December 3, 2009
Day 17: One Step
When I was skiing to the North Pole, we used to say, 'where there's good ice, bad ice will follow.' In Antarctica, the snow can change at any given moment; however, worse to deal with is the weather. The amended phrase here is, 'where there's good weather, bad weather will follow.'
Today, we were lucky and faced the upside of that polar plattitude: a sunny and relatively calm morning - a dramatic shift from yesterday's bone-chilling nastiness. Packing sleds, our morning constitutional, taking down the tent were transformed from our regular life or death struggles to pleasant tasks.
A few minutes later, we took our first step south of the day. Another in a seemingly endless series that punctuates our progress toward the pole. One of my ski strides is about two and a half feet. That means it takes me 2,112 steps (or strides) to go one mile. From our start at Hercules inlet, it is almost 750 miles to the pole. That means, if we are successful we will have taken 1,584,000 steps!?!
The number is so dauntingly huge, that it's hard to imagine the 'finish line' let alone our half-way point. Yet, each day we whittle away at all this impossibility slowly. Steadily.
It's probably no surprise that 'begin with one step' has become my motto.
There other big 'impossible' problems we face every day. Global Warming is one of them. Maybe you can take one step and begin the process of finding a solution.
If you belong to a group, the Center and 350.org need your organization to stand with them by signing on to a letter of support that can be found at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/global_war ming_litigation/clean_air_act/sign-on_letter.html.
Email your group's name, along with a contact person and title, to Rose Braz, the Center's climate campaign coordinator, at rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org
Now is the time to enforce the Clean Air Act - not gut it. Together, we can save the Clean Air Act and put it to work to save our climate
Image: Bill with an icey goatee.
Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.
For more information, please visit www.savethepoles.com
For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.com/
For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com
For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net
Today, we were lucky and faced the upside of that polar plattitude: a sunny and relatively calm morning - a dramatic shift from yesterday's bone-chilling nastiness. Packing sleds, our morning constitutional, taking down the tent were transformed from our regular life or death struggles to pleasant tasks.
A few minutes later, we took our first step south of the day. Another in a seemingly endless series that punctuates our progress toward the pole. One of my ski strides is about two and a half feet. That means it takes me 2,112 steps (or strides) to go one mile. From our start at Hercules inlet, it is almost 750 miles to the pole. That means, if we are successful we will have taken 1,584,000 steps!?!
The number is so dauntingly huge, that it's hard to imagine the 'finish line' let alone our half-way point. Yet, each day we whittle away at all this impossibility slowly. Steadily.
It's probably no surprise that 'begin with one step' has become my motto.
There other big 'impossible' problems we face every day. Global Warming is one of them. Maybe you can take one step and begin the process of finding a solution.
If you belong to a group, the Center and 350.org need your organization to stand with them by signing on to a letter of support that can be found at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/global_war ming_litigation/clean_air_act/sign-on_letter.html.
Email your group's name, along with a contact person and title, to Rose Braz, the Center's climate campaign coordinator, at rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org
Now is the time to enforce the Clean Air Act - not gut it. Together, we can save the Clean Air Act and put it to work to save our climate
Image: Bill with an icey goatee.
Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.
For more information, please visit www.savethepoles.com
For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.com/
For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com
For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net