton, Minnesota Conservation Federation executive director Gary Botzek, and the Edina Energy and Environment Commission’s Air Quality Working Group Chair Julie Risser, celebrated explorer and environmentalist Will Steger will speak as part of a panel event at the Edina Public Works Facility at 7 p.m. tonight, Aug. 10.

The event is co-sponsored by the Will Steger Foundation.

"It is extremely important to take this seriously," Steger said.

Why? Because air quality impacts "the health of our planet, our own health and, ironically, the health of our economy."

By Will Steger
Ely
07/16/2011

Currently, industry and some members of Congress are working to weaken the Clean Air Act, arguing that new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules are bad for the economy. In reality, efforts to stop the EPA from doing its job would stifle job creation.

By Yusra Mohamud
Eden Prairie High School
Updated: 07/12/2011 12:04:12 PM CDT

For 33 years at WCCO Television, Don Shelby was the journalist - always trying to be objective and looking for all sides of the story. As a reporter, he made sure he stayed neutral on controversial issues and avoided special interests.

Now retired, the 64-year-old is not doing that anymore when it comes to climate change. After doing a "fair amount" of research and reading dozens of books, he believes the science is clear: The global climate is warming and the consequences, if nothing is done, will affect us all.

WASHINGTON -- After escaping violence and persecution in their native countries, 10 former refugees met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to advocate for better aid for men and women who, like they did, come to the United States as refugees.

Author Jeff Blumenfeld will be speaking at Suffield's library on Wednesday about his experiences matching explorers with corporate sponsors in a field known as adventure marketing.

Article by: DAVID GUSTAFSON , Eden Prairie High School

Five thousand dollars. That's all it took Will Steger to build his modest home in Ely, Minn., 43 years ago. It certainly qualified as environmentally friendly: heated with a wood stove, lighted with a kerosene lamp and accompanied by an outhouse. Steger began building it when he was 19, long before his fame as a polar explorer and outspoken environmentalist.

As a governor, Tim Pawlenty pushed through tough laws to reduce greenhouse gases and slow climate change. Then he ran for president.

Tim Pawlenty has been apologizing to anyone who will listen for his so-called flirtation with cap-and-trade climate policy, recently dismissing his efforts to “look at it” as misguided and slamming carbon limits as “burdensome on the economy.” The former Minnesota governor has even renounced his previous conviction about the validity of climate science and now asserts that the research is “faulty” and can’t be trusted.

“I looked at [cap-and-trade], like most of the other leading candidates did, some years ago—flirted with it, for sure,” he said in an interview last month on CNBC. “But I’ve just admitted my mistake and said I was wrong.… It would be harmful to the economy. It’s based on flawed science, and we should throw it out the window.”

For the first time in 25 years, the eight-person Steger North Pole Expedition team reunited in St. Paul for a two-day reunion slash love fest attended by hundreds of Minnesota fans.

Held at the Minnesota History Center, the May 17 event included displays of the famed Polar Capsule, on loan from The Explorers Club; an original sled and clothing; and vintage copies of the September 1986 National Geographic magazine that featured what is recognized as history's first confirmed and unsupported dog sled expedition to the North Pole.

ELY, Minn. — Twenty five years ago this month, an expedition team reached the North Pole after enduring 56 days and 1,000 miles across fractured, shifting sea ice in temperatures that dipped below -70 degrees Fahrenheit.

The epic ski and dogsled trek with its eight-member, 49-dog crew was a deliberate throwback to the days of the early explorers. This accomplishment, the first confirmed trek to reach the Pole without resupply, was deemed by National Geographic "a landmark in polar exploration."

The organization spoke about climate change in the arctic at the May meeting of the Morningside Women's Club Earth's climate is changing.

There are many factors contributing to global warming, but few scientists would dispute that human behaviors like burning fossil fuels and deforestation contribute to the problem.

Has it really been that long? On May 1, 1986, the Steger International Polar Expedition went down in history for making the first confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole, without being re-supplied along the way.

By JUDY SHERARD
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Being the only entries in the youth division of the Edible Books Festival at the Hays Public Library Saturday didn't dampen the Roosevelt Elementary School students' enthusiasm.

