 Will Steger, who made the first confirmed unsupported trip to
the North Pole with a team of eight people and 50 sled dogs in 1986, will be
recognized with a 2006 Lindbergh Award not only for his numerous polar
expeditions, but also for his deep understanding of the environment and his
efforts to raise awareness of current environmental threats, especially climate
change. Steger has been an eyewitness to the on-going catastrophic consequences
of global warming. In 2007, utilizing the latest in web and communications
technologies, students, educators and individuals can travel along with Steger
as he embarks upon his next expedition entitled, “To the Ends of the Earth.”
A formidable voice calling for understanding and the preservation of the Arctic,
and the Earth, Will Steger is best known for his legendary polar explorations.
He has traveled tens of thousands of miles by kayak and dogsled over 40 years,
leading teams on some of the most significant polar expeditions in history.
Recently, Steger formed the Will Steger Foundation, with a personal and
professional commitment to foster leadership and cooperation in 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. Thus the Foundation’s
first initiative, Global Warming 101, will engage and empower individuals and
policy-makers to translate their concern into action on this critical issue.
Steger led the first confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole without
re-supply (1986), the 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland (the longest
unsupported dogsled expedition in history in 1988), the first dogsled traverse
of Antarctica (the historic seven month, 3,471-mile International
Trans-Antarctica Expedition in 1989-90), and the first and only dogsled traverse
of the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Ellesmere Island in Canada (1995). In 2007
Steger embarks on two expeditions, To the Ends of the Earth, as experiential
tools in his Global Warming 101 initiative.
Steger received his B.S. in Geology and M.A. in Education at the University of
St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn., and 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, Minnesota. There he founded a winter school and for 10
years. His unique ability to blend extreme exploration with cutting-edge
technology, have allowed him to reach millions of people around the world, under
some of the most hostile conditions on the planet and be a pioneer in online
education. Over 20 million students followed the 1995 International Arctic
Project via on-line daily journal entries and the first-ever transmission of a
digital photograph from the North Pole.
Steger joins Amelia Earhart, Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen and Jacques-Yves
Cousteau in receiving the National Geographic Society's prestigious John Oliver
La Gorce Medal for “accomplishments in geographic exploration, in the sciences,
and for public service to advance international understanding” in 1995. In 1996
he became the National Geographic Society's first Explorer-in-Residence and
received the Explorers Club’s Finn Ronne Memorial Award in 1997.
A recognized authority on polar environmental issues and ceaseless advocate for
the Earth’s well being, Steger has been invited twice to testify before the
United States Congress on the issue. To help advance the understanding of
humanity’s role and impact on the environment, Steger founded the Global Center
of Environmental Education at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota, and the
World School for Adventure Learning at the University of St. Thomas in 1993.
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