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Erin: Welcome to T2A chat for June 4th. We’re meeting polar explorers Will Steger and Sam Branson (son of Virgin Group mogul Sir Richard Branson) whose team took a 60-day, 2255- kilometer international dogsled expedition in the Arctic. The team including adventurers from Norway, Great Britain, Canada and the United States also recorded the impact global warming has had on the Arctic. Let’s get started with a question from India…
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A C Rathinavel, India (email): Share with us your unforgettable moments, great thrills, etc.
Sam: Coming within 15 feet from Polar Bear, which was incredible...spending 40 days in rough ice (Erin asks, what is rough ice?) Rough ice, old ice is big chunks from the ocean that are stuck in channels so they are not flat, some are the size of the chair and some are the size of 4-story buildings. Old and young ice clashes and creates big blocks of ice to chop through. The all-around experience of being on an expedition of this type and seeing the beauty, something I'll have with me for the rest of my life. (Erin asks Sam to describe his level of exploring expertise) I did a small 3-week trip with Will last year so he could check me out.
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Will: The big unforgettable moment was seeing remnants of the ayles, an ice shelf that broke off 2 years ago from northern Ellesmere island and drifted 300 miles to where we found it, and looking at something that was so out of place, 7000 years old, part of last glaciation...it was a real red light of the reality of global warming. Second, last year about 20-percent of the arctic ocean from summer, old ice, older than one year -- it broke up last summer -- and these large chunks of this ice floated along our path ...I traveled here 25 years ago, and travel then was smooth but this time we had to chop through a lot of ice...we ended up struggling through remnants of the arctic ocean, so it was historic. Third, personal, a great young team, the best I've ever led. One evening after 10 hours of traveling, we skied to find an old historical marker and seeing the group skiing together, talking that was really cool and strengthened our friendship.
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P.Madhana Mohan, India (email): What kind of tests did you conduct to check for the impact of global warming?
Will: We didn't do any real science; it's very hard to do this when you're traveling through such difficult terrain under such harsh conditions. We were an educational awareness expedition and we were connected via the web so we sent a lot of info to the outside world. Our goal was to be personal eyewitnesses. The education goal was bringing our audience to the frontlines of global warming. The bottom line was to help move this generation into taking real action steps. We did that and it's ongoing through our website: www.globalwarming101.com There's nothing like dogs and adventure and excitement to attract attention.
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Will: more on the Eskimo breed dog that took us on our expedition...very thick fur and ideal temp is 30-40 below zero (Fahrenheit)...minus 20 centigrade...they love the cold...biggest punishment is to not have them join expeditions like ours...10 dogs per sled, we had 3 teams with a total of 30 dogs...very well adapted socially and they run as a family unit so they are right at home in this environment, as a pack...
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D.Lokanadam, India (email) : Did your team have members from countries other than Norway, Great Britain, Canada and the United States? What difficulties did you face during the expedition?
Will: We managed to get 4 countries and we had 2 women on the expedition, very professional dog drivers including an Iditarod competitor. Since global warming is international, it's important to have international cooperation on an expedition like ours, with our team. Sam adds here: It was tough out there and we became good friends out there. And also important to have a youth voice on global warming. Other challenges include the cold temperatures and the exhausting nature of this type of work...we awakened very early every day and it was non-stop...training beforehand was really the toughest part. We had a great team that helped us succeed.
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Art with VOA's Our World: Will, you've been traveling in the Arctic for decades - what changes do you see on the ground that might be attributable to global warming?
Will: The ice shelfs, especially in antarctica...every shelf has collapsed...the larsen a and b shelf, we crossed that in 89-90, 300 miles, a month to cross and this collapsed in 2002 to the surprise of scientists...these shelves I've travelled on are now gone...the arctic ocean, the polar sea arctic ocean, the size of mexico and the u.s. together used to be covered by a layer of ice around 8 feet thick and I crossed that in 1995 and again in 86 and now it's virtually impossible to cross by dog team and you almost need flotation if you're hauling...this matters because this area has been snow and ice that reflected off a lot of energy 24 hours a day for 5 months...last summer, more than 50 % of that energy was gone and taken by the ocean's surface..this is a tipping point, the loss of the summer sea ice in the arctic ocean,,,this triggers destabilization of greenland and western arctica ice sheets...this will happen within a decade so we have to move really quickly..
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Art with VOA's Our World: Will, how do you know it's human-caused warming and not due to natural causes or cyclical climate variability?
Will: we can measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere...it's 390 parts per million now...we have an accurate historical record of this in the ice cores of greenland and antarctica...scientists have figured the ice ages but during that time, we lose 3 degrees centigrade...that fluctuation went from 180 to 285 parts per million...now with 390 parts, that's likely the highest ever so we're way off the natural scale...the cd comes from burning of fossil fuels...it's not rocket science here...I taught this to 7th graders in 1967...but scientific information has been distorted, so there's confusion...
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Art with VOA's Our World: Sam, having seen what you've just seen in the arctic, what are you personally inspired to do to address climate change?
Sam: I want to share what I learned and saw with my peers. I learned so much about global warming on this expedition. I also want to take this message to cities and help others learn more about global warming. Also my own daily living to help and to share with my close friends. Realizing the world is very fragile and we don't want the scales of balance to tip over.
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Art with VOA's Our World: Will, most humans live a long way from the poles; how does what you've seen in the Arctic affect those of us who live in warmer climates; in other words, why should we care that polar bears are threatened and that glaciers are melting?
Will: We're seeing with the bears and ice is a symptom of global warming but it's happening elsewhere...the atmosphere heats as ocean heats and this means more water vapor is retained, more greenhouse gase...the atmosphere become more volatile so that's what we're producing right now...if you're in China and Japan and Florida on a seaboard, you should be very concerned because we'll see more tropical storms, tornadoes in the U.S. moving further north, even in the winter, more droughts, more floods...weather extremes. It affects all of us, economicaly...hurricane disasters aren't cheap, added to the national debt...it's all very expensive but it's magnified in the polar regions. The increased temp there is 3-4 times greater than at the equator, more destabilized...most are aware of these changes -- also wildfires in California with stronger winds than before, that's a fingerprint of global warming......climate is long range but weather is day to day...you can't say that's global warming but statistics of many events mean a fingerprint of global warming. It affects the poor who live at sea level, as in Bangladesh, these are climate refugees..
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Erin: That wraps T2A chat about the exciting arctic expedition. Our thanks to explorers Will Steger and Sam Branson – and to you for joining us. You can learn more about this trek on VOA’s Our World radio program – and by going to voanews.com We hope you can come back Wednesday, June 11th at 1800 utc for our next discussion on voanews.com See you then!