The three edible projects were the culmination of literary luncheons where the fifth-grade students met once a week to discuss books after reading an assigned number of pages, said Traci Henning, Roosevelt librarian.

Will Steger Foundation
Summer Institute for Climate Change Education: Climate Change and the Mississippi River
August 11-12, 2011
Grades 6-8

What: a teacher training institute on climate change in Minnesota and its connection with the Mississippi River and watershed, including the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. (This is a Mississippi River cohort group within a larger statewide institute coordinated by the Will Steger Foundation.)

Presented by: the National Park Service, Will Steger Foundation, and the Mississippi River Fund

What would you do if drastic climate change drove you from your homeland, forcing you to leave behind your culture and your very way of life for foreign lands, strange customs, and unfamiliar environs?

Several American University students asked themselves that question as part of the Royal Norwegian Embassy’s third annual essay contest. This year, AU students were invited to write either (1) the imagined journal of an indigenous person displaced by climate change or (2) a policy brief addressing the legal, ethical, and political issues that will arise when climate refugees flock to nearby countries.

Despite appeals from youth, health and environmental groups, House and Senate panels voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to lift restrictions on new coal-fired power in Minnesota.

The Republican-led push sent the legislation to the floors of the respective bodies, where the Senate could take action as early as next week.

MONTEVIDEO — There’s still time and all the incentives in the world to do something about climate change before Minnesotans, as one wag put it, add ‘possum stew’ to the favorite recipes of hunters in the state.

Developing the state’s clean energy opportunities could create new jobs and economic opportunities while reducing greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, Reed Aronow told a gathering at the Clean Up our River Environment office in Montevideo on Wednesday.

Students take the lead in first annual Green Schools National Youth Summit!

On Monday, October 25, over one hundred high school students gathered for the first annual Green Schools National Youth Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota to join forces and help make schools more sustainable.

The conference was geared at preparing participants to become effective leaders in their schools and communities as well as inspiring each individual to become an agent of change. Through the 'GenerationWaking Up' experience, each person was Awakened, Empowered, and Connected with all the other students to help instill a sense of self-empowerment to create a more sustainable world. This presentation, incorporating music, film and spoken word stressed the importance of this generation’s need for strong action and support if the shift in our track towards climate degradation is to change. Through learning how to approach this seemingly daunting issue with hope, every individual at the conference learned that climate change isn’t larger than life but a realistic problem that can be handled if the world – especially the youth – can unite to constructively tackle this problem.

Memories of state's musicians, immigrants, more to be preserved, thanks to the Legacy Amendment

In the giant pie of hundreds of millions of Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment tax dollars, a few crumbs — thousands of dollars — are being used to record the memories of cartoonists, bluegrass musicians, psychiatrists, women police and Liberian immigrants.

The bulk of Legacy Amendment money, raised by a three-eighths of 1 percent sales tax increase, will be spent on the outdoors. Another slice of the money, more than $90 million over 2010 and 2011, supports arts and culture.

Will Steger was in close contact with students on the Skagerrak Primary School in City Gravel Road.

It's not every day an experienced polar explorer pops up in a classroom in Sandefjord.

But the event has students excited in Skagerrak Primary School in City Road.

Polar adventurer and global warming expert Will Steger speaks at the Wayzata Country Club.

Minnesota is going to see more drought and more floods—that’s what legendary Arctic explorer, Will Steger, told Wayzata Chamber of Commerce members, Rotary members and guests at the Wayzata Country Club, on Wednesday.

During his speech, Steger also emphasized the importance of Minnesota jobs in renewable energy. At the event, Steger gave locals a first-hand account of his adventures through the North and South Poles, and Greenland. He also shared videos and photos of what he called, receding glaciers and melting polar ice caps.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) reminded high schools this week that the deadline for registering for the first annual Climate Generation Program is February 1, 2011. (CARB press release)

The Climate Generation Program, started by the British Council (the United Kingdom's international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations) which is partnering with ARB and the Will Steger Foundation, is a competition challenging students to connect environmental studies with their daily lives. High schools in California and Minnesota are eligible to participate in the program.

“Global warming is going to dominate the future lives of our young people and we have a responsibility to prepare them for this by teaching them what it is and where the solutions lie.”

