Will Steger is a Polar Explorer and a formidable voice calling for understanding and the preservation of the Arctic and the Earth. He just finished a four-month expedition called Global Warming 101, to learn about the effects of global warming.
6/2/2007 :: Will Steger, is known for his numerous polar expeditions,deep understanding of the environment and his efforts to raise international awareness to environmental threats.Steger has been an eyewitness to the on-going catastrophic consequences of global warming. In 2007,utilizing the latest in web and communications technologies, students, educators and individuals can travel along with Steger as he embarks upon his next two expeditions to Baffin Island and Antarctica. A formidable voice calling for understanding and the preservation of the Arctic, and the Earth, Will Steger is best known for his legendary polar explorations. He has traveled tens of thousands of miles by kayak and dogsled over 40 years, leading teams on some of the most significant polar expeditions in history.
Recently, Steger formed the Will Steger Foundation, with a personal and professional commitment to foster leadership and cooperation in environmental education and policy. He has been face-to-face with what we now know to be the gravest environmental threat of our time - global warming. Thus the Foundation’s first initiative, Global Warming 101, will engage and empower individuals and policy-makers to translate their concern into action on this
critical issue.
Steger led the first confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole without re-supply (1986), the 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland (the longest unsupported dogsled expedition in history in 1988), the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica (the historic seven month, 3,471-mile International Trans-Antarctica Expedition in 1989-90), and the first dogsled traverse of the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Ellesmere Island in Canada (1995). In 2007, Steger will bring his audience on two expeditions titled, "To Ends of the Earth", to experience first hand the dramatic effects of global warming in the polar regions.
Steger received his B.S. in Geology and M.A. in Education at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, and taught science for three years at the secondary level. In 1970, he moved from his birthplace in suburban Minneapolis to the wilderness north of Ely, Minnesota. There he founded a winter school and developed innovative wilderness programs for 10 years. In 1991, Steger received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters; University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN and Honorary Doctorate of Science; Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT. His unique ability to blend
extreme exploration with cutting-edge technology, have allowed him to reach millions of people around the world, under some of the most hostile conditions on the planet and be a pioneer in online education. Over 20 million students followed the 1995 International Arctic Project via on-line daily journal entries and the first-ever transmission of a digital photograph from the North Pole.
Steger joins Amelia Earhart, Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen and in receiving the National Geographic Society's prestigious John Oliver La Gorce Medal (formerly the Gold Metal) for “Accomplishments in Geographic Exploration ---- in the Sciences, and Public Service to Advance International Understanding” in 1995. This was the first time the Society had presented to all three categories. In 1996, he became the National Geographic Society's first Explorer-in-
Residence and received the Explorers Club’s Finn Ronne Memorial Award in 1997. In 2006 Steger joined Jacques- Yves Cousteau, Dr. Thor Heyerdahl and Neil Armstrong in receiving the Lindbergh Award. Steger was given this award for "numerous polar expeditions, deep understanding of the environment and efforts to raise awareness of current environmental threats, especially climate change".
A recognized authority on polar environmental issues and ceaseless advocate for the Earth’s well being, Steger has been invited twice to testify before the United States Congress, as well as, advising world leaders on the environmental protection of Antarctica. Steger’s pioneering work in adventure-based environmental education was pivotal as he founded the Global Center of Environmental Education at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota, and the World School for Adventure Learning at the University of St. Thomas in 1993. Steger is the author of four books:
Over the Top of the World, Crossing Antarctica, North to the Pole and Saving the Earth.