Back in my youthful glory days I remember watching with interest the adventures of Will Steger and his arctic band of adventurers. In 1986 Steger and seven colleagues traveled to the North Pole by dogsled. I even attended a speech by Ann Bancroft, the only woman in the 1986 expedition, in the late 1980s.
The expedition left March 7 and reached the pole fifty-five days later, which works out to May 1st. This year the Northwest and Northeast passages are open for the fourth consecutive year.
I sometimes like to kid myself that nothing ever changes. The issues we debate are perennial and keep cropping up over and over. But here is another example, of many, that the world does indeed change around us, and too often not for the better. If the current trends in climate change continue no one will be able to make the same trip that Steger completed in 1986. One more possibility will be closed out and the world will be all the poorer for that lost chance at adventure.