Many chuckle about the topic global warming when they look outside and see the huge mounds of snow that have accumulated in many backyards in Minnesota.

Even so, world acclaimed polar explorer Will Steger of Minnesota continues to bring his message forward about the effects of global warming.

National Geographic BlogWILD with Will Steger

Contributor: WIll Steger

Two decades after leading a multi-national team on the first complete dogsled traverse of Antarctica, polar adventurer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence emeritus Will Steger reflects on the expedition--and what climate change means for our planet.

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 Will Steger, travelled 3,741 miles in seven months, enduring temperatures as low as -54 degrees Fahrenheit and winds as high as 100 miles per hour.
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.
Later this week, the team will gather in Minnesota for the first time in 20 years to reflect on the journey--and on the dramatic changes taking place across the world's most frigid continent.

The 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition team will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their trek Friday-Saturday in the Twin Cities.

By Richard Chin  | 12/10/2010

This time around, there won't be 60-day blizzards, cyclones or getting lost in snowdrifts — just sharing memories in the sauna and reflecting on what it meant to be the first people to walk across a continent at the bottom of the world.

For the first time in 20 years, all six members of the International Trans-Antarctica Expedition — the dog-sled trek across Antarctica led by Minnesota adventurer Will Steger — have joined together for a 20th-anniversary reunion of the record-setting 1990 feat.

From Polar expeditions to kite skiing to building cabins from reclaimed materials, life with the McNair-Landrys is nothing if not action-packed.

In this Arctic weather that we're having there are surely no two people more appropriate to speak to than Eric and Sarah McNair-Landry. These two young adventurers are Polar guides par excellence having grown up on Baffin Island, in the icy Canadian North, learning snow skills from their professional Polar guide parents from an early age. Their mother Matty McNair is considered to be the top woman polar guide in the world and in 1997 led the first women's expedition to the North Pole.

The 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition team will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their trek Friday-Saturday in the Twin Cities.

By Will Steger | Monday, Dec. 06, 2010

On July 26,1989, I saw Antarctica for the first time. Out of the foggy window of a Twin Otter charter that carried my six expedition team members and 40 dogs, I caught my first sight. To the distant south I could see the ice-capped mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula rise up out of the ocean, but the massive continent seemed out of place. I expected to see the Antarctic continent surrounded by sea ice. The ocean, rather than being a sea of ice, was wide open. Below was blue wavy water void of even the smallest iceberg.

Twenty years after his Antarctica trek, he reflects on our politicized climate.

Dec. 04, 2010

Seeing Antarctica for the first time, polar explorer Will Steger was astounded by the massive Larsen ice shelf, which he would spend an entire month traveling across by dogsled during the famous 3,700-mile, 220-day expedition of 1989-90.

Twenty years later, looking back, Steger is astounded -- and worried -- by the loss of the ancient ice shelf, much of which has melted, and discouraged by the lack of public and political attention that Americans pay to the issue of climate change.

Katie Bell, our new EverGreen Twins Outreach Director, and Rick Reynolds recently had the pleasure of attending the 1st annual Green Schools National Conference, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The EverGreen Twins Activity Book was represented among other great resources like Green Teacher Magazine, the KidWind Project and Project Learning Tree’s GreenSchools.

10/19/10

By Ilana Kowarski

Uniting in a common cause for the first time, the NEA and the Ecological Society of America (ESA) co-sponsored a summit which attracted scholars from around the world, including acclaimed polar explorer Will Steger.  The summit, “Environmental Literacy for a Sustainable World,” focused on the following question:  How should educators prepare students to make choices about the environment?

On Dec. 11, 2010, the six team members of the 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition will gather for the first time in 20 years at a public event at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn.

The DFL candidate and former U.S. senator is running on a platform of tax the rich in a political climate full of anti-tax fury.

October 20, 2010

Portraits of fighters stare from a wall in Mark Dayton's Loring Park townhouse.

A Samurai warrior in ink stands ready to strike. A spectacular lion is in vivid hues. The
1980 "Miracle" U.S. Olympic hockey team celebrates in a limited edition signed photo.
Muhammad Ali towers over a vanquished Sonny Liston in a massive black-and-white
shot, circa 1965.

