Eyewitness to Climate Change:  Polar Explorer Will Steger Visits N.D.

By Jason Schaefer
Contributing Writer

Renowned polar explorer and Minnesota native, Will Steger, is doing his first tour of North Dakota. Steger is a dynamic speaker with stockpiles of compelling visuals from his many expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The tour kicks off in Grand Forks at the Alerus Center on Monday, May 11 at 7p.m., followed by a presentation at the Fargo Theater on Tuesday, May 12 and at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bismarck on Wednesday, May 13.
These are free presentations, open to the public, documenting polar explorer, educator, writer, and photographer Will Steger’s first-hand observations of dramatic changes occurring in the Arctic and Antarctic. Will has traveled tens of thousands of miles by kayak and dog sled over 40 years, leading teams on some of the most significant polar expeditions in history.

He has been invited to testify before the United States Congress and was appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty to serve on the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group. He has been honored numerous times by the National Geographic Society and was joined on his last expedition by serial entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson.

In 1986, Steger led the first confirmed dog sled journey to the North Pole without resupply; then in 1988, the 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland (the longest unsupported dog sled expedition in history); the first dog sled traverse of Antarctica (the historic seven month, 3,471-mile International Trans-Antarctica Expedition in 1989–1990); and in 1995, the first dogsled traverse of the Arctic Ocean in one season from Russia to Ellesmere Island in Canada.

Recently, Steger formed the Will Steger Foundation, a group with a personal and professional commitment to foster leadership and cooperation through environmental education and policy. He has been face-to-face with what is considered to be the gravest environmental threat of our our time—climate change.

Thus the Foundation’s first initiative, GlobalWarming101.com, engages and empowers individuals and policy-makers to translate their concern into action on this critical issue. The Foundation has launched a series of climate change focused expeditions to the ends of the Earth, including expeditions to Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island in Greenland.

Steger’s foundation worked with To Cross the Moon (2XtM) during their snowkiting expedition across North Dakota last year, providing curriculum resources to teachers along the expedition route. In addition to curriculum resources for teachers, the Will Steger Foundation provides teacher training, student workshops, and online content. They are also organizing young people to attend the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year.

His unique ability to blend extreme exploration with cutting-edge technology has allowed Steger to reach millions of people around the world—under some of the most hostile conditions on the planet—and to be a pioneer in online education. Over 20 million students followed the 1995 International Arctic Project via online daily journal entries and the first-ever transmission of a digital photograph from the North Pole.

Steger will be visiting Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck on this North Dakota tour, holding public forums and meeting with lead staff for Senator Conrad and Senator Dorgan as well as Representative Pomeroy (and, possibly, Governor Hoeven). He will be joined on stage by local leaders and scientists who will talk about solutions at the local level.

These include: Fargo City Commissioner Mike Williams; Grand Forks Environmental Coordinator Melanie Parvey; Pew Environmental Group policy specialist Carmen Miller; and NDSU scientist Dr. Allan Ashworth (who recently had a glacier named after him). Free public presentations appropriate for families will be held in:

•Grand Forks on Monday, May 11, 7pm at the Alerus Center;
•Fargo on Tuesday, May 12, 7pm at the Fargo Theater; and
•Bismarck on Wednesday, May 13, 7pm at the Good Shepard Lutheran Church (North campus).

The tour is sponsored by the following organizations: Audubon Dakota, National Wildlife Federation, Pew Environment Group, Prairie Climate Stewardship Network, The Sierra Club, UND Environmental Conservation Organization, and the Will Steger Foundation.

While the issue of climate change is often considered to be solely an environmental issue or clouded in politics, Steger seeks to provide a refreshing, honest and genuine eyewitness account based on his experience.