1/31/2007 9:04:00 AM Local residents hear Arctic exploere talk in Winona on global warming
By Mary Whalen
Temperatures dropping into single digits and wind chills forcing area residents to guard against hypothermia tuck thoughts of global warming into distant regions of the mind. Yet those from the Spring Valley area who gathered for the presentation held at Winona State University on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Frozen River Film Festival understood the urgency in the voice of Will Steger.
Local resident Jerry Cleveland explains that this Arctic explorer presented slides and facts he has observed during his travels. Steger spoke of the disappearance of the Larson ice shelf in the Antarctic a few years ago. This is a long, fringing ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of Antarctic Peninsula from Cape Longing to the area just southward of Hearst Island. Named for Captain Carl Anton Larsen, who sailed along the ice front in the Jason during December 1893.
He spoke of the melting of the Arctic permafrost, millions of acres of frozen bog that releases methane gas when the permafrost thaws and begins to decay.
Methane is about 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping the heat which is causing global warming.
Steger talked about his travels in Antarctica. They had to start during the winter so that during the hardest part of the trip they would be traveling during the Antarctic summer and then finish up the trip in the second winter.
He mentions the increasing melting of the Greenland ice cap and the huge amounts of water released were shown as well. If the Greenland ice cap melts entirely it will raise the present sea level by 22 feet. It will displace millions of people throughout the world.
To reverse the effects of global warming we will need to decrease our production of carbon dioxide by 80 percent within 50 years.
Readers may wonder who this "global warming guru" is. Just why should common people, land-locked Minnesotans in the only county of the state without a lake, be concerned about his views of the earth or his opinion of scientific research or documentation on global warming trends? His personal history is quite interesting. Born in 1943 at Mahtomedi, Minn., which is located on the east shore of White Bear Lake, in Washington County, Steger was 7 when his family relocated. Nine children graced his childhood home in Richfield, where his father, Bill, ran a water-softening business and his mother's prayers surrounded them as her hands labored in their home or moved across the beads of her rosary.
Steger's parents gave him and his siblings great freedom in their youth, as long as they earned good grades and obeyed family rules. So, it wasn't too surprising when the Stegers let their two oldest boys set off down the Mississippi River.
For many years, Steger had wanted to explore the world in Mark Twain's novel, by boat, so he started mowing lawns and caddying to earn money. Then he spent about three years buying, sprucing up and selling a succession of old, cheap little boats until at age 15 he had a good boat.
Steger and his 17-year-old brother, Tom, embarked on an adventure inspired by Twain's Tom Sawyer by heading down the Mississippi River in a 14-foot motorboat. A letter he'd written home to his parents during the trip follows, "There was so much I was going to tell you. Oh ya! I hope the phone bill isn't high, get Mickey's hair cut, say hello to Bruce and tell him I would write him but I lost the book that I had his address in. And tell him the stars are bright here."
The two brothers hadn't just gotten into the boat heading south. Tom Steger recalls his brother spending many months planning - checking weather patterns, even getting his hands on Mississippi River maps made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They left in the summer of 1960, bound for New Orleans with big dreams.
Their adventures were numerous, however, after a couple of weeks they reached New Orleans. They'd explored the French Quarter for a few days, then it was time for turning the old vessel around, braving rough currents, and returning home.
Those days nourished the seed (which had been implanted deeply inside Steger) to sprout and grow. The tree of his life seems strong and focused on this one purpose which he relayed to Michael Noble, executive director of Fresh Energy, an environmental group in St Paul. Noble remembers the Sunday afternoon several years ago when his cell phone flashed with a call from someone in Ely: "He said, 'Hi, I'm Will Steger, and I've decided to dedicate the rest of my life to raising public awareness on global warming.'"
Steger believes there's a spiritual shift emerging in the country, a growing movement of people treating the care of the Earth as a moral imperative. Although the nation beacons him, Steger focuses on the state of his birth, "I really want it to take root and grow here. I have such a pride for Minnesota. We can lead this."
In his optimism the realist merges and Steger understands it is going to take a long time until people understand the importance of caring for the elements of the earth. He mentions architect Frank Lloyd Wright who did not produce some of his masterworks until long after he was 65 with an understanding that he has much to yet discover. People all over the state have gathered to listen to this native son who received his B.S. in geology and M.A. in education at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul. He then 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, Minn. There he founded a winter school and developed innovative wilderness programs for 10 years. In 1991, Steger received an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, and honorary doctorate of science from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Steger has been traveling around the state for the last year talking with students and other interested groups to spread the message of global warming. He was in Winona as part of a winter film festival. After he gave a presentation at WSU on Thursday there was a breakfast on Friday and a radio presentation on Minnesota Public Radio. Then, Saturday Jan 27, this world-renown Arctic explorer used the "coolest celebration on earth" to raise awareness of global warming as he headed to day two of the St. Paul Winter Carnival where he had a send off from Harriet Island.
"I never thought in my lifetime I would see these great changes in the Arctic," Steger then commented on rising temperatures at the polar ice cap, rising sea levels and changes in migratory patterns among indigenous animals. "I really have to show these changes in the arctic to everyday people to show this is real."
Steger will be giving a presentation to the Minnesota State Legislature on Jan. 30 concerning global warming. The public is invited to attend.
"We can no longer deny that global warming is happening," says Cleveland, "We must all work to solve this problem. It is important to contact legislators and voice your concerns demanding that action is taken before it is too late. If we all find out what we can do and do it, changes can occur in record time. We can not leave it up to men like Will Steger because there just aren't enough of them."
In an article on "The Global Warming Debate by James Hansen - January 1999," the importance of sticking to proven scientific fact is highlighted. Hansen quotes Richard Feyman, an American physicist known for expanding the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the super-fluidity of supercooled liquid helium, and particle theory. Feyman comments, "The only way to have real success in science ... is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be. If you have a theory, you must try to explain what's good about it and what's bad about it equally. In science you learn a kind of standard integrity and honesty."
When Steger began his research he decided that he would work with two vows: He would not preach just to like-minded audiences. And he would not join with any partisan creed. "That kind of negativity would be self-defeating. I wanted to take the politics out of it," Steger said. "I see global warming as a unifying issue, something that's going to affect all of us and our children and their children. And I think people are tired of being divided."
Steger writes "Significantly increasing the use of domestic produced bio-fuels offers both immediate and potential long-term solutions to national security, economic competitiveness of the United States, and price and supply vulnerabilities for families and businesses. Domestically produced bio-fuels and energy also benefit the United States by creating jobs, keeping dollars in the country, and lowering the environmental impacts associated with fossil fuel production and use. We can reduce global warming pollution through: conservation, existing technologies that make power plants and factories more efficient, and cleaner technologies (e.g., hybrid automobiles, wind power, and solar power)."
Steger is the author of four books: "Over the Top of the World," "Crossing Antarctica," "North to the Pole," and "Saving the Earth." At the end of his presentation, he thanks each person for coming. And on every book and poster they hand him, he scribbles the same three-word creed before signing his name. "Follow your dreams,"
In February when Steger travels to Baffin Island and then begins with dog sleds on a three month journey to gather more data about global warming, you can follow him on his trip. To do this and receive email updates go to www.globalwarming101.com
There is also much more information about Steger and global warming on this site and its related links.