Polar explorer Paul Schurke turned on the Wayback Machine and recounted this story from 1986, and the fortuitous recovery of the so-called Polar Capsule.

October 04, 2010
Luck o’ the Irish finds the “Polar Time Capsule”
Posted by paulschurke on October 3rd, 2010
The 1986 dogsled trek that Will Steger & I (Paul Schurke) led to the North Pole was oddly fraught with inexplicable curiosities and encounters. Perhaps the most unlikely upshot involved a humble piece of plumbing pipe. Enjoy this bonified ‘believe it or not’ tale!

Bear Head Lake State Park in Minnesota captures title in Coca-Cola-sponsored competition for most popular park

Sept  21, 2010

Yosemite's gonna be pissed: Minnesota's Bear Head Lake State Park just won the title of "America's Favorite Park" in a national competition sponsored by Coca-Cola and the National Parks Foundation, the largest official charity for the national parks.

Over 1.6 million people voted for the little-known (nationally, at least) state park near the Boundary Waters and Ely, Minnesota.

New Impact For Polar Bears Years After Arctic Visit

Reporting, Don Shelby (WCCO)

Sep 30, 2010 11:10 pm US/Central

In late fall, the polar bears migrate north through town to the forming ice where they can feed on seals. And after months of fasting, they can be hungry and dangerous. But their world is changing.

Sunday is a special day for those concerned about climate changes.

Last update: October 7, 2010 - 9:20 PM

Sunday will be 10/10/10, and people concerned about climate change want you to take notice.

A large bike rally and a panel of speakers will draw attention to the issue Sunday in downtown Minneapolis. The effort is part of an international day to raise public awareness and stimulate political action on climate change, which stalled in Congress this year.

Will Steger to speak at Professional Conference

07/08/10

Polar explorer, environmental advocate and educator Will Steger will be a featured speaker at the Education Minnesota Professional Conference Oct. 21. Steger, a Minnesota native, will talk about his 45 years of experience in wilderness exploration and education, as well as the use of online education to focus attention on environmental issues.

Explorer says climate change is a fact in polar regions

Cindy Card Buchholz

Will Steger paints a pretty scary picture of the effects of global warming on the north and south poles, but the adventurer, author and photographer offers his own solutions to protect those regions and the rest of the planet.
Steger spoke about his polar explorations and his views about global warming and climate change to an audience of about 200 people last night at the Surbeck Center of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Steger was invited to deliver his “Eyewitness to Climate Change” program by members of the Sierra Club, Repower South Dakota and School of Mines’ Norbeck Uni group, a division of the Norbeck Society for college students.

Explorer to discuss global warming

Renowned polar explorer and adventurer Will Steger will present a free program on Monday, April 19, on the South Dakota State University campus. Steger will speak at 7 p.m in the SDSU Rotunda Building, Room D. Steger, who has been leading significant and record-breaking expeditions in the world's harshest polar environments in the Arctic and Antarctic regions for more than four decades, will provide an intimate portrait of these magnificent landscapes including documentation of global warming impacts to these environments, and he will share solutions to the global warming crisis.

by Elena Velkov

SOUTH MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Young leaders from Wisconsin will host a Clean Energy Forum as part of Focus the Nation’s national campaign on Saturday, April 3, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. CST, at the American Legion Post in South Milwaukee, Wis.

Polar explorer returns with climate change message

By Kim Marquis

Polar explorer Will Steger began his career in Juneau with a double Klepper kayak he paddled to Skagway with a friend in 1963.

Just 18 years old, he hitchhiked from Minnesota to Prince Rupert, boarded the ferry and made his first expedition in Lynn Canal.

Forty-seven years later, he's back in Southeast Alaska for the first time since that trip as a teenager. This time, the accomplished cold-climate expedition leader has a Power Point presentation and a message: America needs to do something about climate change, now.

Polar explorer and musher Will Steger to visit Fairbanks

by Tim Mowry

FAIRBANKS — Famed polar explorer Will Steger is interested in hearing what Alaskans have to say about climate change when he visits the state’s three biggest cities this week to speak on the topic.

On one hand, Alaskans should be more aware of climate change than most people living where they do, Steger said.

