Expedition Copenhagen Final Report
Written by Will Steger Foundation
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:
- Build U.S. awareness of climate policy and investment in strong participation in the confer- ence.
- 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.
- Bring the U.S. youth voice to the negotiations whose future is at stake.
Download the Expedition Copenhagen Final Report (PDF 2.9 MB)
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.
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
Our Accomplishments - 2008/2009 Highlights
Written by Will Steger Foundation- Executed The Longest Summer Tour with support from the US EPA Region 5 and MN Pollution Control Agency 2008, a 10-day tour of the Upper Midwest that brought eyewitness footage of global warming, opportunities to dialogue with policy-makers, scientists and experts, and solutions from young climate leaders on the forefront of an international movement to solve the climate crisis.
- Will Steger joined Louis King of Summit Academy OIC to co-chair the HIRE Minnesota campaign, a coalition of community organizations that are seeking public investments that jump-start our economy, provide access for all people to jobs, training and living wages, start to ease the climate crisis and promote healthy communities.
- Our North Dakota Eyewitness to Climate Change Tour (May 11-13) was a success with support from Audubon Dakota, National Wildlife Federation, Pew Environment Group, Prairie Climate Stewardship Network, RE-AMP Media Center, Sierra Club Dacotah Chapter, and the Will Steger Foundation. The Tour reached over 1,000 North Dakotans in three public evening forums, one school presentation, and garnered significant media coverage in print and radio broadcast and on the two main television stations in Grand Forks and Fargo.
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Grew Youth Environmental Activists Minnesota (YEA! MN) to include 25 high schools in the Twin Cities Metro area.
Expedition Copenhagen 2009 Delegates - Led delegation of 25 high school students from YEA! MN to the national Power Shift conference for youth climate leadership in Washington DC, March 2009
- Selected 12 highly qualified youth climate leaders to join Will Steger and Expedition Copenhagen, representing ND, SD, MN, IA, WI, MI, and IL.
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Enhanced the Summer Institute for Climate Change Education, which included establishing new partnerships with the University of Minnesota, recruiting over 85 participants many of whom were new to WSF, offering a webinar option and securing keynote speaker and author Bill McKibben.
Watch Bill McKibbens Video from
Summer Institute '09 - Collaborated with the University of Minnesota Office of International Programs on a Summer Institute for Norwegian Students in the Sciences, including providing curriculum support and hosting a weekend retreat in Ely, MN.
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Executed first strategic plan with staff and board to set a plan for the organization over the next three years.
WSF Staff and Board - Began re-design of Will Steger Foundation website.
- Volunteer hours from September 2008 through August 2009 totaled 600 hours with over 13 active volunteers contributing on a regular basis.
Will Steger Foundation was a finalist for the 2009 Minnesota Environmental Initiative Award for Environmental Education for our high-school program, YEA! Minnesota (Young Environmental Activists).- Will was featured in Northwest Airlines World Traveler Magazine in September 2008 and the University of St. Thomas, which received a photo editor award.
This past year and a half has been quite a journey for me, and for the Will Steger Foundation, an organization I knew I needed to create years ago. The organization has been a way to channel my vision and interest in education and policy into something that would be bigger than any effort I could do alone. From the beginning, we launched into fundraising, programming and the Global Warming 101 Initiative.
The past year has provided us with a number of successes – I hope you take the time to read about our accomplishments in the pages that follow. The collective action of people and organizations is a key strategy to slow global warming. Our successful partnerships with government, media, science, education, industry, activist organizations, sponsors and suppliers demonstrate the enthusiasm our efforts have generated – from National Geographic, to the Minnesota Energy Challenge, to Shaklee Corporation and WCCO-TV.
Download the 2006/2007 Will Steger Foundation Annual Report 2.8 MB
Program Recap: Ellesmere Island Expedition
Written by Will Steger Foundation
On March 29, 2008, the Will Steger Foundation launched its second Global Warming 101 Expedition, a 62-day, 1,400-mile dogsled expedition across Ellesmere Island. Renowned explorer Will Steger selected six young adventurers, ages 21–28, to join him in an effort to educate youth, inspire international coopera- tion and empower the next generation of leaders to advocate for the environment.
Steger and his teammates traveled in Canada’s High Arctic where the last remaining ice shelves in North America exist – to capture disintegrating ice caps, re- treating glaciers and the destruction of wildlife habitat.
From the adventures of dog-sledding across exception- al stretches of Arctic Ocean ruins, to the unexpected challenges of a refashioned topography, to surprising polar bear encounters, Steger and his team bore wit- ness to an inimitable firsthand account of the effects of global warming.
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