About: Will Steger Foundation

	Educate Reaching over 20 million students worldwide through the National Education Association and other partners. We are supporting educators with authentic, relevant climate change education resources and distance-learning programs at our annual Summer Institutes. Read More...
	Inspire We work to change the actions of people, industry, and governments worldwide by directly engaging decision-makers through our inspirational eyewitness account. Read More...
	Empower Engaging our next leaders in global warming solutions. We also leverage the excitement around exploration to inspire millions through our media coverage and by partnering with government, industry, and faith organizations to reach thousands more across the globe.Read More...

Expedition Copenhagen educated and empowered youth to influence national climate policy and international climate negotiations through an interdisciplinary curriculum, delegation and grassroots advocacy, culminating at the Copenhagen convention (COP15).

The Will Steger Foundation launched Expedition Copenhagen, a Midwest youth delegation to the international climate negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 5-19, 2009, led by internationally renowned polar explorer Will Steger. Delegates assumed a leadership role in a regional climate campaign to pass strong climate legislation leading up to the international negotiations, and also supported the Will Steger Foundation Citizen Climate curriculum in schools across the United States.

The expedition goals were to:

1. Build U.S. awareness of climate policy and investment in strong participation in the confer- ence.
2. Highlight the unique role of the Midwest re- gion since the Midwest is a key player in driving national climate policy, public opinion, and the renewable energy revolution.
3. Bring the U.S. youth voice to the negotiations whose future is at stake.

Download the Expedition Copenhagen Tour Media Recap (PDF 2.9 MB)

Videos from the Montana Tour:

Press articles from the Montana Tour: The Missoulian - 2/11, 2010 The Montana Kaimin - 2/10, 2010 The Bozeman Daily - 2/10, 2010 New West Missoula - 2/10, 2010 The Billings Gazette - 2/9, 2010

Will Steger Montana Tour -- February 9-11, 2010:

The Will Steger Foundation (WSF) launched its Eyewitness to Climate Change tour across Montana to create and diversify public support and demand for a strong national policy on climate, and thus influence key swing members of Congress to ensure adoption of comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in 2010.

Our overarching goal is to build diverse public support and pressure on policy makers for urgent, scientifically sound action to ameliorate climate change, based on our wholly unique eyewitness account of the consequences of a warming world in the Arctic and Antarctic. This unique account is effective in engaging a very diverse cross-section of the American heartland in climate change, which will be critical to overall national success. Legislators in Montana are essential to advancing federal policy. Second, we augmented diverse public support by imparting a better understanding of how Montana will benefit significantly from the opportunities inherent in a clean energy economy, based on their collective capacity for renewable energy production and conservation through wind, solar, geothermal, and carbon sequestration. Building momentum for climate action in the coal dependent Montana is an essential part of guaranteeing long-term change.

While in Montana, Will Steger delivered his Eyewitness presentation to over 800 Montanan’s in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula; met with business leaders, field directors for U.S. Senators Baucus and Tester, media, and University of Montana students and faculty and local high school students to engage different stakeholders in the urgency of climate change and the need for political action.

While in Bozeman, Will and tour partners met with over 30 area business leaders, three of whom also participated in a recent Washington D.C. fly-in of over 220 business leaders from across the U.S. where they met with their Congressional delegation and urged them to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation this year. The Bozeman business leaders were excited to share their experience and reasoning for supporting climate and clean energy legislation.

The three public forums collected over 800 postcards to Senators Baucus and Tester urging them to continue to support comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.

The Tour resulted in a cover page story in the Missoulian, and longer articles in The Billings Gazette and Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Additional coverage was provided by Public News Service, Montana Public Radio, Montana Kaimin, KBZK TV in Bozeman, KTVQ TV in Billings, and NewWest online.

Major sponsors include Montana Audubon, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Repower America, & Montana Conservation Voters.

Events

Billings, Montana:

WHAT: Multi-media slide show and presentation Eyewitness to Climate Change
WHERE: Billings Depot, 2310 Montana Ave
WHEN: 6:30 pm Tuesday, February 9
WHAT ELSE: Join all for Green Drinks @ 5 pm at the Depot! Food and drink available...

Bozeman, Montana

WHAT: Business Solutions to Climate Change & Sustainability - A Roundtable Discussion
WHERE: Bozeman Public Library - Large Meeting Room
WHEN: Noon-1:15pm Wednesday, February 10
WHAT ELSE: Bring your own lunch, light snacks will be provided.

Bozeman, Montana

WHAT: Multi-media slide show and presentation Eyewitness to Climate Change
WHERE: Hager Auditorium, Museum of the Rockies, MSU
WHEN: 7:00 pm Wednesday, February 10
WHAT ELSE: Resource Fair begins at 6:30 - information tables from sponsoring organizations.

This event on FACEBOOK Here's a great FLYER -- check it out and consider passing along and/or printing! Additional sponsors include The Wilderness Society, World Wildlife Fund, ASMSU Sustainability Center and NECO.