Arctic Explorer Will Steger to Speak in Fairbanks

Eyewitness to Climate Change is Will Steger’s vivid account of the changes that he’s witnessed firsthand, caused by climate change pollutants, in Arctic regions over three decades of polar exploration.

Focus the Nation on Jobs and the Clean Energy Race

Garett Brennan, executive director, Focus the Nation

Youth-led Clean Energy Forums are underway across the country this spring as part of Focus the Nation's fourth national civic engagement campaign. Focus the Nation has been working this with youth leaders to help 'focus' communities across the upper Midwest, Maine and Arkansas on the intensifying global clean energy race and the tangible steps these communities and their elected officials can take to capture the economic potential of a competitive clean energy economy.

Polar Adventure Experiences and Firsthand Climate Change Observations

Renowned Explorer Will Steger Shares Polar Adventure Experiences and Firsthand Climate Change Observations at April 19th program at South Dakota State University (SDSU).

Steger joined by SDSU Distinguished Professor Dr. W. Carter Johnson at public program on SDSU campus.

Crossing Antarctica Marks 20th Anniversary

by Jeff Blumenfeld

It was 20 years ago last month – March 1990 – that Will Steger and five international polar explorers completed what will forever be the most audacious crossing of Antarctica. Their Trans-Antarctica Expedition will last in Antarctica history for a variety of reasons: Its length and duration (3,741 miles in 221 days, requiring that it start in winter and end in winter). Because it was the last expedition by dog (dogs were outlawed the following year by an amendment to the Antarctic Treaty). And its expense (upwards of $12 million).

20th Anniversary of the Trans-Antarctica Expedition

Twenty years ago yesterday one of the most amazing and ambitious expeditions to Antarctica, or just about anywhere else for that matter, came to an end, when a team of six explorers, from six different countries, completed a 3741 mile journey across that continent. To commemorate that anniversary, Jon Bowermaster posted an interesting article on the expedition.

Elk River Energy Expo a smash hit

by Elizabeth Nelson

The Christopher Columbus of our time.

That’s how Dave Hauer, the principle of Meadowvale Elementary, described Arctic explorer Will Steger - the guest speaker at the Feb. 27 Elk River Energy Expo.

Cycling For Carbon: Biking to a Better Tomorrow, One City at a Time

liana BALINSKY-BAKER

Whether being chased by a mountain lion or battling hypothermia, Reed Aronow will stop at nothing to fight climate change.

Polar explorer sees economic opportunity as driving force on global warming

By ROB CHANEY

Arctic explorer Will Steger, beside Nicky Phear, discusses climate change, jobs and national security during a lunch gathering at the University of Montana on Thursday afternoon. “I can’t think of anything more patriotic than self-reliance,” says Steger.

Researcher to address climate woes

Tori Norskog

Earlier spring thaws, disappearing glaciers and increasing insect population are just a few of the harsh realities of global warming that veteran environmental researcher Will Steger will address at the Urey Lecture Hall on Feb. 11.

Will Steger has been places very few others have seen, exploring and pioneering since his childhood in Minnesota, always “seeking the edge.”

By MICHAEL GIBNEY

The renowned arctic explorer has spent some 45 years traveling more than 10,000 miles by kayak and dogsled, through some of the world’s most extreme terrain at both Poles.

“The edge is where you can have a true learning experience,” Steger said Wednesday talking about clean-energy issues with business and environmental interest groups.

Legendary adventurer Will Steger, a crusader to fight global warming, is showing photos of the Arctic. It's on thin ice.

By Amy Linn

Polar explorer Will Steger, one of the most accomplished Arctic adventurers of all time, has seen and done things that most mortals can’t imagine. In 1986 he led the first dogsled expedition to the North Pole without resupply; in 1988, he traversed Greenland by dogsled, a 1,600-mile trip that was the longest of its kind ever; in 1989 he launched the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica, a seven-month, 3,471-mile journey.

Polar Explorer Sees Warming Threat

by Brett French

For the average Montanan who likes the outdoors, Will Steger has seen danger on the polar horizon.
“Habitat changes, all our hunting for pheasant and other wildlife, that’s what’s threatened” by climate change, he said.

