Explorer to discuss global warming

Renowned polar explorer and adventurer Will Steger will present a free program on Monday, April 19, on the South Dakota State University campus. Steger will speak at 7 p.m in the SDSU Rotunda Building, Room D. Steger, who has been leading significant and record-breaking expeditions in the world's harshest polar environments in the Arctic and Antarctic regions for more than four decades, will provide an intimate portrait of these magnificent landscapes including documentation of global warming impacts to these environments, and he will share solutions to the global warming crisis.

Joining Steger at this program on global warming impacts is SDSU professor W. Carter Johnson, nationally known in his own right for his work in wetlands research and climate change. 'Alarming'

"What I have witnessed in the Arctic over 45 years, and more importantly in the past 10 years is alarming," said Steger. "I have seen firsthand dramatic signs of global climate change on our polar regions, from rising thaw levels, to disappearing glaciers, to ice shelves disintegrating entirely or calving and re-locating to new locations."

To prevent further destruction to polar ecosystems, Steger sees great promise in the transition of the American energy sector to cleaner, renewable energies.

Steger has traveled by dogsled and kayak on expeditions in some of the world's most challenging environments. Steger led the first dogsled journey to the North Pole without resupply in1986. He also led a 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland, the longest unsupported dogsled expedition in history in 1988, and in 1989-1990 he led the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica, a historic seven-month , 3,741-mile International Trans-Antarctica Expedition. In 1995 a team led by Steger made the first dogsled traverse of the Arctic Ocean in one season from Russia to Ellesmere Island in Canada.

In 1995, Steger joined Amelia Earhart, Robert Peary and Ronald Amundsen in receiving the National Geographic Society's prestigious John Oliver La Gorce Medal.

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."

Recently, Steger formed the Will Steger Foundation, with a personal and professional commitment to foster leadership and international cooperation through 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." Latest research

Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, has studied the effects of climate change on natural ecosystems, particularly wetlands, for nearly forty years.

He and his research team have published extensively on this theme in science journals, culminating this year with an article in the February issue of the journal BioScience that gained attention from national and international news media.

Johnson will be discussing his newest research for the first time on the SDSU campus. The title of his talk: "Global Climate Change: How Might South Dakota Fare?"

Dr. Johnson and his team have determined that the Northern Plains region appears to be much more sensitive to climate warming and drying than previously thought.

Steger and Johnson will be available for a question-andanswer period following their presentations.

This program is sponsored by the Sierra Club and the SDSU Sierra Club.

See the online article from the Argus Leader website - April 14, 2010