Missoula, Montana:

WHAT: Brown bag lunch discussion with legendary polar explorer Will Steger (bring your own lunch)
WHERE: University of Montana, Main Hall (University Hall), Room 210
WHEN: Thursday, February 11, 12:00 – 1:00pm

Missoula, Montana:

WHAT: Multi-media slide show: Eyewitness to Climate Change
WHERE: University of Montana Urey lecture Hall
WHEN: 7:00 pm Thursday, February 11
WHAT ELSE: Resource Fair begins at 6:30 - information tables from sponsoring organizations. And join us for a post-event reception at the Clark Fork Coalition's office!

Here's a great FLYER -- check it out and consider passing along and/or printing! This event on FACEBOOK Additional co-sponsors include UM's Climate Change Studies Program, the Clark Fork Coalition and the Trailhead!

Join Jon Bowermaster and his team as they explore the Antarctic Peninsula for five weeks. Departing from Puerto Williams, Chile, by sailboat on New Year’s Eve the team will stop at King George Island, pick up its cached sea kayaks and spend all of January exploring the Weddell Sea from sea level. The goal is to get as close to the Larsen Ice Shelf as possible, to document how the ice and sea that surrounds Antarctica’s most exposed corner is changing. Tune in to www.Antarctica2008.com / www.jonbowermaster.com for dispatches.

Saturday, December 12, 2009; 3 PM
Central Library, Pohlad Hall
300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis - Map It!

This December, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen for historic talks on climate change. Join us at the mid-point of these negotiations for an afternoon of learning and engagement on the high stakes of climate change, featuring Will Steger, Youth Delegates of Expedition Copenhagen, a screening of The Age of Stupid, and post-film discussion. Free and open to the public.

2:30 PM Doors Open
3 PM Will Steger and Youth Delegates of Expedition Copenhagen

Get the latest from Copenhagen with a video message from polar explorer Will Steger. Then, put your questions to Midwest Youth Delegates of Expedition Copenhagen, appearing live by video from Copenhagen.

3:20 PM Screening of The Age of Stupid
Set in 2055, this newly-released British dramadocumentary looks back in history to 2008 and asks,“Why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?” 92 minutes. Rated for ages 12 and up.

Post-Film Discussion
Led by the League of Women Voters – Minneapolis.

Download the Event Flyer (PDF 656KB)

Despite a normal winter and cool summer for those of us in Minnesota, the rest of the world had an all-time record of high temperatures this year. The changes are not going unnoticed in the Arctic; researchers say air temperatures in northwest Canada, in Siberia and elsewhere in the Arctic have risen more than 2.5 C (4.5 F) since 1970 - much faster than the global average. The summer thaw is reaching deeper into frozen soil, at a rate of 4 centimeters (1.5 inches) a year, and a further 7 C (13 F) temperature rise is possible this century, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). At a meeting in Greenland in early September 2009, scientists from the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Greenland Climate Center, and other organizations said that the thickness and volume of Arctic ice is decreasing at an even more rapid rate than the precipitous decline in ice extent; Arctic Ocean winter ice thinned by 2.2 feet from 2004 to 2008.

Download the 2007/2008 Will Steger Foundation Annual Report 6.1 MB

With generous support from the US EPA Great Lakes National Program Office, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Toyota City and over 40 organizations, the Will Steger Foundation was able to execute a 10-day Tour of the Upper Midwest, across four states and seven cities from October 13-22, 2008.

The “Longest Summer Tour” (Tour) provided an opportunity to highlight and elevate the great resources and efforts on climate change already underway in the Upper Midwest. Since there is already significant progress in this region on clean energy and climate change solutions, the Tour highlighted regional leadership from a cross-generational perspective and the strategies and policies already in place at the regional, state, and local level that reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the Tour provided vivid accounts of the impacts of global warming to the Arctic and the Great Lakes, and examples of citizen solutions. Ultimately, the Tour aimed to introduce climate change solution strategies geared towards individuals, communities, campuses and faith-based organizations.

Download the Longest Summer Tour Media Recap 10 MB

Dear Friend,

Over the past year I was fortunate to travel back to the Arctic on two expeditions to witness the ongoing impact of global warming on this sensitive environment. In late March I set out from Resolute in the High Arctic with a team of 21-28 year olds from four countries along with 3 sleds and 30 dogs. Our main objective was to visit the threatened ice shelves 800 miles away on northern Ellesmere Island, an area I first visited in 1983. As you may know from following our progress on www.globalwarming101.com, we were unable to reach northern Ellesmere because we were slowed down by massive rubble of the Arctic Ocean that had disintegrated last summer from unusually warm temperatures. We did however make it to the remnants of the Ayles ice shelf that had broken off from its parent body in 2005.

Download the 2007/2008 Will Steger Foundation Annual Report 5.2 MB