Steger, 65, of Ely, Minn., has spent 45 years of his life as a polar explorer, making monthslong trips in cold as harsh as 70 below zero. Yet now, he couldn’t retrace his own routes because of the loss of sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. Many of the Arctic expeditions now need a canoe or some other flotation device to get across breaks in the ice. That warming trend is affecting Montana, too, he said, pointing to the loss of glaciers in Glacier National Park as evidence.

MU student attends Copenhagen climate summit

by Rebecca Prybell

For two weeks representatives from countries around the world, including a Marquette student, are meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark to participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Chalie Nevarez, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, is the Wisconsin delegate for the Will Steger Foundation Expedition Copenhagen. She also received her bachelor’s degree from Marquette in environmental engineering.
“Throughout my career, I have seen that there is a disconnect between the science and the policy written to make changes occur,” Nevarez said in an e-mail from Copenhagen. “I decided to get involved with the Will Steger Foundation, where I have had the opportunity to engage with youth from the Midwest and talk about climate change.”

Recent graduate marches in UN climate negotiations

By Molly Waite GVL Staff Writer

Most Grand Valley State University graduates spend their graduation day celebrating years of academic achievement with family and friends. But for graduate Danielle Ostafinski, the big day took place during the world's largest march on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, with 100,000 of her closest friends.
Ostafinski traveled to Denmark as part of Expedition Copenhagen, a team of U.S. Midwestern youth leaders who work within their communities to raise awareness of the international climate negotiations discussed by the United Nations in December 2009, an annual conference that has been meeting since 1992 to find solutions to global climate change. The Lanthorn sat down with Ostafinski to find out about her experience in the negotations.

American and Kenyan Youth Deliver Environmental Messages in Copenhagen

by Kalpen Modi

As President Obama called world leaders back to the table in Copenhagen to work on an agreement, the White House Offices of Energy and Climate Change and Public Engagement helped facilitate a meeting between White House aides and young environmental leaders from the United States and Kenya. The American coalition hand-delivered hundreds of letters-to-the-President from a wide spectrum of young Americans: from high school students in Illinois to young leaders in Michigan to young sportsmen in South Dakota.

Local Student Attends Climate Conference

by CHRISTINIA CRIPPES

College student Holly Jones sees solving climate change as a complicated puzzle filled with thousands of interlocking pieces.

One hundred ninety three of those pieces came together in mid-December for the Conference of Parties climate change summit in Copenhagen. The delegates from those 193 countries, then, put their heads together to join more pieces.

Jones, 21, a senior at the University of Iowa, represents one of the most valuable pieces of the puzzle: the youth movement.

"We all have these different components that we focus on; we all have our own strengths, but then when we come together we can create a pretty great picture of what needs to be accomplished and how we can go about accomplishing that," Jones said.

Local students take part in Copenhagen climate conference

By CHAD DALLY

Published: Monday, January 4, 2010 10:42 AM CST
Catherine Cogger and Aurora Conley never crossed paths in Copenhagen during the recent climate change summit. But the two bay area students are both working on how some of the planet's least-represented populations are, and will continue to be, impacted by climate change.

Cogger, who graduated from Washburn in 2006, is studying environmental anthropology at Michigan Tech University, and is currently spending a semester in Norway.

Conley, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, was one of 12 delegates from the Midwest who traveled to Copenhagen with the Will Steger Foundation, started by the polar explorer. While there, she also worked with the Indigenous Environmental Network, and is currently working toward a renewable energy certificate at Lac Courte Oreilles Community College.

Knuth Promotes Clean Energy at Copenhagen Climate Summit

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 4:29 PM CST COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — State Reps. Kate Knuth, DFL-50B, and Jeremy Kalin, DFL-17B, traveled to Copenhagen the week of Dec. 7 to participate in the historic United Nations climate change summit. Both are members of CLEAN (Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now), a group of energy leaders from more than 40 states working closely with the White House on federal clean energy jobs legislation.

S.D. Is Part of Climate Change Solution

Jamie Horter

I was the South Dakota youth delegate with Expedition Copenhagen, a partnership between the Will Steger Foundation and Stonyfield Farm, to the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

WSF is a nonprofit organization committed to creating local and global environmental solutions through advocacy, education and outreach. Will Steger, an Arctic explorer and Minnesota native, led our delegation of 12 youths to Copenhagen to provide a voice for the Midwest at the international negotiations.

