Arctic Explorer -- American Story with Bob Dotson
(From BOB DOTSON, NBC News National Correspondent)
This job takes me out beyond the limits of my settled life. I’ve been to Yellowstone in winter, where it’s so cold, spit bounces. I’ve been to Alaska chasing sled dogs, as they scramble eleven hundred miles along the Iditarod trail. I’ve watched a mountain climber scale Yosemite’s El Capitan—with a broken back. None of that compares to the life Will Steger carved out for himself. He’s the subject of this morning’s American Story with Bob Dotson. WATCH VIDEO
During his 62 years, Will Steger has walked the coldest parts of our earth. Slowly. More than 40-thousand miles. On foot. On skis. By dog sled. He has lived his life in swirling snow, where the sky is low and the clouds are mean. Alone on the trail, an idea began to emerge in silence. He figured he found the key to solving global warming. It’s amazing what we think of when the world turns quiet and the idea that’s been knocking at your head all day can come in.
Back in 1990, Will was one of the first to write about our warming world. His voice a soft whisper against the wind. He felt like a man shouting to a wilderness. Seventeen years later we’re just beginning to listen. That’s slower than the glaciers are melting. Will figures he knows why. It has more to do with human nature than science.
When Will first set out on his adventures in 1963, the country faced a lot of the same problems, as it does today—an unpopular war, civil rights and women’s issues. Will Steger’s generation banded together and built a broad based coalition to make life better. He thinks that is the kind of response we need to save our planet.
One by one the small pegs underpinning our environment are being pulled out. Some ice fields are now so thin, his sled dogs are falling through. But science, alone, won’t fix this. Will thinks people coming together and working for the common good might. After all, it worked before. We may get blisters on our hands and calluses on our dreams, but the ally he seeks is the part in all of us that knows what is right.
Keep those ideas coming. Drop a note in my mailbox on the Today Show webpage, American Story with Bob Dotson. Want to learn more about Will Steger’s efforts to help the planet? Here’s where you can find more information: http://www.globalwarming101.com/ (612) 278-7147
