It has been a very busy and rewarding summer. In late July we welcomed Will back from Greenland where he and three members of the Ellesmere Island Expedition saw signs of rising thaw levels and large glacial melt on the ice cap. We held an informal gathering upon Will’s return with the Minnesota Norwegian community at the home of the Norwegian Consular General on Lake Minnetonka.

We couldn’t have had a better beginning to August with a successful Summer Institute and a series of events with our colleague and renowned NASA scientist, Dr. James Hansen. We invited Dr. Hansen to Minnesota to address local media, youth climate leaders, 65 educators at our Institute, and over 250 citizens and policymakers on climate change solutions. His talk was an inspiration and call to action – to truly slow global warming we cannot allow conventional coal fired power plants to be built. Dr. Hansen urged his audiences not only to make personal lifestyle changes, but also to strengthen civic engagement. We couldn’t agree more.

As our fiscal year comes to a close on August 31st, we are looking forward to our Longest Summer tour of the upper Midwest in October and our forthcoming strategic planning. We are excited to have aspects of our 2009 work focus on Antarctica, increased international cooperation and strong regional, national and international climate change policy.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rom

Executive Director

The North Face stores nationwide have released a large clothing collection featuring Will’s 1989-90 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition. Billboard-size images and expedition logos adorn the stores and clothing line.

The Greenland 08 Training expedition received frontpage coverage on the ExplorersWeb website on July 15, 2008.  Images and excerpts from the teams trail dispatches were featured in the article. Read the full article here.

The Will Steger Summer Institute garnered extensive coverage across various media outlets. Three times, Will and Jim Hansen were interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio, in their “All Things Considered” segment as well as two Morning Edition segments.  Listen to the Morning Edition here.

Additional radio coverage included the Mondale and Jones Show on WCCO-AM, and the FM107.1 Kevyn Burger Show.

Dennis Lien from the St. Paul Pioneer Press interviewed Jim Hansen in the Will Steger Foundation offices during the Summer Institute. You can see his article here.

Stay tuned in the coming days when WCCO-TV’s, Don Shelby will feature a television interview with Jim Hansen and Will. In addition, the Star Tribune’s Bill McAuliffe is crafting a future article.

Greenland Kite-Ski

For 21 days, Will and three team members from the Ellesmere expedition traveled across the Greenland ice cap to begin documentation of the rising summer thaw. Read the final dispatch from 22 year old Canadian, Sarah McNair-Landry:

Every year in the summer on the coast of the ice cap, the temperature warms enough to melt out systems of rivers and lakes. Roughly a hundred years ago when Nansen and his team became the first to cross the ice cap, their only source of water was what they were able to melt with their body heat. So when they encountered the melt ponds, they were excited to finally have all the water they wanted. However for us the water meant slower progress.

The first melt ponds we encountered were frozen, but as we dropped elevation and the temperatures became warmer we zigzagged our way around open lakes and flowing rivers. To add to the excitement as the slopes became steeper, the crevasses were more common. After 8 hours of travel, we found the perfect runway. The winds were still blowing steady, so before erecting camp we took some time to kite and enjoy our last day on the ice cap, before getting picked up tomorrow.

Summer Institute Highlights

The third annual Will Steger Foundation Summer Institute for Climate Change Education was held August 11-13 at the Science Museum of Minnesota and provided educators with a wealth of information and resources to bring to their classroom. The theme was Changing School Culture, which focused on reducing a school's carbon footprint, from classroom to community. Keynote speakers included Will Steger, Dr James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Andrew Revkin, Science Writer for the New York Times, and Don Shelby, WCCO Anchor and Reporter. The Will Steger Foundation was proud to unveil our new curriculum binder, featuring interdisciplinary lesson plans on climate change for grades 3-6 and 6-12, expedition maps and video footage, classroom activities, and links to online resources. Binder materials and PowerPoint presentations will be available on www.globalwarming101.com/resources.

Educator quotes:

• “Lots of very useable, hands-on resources and ideas.”
• “I was completely inspired by the youth presentations and emerging leaders programs.”
• “[The concurrent sessions] narrowed it down and gave me ideas on where to start, and how to start small: things I can actually do and things my students can do too!”
  

Youth Round Table with Will Steger and Dr. James Hansen

Students from MN high schools and colleges met with Will Steger and renowned climatologist Dr. James Hansen for a round table discussion on global warming solutions and youth participation. Students shared inspiring stories highlighting work on their campuses and surrounding communities.  Representatives from the MN youth climate group TEAM MN along with representatives from the Sierra Student Coalition, Global Exchange, and the Energy Action Power Vote Campaign joined the Will Steger Foundation for a policy forum with Dr. Hansen, Will Steger and J. Drake Hamilton.

Thanks to our Education Program interns!

A huge thank you to our summer interns, Ann Benson from Middlebury College and Heather Buckner from Tufts University for their fantastic work! Many thanks and best wishes to our year-long student volunteer Margaret Campbell!

Ann Benson	Heather Buckner	Margaret Campbell

We want everyone to heed Dr. Hansen’s excellent advice he postulated in Minnesota:
ask candidates where they stand on global warming and monitor not just their words, but also their actions! As election season nears closer, candidates across the country are feeling pressure from constituents to address rising gas prices. Candidates for all government offices, at all levels, need to hear from you that they should support science-based policy solutions to global warming. Send them an e-mail, call their campaign office, write a letter to the editor, or better yet, ask them in person as they’re campaigning in your neighborhood. You can help put global warming solutions at the top of every candidate's list!

Will Steger training on Greenland - 2008