The two weeks gave me a great opportunity to work with youths around the world as well as discover the leading role of the Midwest in shaping the futures of people around the globe.

There was no rest for the weary in our delegation. Working almost round the clock, delegates tackled multiple responsibilities. We worked on drafting policy for submission to the U.N., attended plenary sessions to report on the negotiations, hosted news conferences and panel discussions, interviewed governmental leaders and non-governmental groups, and led educational presentations.

Expedition Copenhagen Delegate Writes for Canadian Geographic

by Liana Baker

Liana B. Baker is an editorial intern at Canadian Geographic. She was first published in the magazine this past winter in a story about Canada’s most Northern Jewish cemetery. She wants to cover energy and environmental policy as a writer and has interned at Platts, a news service which covers energy in Washington, DC and at The Media Line in Jerusalem. She attends Northewestern’s journalism school, Medill, and will take part in the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December as a youth delegate.

S.D. Voices Heard Amid Fray: 

Biofuels, Ag Touted at Climate Conference

Thom Gabrukiewicz
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As the nations of the world try to come to consensus on climate change - amid protests that turned violent Wednesday - South Dakotans who flew to Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference say an accord is vital for the planet.



South Dakotans who are in Denmark, or recently returned from the conference that began Dec. 7 and concludes Friday, include South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke, University of South Dakota graduate student and Iraq War veteran Leighann Dunn, Augustana College senior Jamie Horter, Poet Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin and USD environmental law professor Elizabeth Burleson.

"I felt like agriculture, which I went there to represent, got a very good chance to explain what we can offer to address the issue," said Sombke, who returned from Denmark on Monday. "And I believe the countries of the world were made aware of the role agriculture can play in climate issues and food security."

SD Student Blogs From Climate Conference

A South Dakota college student is attending the the Global Climate Conference in Copenhagen and is writing about her experiences online. Augustana College student Jamie Horter arrived in Denmark last Friday and has been on her feet ever since.

From Copenhagen to South Dakota, it appears the youth movement is grabbing most of the headlines this week. Horter updated her blog Wednesday morning. She writes about attending a presentation by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Horter also sat-in on a presentation from James Balog, a photographer for National Geographic, who spent a year producing his "Extreme Ice Survey."

Youth Leaders Talk Truth to Power in Copenhagen

by Brendan DeMelle

COPENHAGEN—Students, youth environmental advocates and other “YOUNGO” interests are busy here this week, pressing world leaders and delegates to reach a real deal to protect their future against climate change.

The Young and the Restless: Youth leaders make an impact in Copenhagen

by Brendan DeMelle

COPENHAGEN—Students, youth environmental advocates and other “YOUNGO” interests are busy here this week, pressing world leaders and delegates to reach a real deal to protect their future against climate change.

National Geographic BlogWILD with Will Steger

Contributor: Ford Cochran

Will Steger occassionally contributes to National Geographic's BlogWILD site on nationalgeographic.com. This month, Will submits his blogs about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen Denmark. Will and 12 youth delegates are attending the two-week conference with 192 world leaders as they attempt to strike a fair, ambitious and binding treaty that will reduce carbon emissions.

See the online BlogWILD site from National Geographic - Dec 10, 2009

Letter to the Editor

On behalf of the Will Steger Foundation's Expedition Copenhagen, I ask you to join me in calling for a strong global climate agreement in 2009. We are currently setting the course for our country and for the world for many years to come. The United States Senate will soon vote on the climate bill, and we are mere weeks from the United Nations' Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The growing youth climate movement is calling for swift and bold action to address climate change and jumpstart the transition to a clean energy economy worldwide. I urge you to add your voice to support action that will determine the health of the world we inherit.

Racine Gets a Voice at International Climate Change Negotiations

Penguins danced and the crowd kept a giant inflated balloon of the earth aloft, as Racine rallied for sensible stewardship of our planet's environment this afternoon in Monument Square. The rally was one of perhaps 5,200 similar events taking place in 181 countries, during an international day of climate action.

