Good Morning Will Steger

I've shared many a morning cup of coffee with Will Steger as he reported back from Baffin Island last spring. From the comfort of my living room, I've seen wind blast his team's tents with a ferocity that made me shiver. I laughed-nearly spewing a mouthful of coffee at my computer screen-as expedition manager John Stetson took off "skitching" across glare ice. I clapped for Abby Fenton as she retold her story of her runaway dogs, marveling at her wonderful sense of fun and adventure in a place few women have seen, let alone get dragged across by dogs anxious for the trail. When the team pulled into the little villages of Baffin Island I wept as grinning Inuit children cheered as if it were the Macy's Parade.

Following Will Steger's Global Warming 101 Expedition across Baffin Island last year became my morning cup of coffee. It woke me up to how climate change is ravishing the high arctic community. The extreme weather we are experiencing is mild compared to the drastic changes above the Arctic Circle. This is a story we all have the power to understand and transform thanks to Will's tireless efforts to bring us all along on his expeditions.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, go to www.globalwarming101.com and join Will Steger for your own early morning encounters with the high arctic. Fall in love with this amazing planet of ours, even the parts covered with snow and ice. Despite it being February you will find yourself championing the cold and those daring enough to make us care about it.

Nicole Rom, executive director of the Will Steger Foundation offers the general public this message:

This Spring follow National Geographic Explorer Will Steger and his team of young adventurers as they and their dog teams brave sub-zero temperatures, blizzards, and polar bear encounters to visit the front lines of climate change in the High Arctic. The team will retrace historical expedition routes on Ellesmere Island, encounter endangered wildlife, photograph disintegrating ice sheets that are collapsing into the ocean, mush across frozen sea ice, and visit an area on the frontlines of climate change. Using satellite phones and solar panels the team will send multimedia updates from their tents to www.globalwarming101.com.

The team includes 21-year-old Sarah and 23-year-old Eric McNair-Landry, a Canadian brother-sister team holding the speed record for crossing Antarctica and the youngest people to reach both poles; 27-year old Iditarod rookie of the year, Norwegian Sigrid Ekran; Sir Richard Branson's 22-year old son Sam, an author, musician and explorer; American Ben Horton, a National Geographic Young Explorer, photographer, and Imax film-man; and 28-year-old Norwegian explorer and polar historian Tobias Thorleifsson.

In addition to the adventure of the dogsled expedition, www.globalwarming101.com also provides resources to educate yourself and others about global warming, the impact of climate on the past, present and future of the High Arctic community, and ways you can work towards slowing climate change. Educators will find NEA-endorsed standards-linked multidisciplinary curriculum for middle school and older students. The curriculum is free and easily-downloadable. Order free educational maps of the expedition route at www.globalwarming101.com.

As an ambassador of Will Steger's educational mission, I can attest to the powerful message these expeditions bring in the form of tangible materials readily available to everyone. The website, downloads, maps and curriculum are top-notch and engaging. Will's sincerity, knowledge and passion inspires my own writing and personal actions to do what I can to make a difference in this beautiful, glorious world of ours.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to ABC's Good Morning America as Will and two of his young team members will speak about their upcoming expedition. I know I'll be watching with my cup of coffee (shade-grown, organic and fair-trade, of course).