Resource Fair

One Book. One Read. One Community.

February 1 - March 31, 2008

Resource Fair

ABOUT THE RESOURCE FAIR

Environmental Resource Fair, Featuring Will Steger

Saturday, February 23
10 am – 3 pm
Hastings High School
200 General Sieben Drive

This is an event for your entire family. You don’t want to miss it!! The event kicks off with exhibits and activities and culminates with Will Steger’s eye-witness account of global warming.

The exhibits will be open from 10-1 in the high school commons. Learn about preserving our environment, specifically the environment of Minnesota. In addition to 20 exhibits, the environmental resource fair will include several presentations: Rachel Kroog will have an interactive presentation for children from 10:15-11:00; Abby Fenton, who has gone on arctic expeditions with Will Steger, will do a presentation involving mushing equipment and a sled dog from 11-noon; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have an eagle at the fair from noon-1.

At 1:00 you’ll want to head to the high school auditorium for presentations by Will Steger, world-renowned polar explorer, and J. Drake Hamilton, the Science Policy Director for Fresh Energy. 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. In addition to receiving National Geographic’s award for “Accomplishments in Geographic Exploration in the Sciences, and Public Service to Advance International Understanding,” Steger has twice been invited to testify before Congress and has advised world leaders on the environmental protection of Antarctica. Following Steger’s eye-witness account of global warming, J. Drake Hamilton’s presentation will focus on the implications global warming has for Minnesota and what we as Minnesotans can and should do. Following the presentations, Will Steger will be signing autographs and selling books and posters.

Plan to make the environmental resource fair a big part of your Saturday! The event is free, and the concessions stand will be open.

About Will Steger

Will Steger, is known for his numerous polar expeditions, deep understanding of the environment and his efforts to raise international awareness to environmental threats. 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 two expeditions to Baffin Island and Antarctica. 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 dogsled traverse of the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Ellesmere Island in Canada (1995). In 2007, Steger will bring his audience on two expeditions titled, "To Ends of the Earth", to experience first hand the dramatic effects of
global warming in the polar regions.

Steger received his B.S. in Geology and M.A. in Education at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, 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 developed innovative wilderness programs for 10 years. In 1991, Steger received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters; University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN and Honorary Doctorate of Science; Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT. 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 in receiving the National Geographic Society's prestigious John Oliver La Gorce Medal (formerly the Gold Metal) for “Accomplishments in Geographic Exploration ---- in the Sciences, and Public Service to Advance International Understanding” in 1995. This was the first time the Society had presented to all three categories. 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. 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".

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, as well as, advising world leaders on the environmental protection of Antarctica. Steger’s pioneering work in adventure-based environmental education was pivotal as he 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. Steger is the author of four books: Over the Top of the World, Crossing Antarctica, North to
the Pole and Saving the Earth.

Learn more at this website:

http://www.willsteger.com/