To the stirring opening fanfare of Richard Strauss' Thus spake Zarathustra (better known as the theme of the "dawn of man" sequence in Stanley Kubrik's movie, 2001, a Space Odyssey), about 150 people, mostly Racine high school students, expressed their support for a new treaty on CO2 emissions they hope will come from the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

Leading the Climate Charge: Student to be S. Dakota's voice at U.N. conference

Jamie Horter is in love with the world - it's an infatuation on a molecular level, the adoration for the overall masterpiece.

In less than a month, the Augustana College senior - she's a dual major in chemistry and art - will travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, to be part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. As a member of the Will Steger Foundation's Expedition Copenhagen delegation, she will attend meetings and then disseminate information about what climate change will mean to South Dakotans.

By Maia Dedrick | Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

On Oct. 10, Reed Aronow set out in the snow for a two-week bike trek around Minnesota. I joined him for the four nicest days of the trip, while most of his days were filled with sleet and snow. Nothing was going to stop Aronow, the Will Steger Foundation's Minnesota delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. In fact, his snowy travels seemed true to the spirit of Will Steger's expeditions, the inspiration for this trek. 

Aronow was on a mission to learn from people around the state about clean energy, sustainable agriculture and solutions to climate change. As he and I set out on the Gateway Trail in St. Paul, I quickly realized that we were not just going on a bike ride. Along the trail, Aronow stopped anyone willing to talk about climate-change solutions to take pictures, conduct interviews, or simply discuss the future of our planet and our role in sustaining it.

350GR - City Participates in International Day of Climate Action On Saturday, October 24th nearly 60 activists gathered at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids, MI for the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. Overall 5,200 events in 181 countries happened on the 24th, marking it as the largest day of global climate action in the planet's history. The number 350 represents the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide (CO2) in parts per million in our atmosphere - currently we are at 389ppm and rising. Dr. James Hansen of NASA has been researching climate change for decades, and he has determined that 350ppm of CO2 is the number we need to achieve in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

By Andrew C. Revkin

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/a-global-focus-on-a-hot-number/

I have a story running on the effort under way today, prompted by  Bill McKibben and building on  conclusions of NASA’s James E. Hansen, to focus the world on  350 parts per million as the long-term target for stabilizing carbon dioxide. Here’s the lede:
Campaigners against global warming have drawn on an arsenal of visually startling tactics over the years, from posing nude on a Swiss glacier to scaling smokestacks at coal-fired power plants.
As Saturday dawned, they tried something new with the goal of prodding countries to get serious about reaching an international climate accord: a synchronized burst of more than 4,300 demonstrations, from the Himalayas to the Great Barrier Reef, all centered on the number 350.

by: Jason Kopp

A horde of bicyclists arrived at the state Capitol on Saturday to rally support for global climate change action alongside lawmakers.
Hundreds of local students, community members and lawmakers gathered on the Capitol lawn with picket signs and posters in a demonstration for global climate change as part of the International Day of Climate Action.
“You are not the future, you are the present — you are the now, you are the people who are leading the way,” Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., told the young crowd. “Keep your voices loud.”

Racine Students Rally for Sensible Climate Change

Penguins danced and the crowd kept a giant inflated balloon of the earth aloft, as Racine rallied for sensible stewardship of our planet's environment this afternoon in Monument Square. The rally was one of perhaps 5,200 similar events taking place in 181 countries, during an international day of climate action.

To the stirring opening fanfare of Richard Strauss' Thus spake Zarathustra (better known as the theme of the "dawn of man" sequence in Stanley Kubrik's movie, 2001, a Space Odyssey), about 150 people, mostly Racine high school students, expressed their support for a new treaty on CO2 emissions they hope will come from the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

RACINE - A high school student dressed as a penguin wiggled to blaring dance music atop one of those stone blocks at Monument Square.
"Keep the ice under my feet," read the sign in its hands, or, um, flippers.
There were six penguins altogether, plus a giant blow-up globe and students holding up blue cardboard numbers as big as people, all of it contributing to an atmosphere of purposeful ridiculousness. Yet it was to bring serious attention to an issue - climate change.

A Global Call for Climate Action
Thousands of organized rallies in more than 150 nations called for gloabl policymakers to make cutting carbon emissions down to a level of 350 parts per million a priority, 50 days prior to the United Nations conference on climate change.