I never cease to be amazed at how small air travel has made the world. I woke up yesterday morning in Punta Arenas Chile and fell asleep (for a few minutes at least) somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico. Now I am in Miami waiting for the next leg in my trip home (the temporary one in Boulder). To Dallas, then finally Denver. One of the reasons I like expeditions so much is that I get to catch up on my sleep.

I shouldn't complain really, because I also have a little bit more R & R coming my way. Yes, while I may love snow, ice and cold I'm pretty sure I won't melt on a warm beach. Besides after being covered from head to toe for 2 months straight, a little (or in this case a lot) of vitamin D will do me good. Look out Mexican beach, this polar man is heading south. In a couple days I'll be drinking out of coconuts while planning my daily caloric needs for the north pole. I'm am really looking forward to this trip.

One of the things that people always ask me is about the impact of air travel on the environment. I for one, travel a lot by air for sponsorship meetings and presentations. It is important to point out the paradoxes in one's own behavior (and then changing them).

The David Suzuki Foundations web site describes the problem as such, 'Although aviation is a relatively small industry, it has a disproportionately large impact on the climate system. It presently accounts for 4-9% of the total climate change impact of human activity.'

But at a time when we urgently need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, emissions from aviation continue to grow. For example, since 1990, CO2 emissions from international aviation have increased 83%. The aviation industry is expanding rapidly in part due to regulatory and taxing policies that do not reflect the true environmental costs of flying. "Cheap" fares may turn out to be costly in terms of climate change.

Compared to other modes of transport, such as driving or taking the train, traveling by air has a greater climate impact per passenger kilometer, even over longer distances (see graph below). It's also the mode of freight transport that produces the most emissions.'

The web site also goes on to describe several solutions to the problem.

Because the climate impacts of air transportation are at present not adequately regulated under national or international laws, the onus is on individuals and businesses to limit their flying unless absolutely necessary. This needn't be as drastic as it sounds:

1. Consider taking a vacation closer to home. You'll save money and avoid the stress of airport security, traveling to and from the airport, and sitting in those tiny seats. Most of us live in places that tourists from elsewhere visit, so take a holiday in your hometown or region and find out what it has to offer.

2. Use other modes of transport where possible. Trains and buses, for example, are much more energy efficient than airplanes, and for regional trips can even be faster when airports are factored in. Even cars can be more efficient than planes --especially with more than one passenger.

3. Use video-conferences for meetings. Companies like Swiss Re and IKEA are using video-conferencing to reduce business air travel. Companies benefit from reduced costs, and more efficient decision-making about travel. Employees avoid the stress of traveling and time away from home and family.

4. Use webcams (skype anyone?) to keep in touch with family and friends who live far away.

5. Contact your political representatives, tell them you're concerned about the contribution of aviation to global climate change, and ask them to take action to regulate and limit greenhouse gas emissions from this sector. If you do have to fly:

- Try to minimize the number of flights you take by combining trips. For example, book more than one meeting in your destination city, so you don't need to fly there several times.

- Fly during the daytime, because studies have shown that flights taken at night have a greater impact on the climate.

- Fly economy, because more people per plane means fewer emissions per person.

- Pack light, because lighter planes mean less fuel is burned.                      

- Purchase carbon offsets to account for the emissions from your flight. 

See the David Suzuki carbon neutral web page for more information.

There is no question that my expeditions (vacations and every day actions) have an effect on the amount of carbon that enters the atmosphere. However, I like everyone else, can do my part to reduce travel, save energy, buy carbon offsets and all the other little steps that can add up to make big change.

Image: A warm (looking) Antarctic Day.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com

For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com

For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

I am slowly returning living within the parameters and constraints of the modern world. Crossing the street has become less of a hazard than it was a few days ago. I'm not saying that I'm back to 100% but I'm close. Relaxing has been nice.

It's not all R & R. I've been processing photos, catching up on emails and trying to get any missed updates (that were typed but got lost in space through a failed satellite connection mid transmission). I spent a lot of time taking pictures and video on the trail and its nice to see the fruits of my labor. There were days when pulling out the camera, skiing ahead of Bill and Dong, crouch downing to snap a few shots was more frozen torture than casual photographic documentation.

I also got a chance to visit a somewhat local Penguin colony. People always ask me if I have seen any penguins in Antarctica. Unfortunately, starting from the edge of the continent, we are far from water and penguins. Yesterday was the first time I had ever seen a penguin in the wild. It was an incredible experience. Similar to the polar bear, these unique animals are much like a canary in a coal mine - acting as an indicator of environmental health and integrity.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network filed a formal notice on January 4th that they intend to sue the Obama administration for illegally delaying protection of penguins under the Endangered Species Act. The Department of the Interior failed to meet the December 19, 2009 legal deadline to finalize the listings of seven penguin species that are threatened by climate change and industrial fisheries. Until the listings are finalized, these penguins will not receive the Endangered Species Act protections they need to recover. ³While sea ice melts away and the oceans warm, the Obama administration is frozen in inaction. Instead of protecting penguins and taking meaningful steps to address global warming,² said Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, ³our government is dragging its feet while penguins are marching toward extinction. ³Penguins face a double whammy from the threats brought by climate change and industrial fisheries that deplete the penguins¹ food supply and entangle and drown the penguins in longlines and other destructive fishing gear. They deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act,² said Todd Steiner, executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network. In 2006 the Center filed a petition to list 12 penguin species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In December 2008, the Interior Department proposed listing seven penguin species as threatened or endangered ­ African, Humboldt, yellow-eyed, white-flippered, Fiordland crested, and erect-crested penguins and a few populations of the southern rockhopper penguin ­ while denying listing to emperor and northern rockhopper penguins despite scientific evidence that these penguins are threatened by climate change.

While today¹s notice challenges the Interior Department¹s illegal delay in finalizing the listing of seven penguin species, the Center and Turtle Island Restoration Network also intend to file suit against the Interior Department for unlawfully denying Endangered Species Act protections to emperor and rockhopper penguins. ³So far the Obama administration has done even less for penguins than Bush did,² said Wolf. ³Interior Secretary Salazar seems unwilling to complete the final steps to protect some penguin species started by the Bush administration, let alone correct the Bush administration¹s illegal denial of protection to the emperor penguin. Where¹s the change we were promised?² Climate change and industrial fisheries pose the primary threats to penguins, although many species of these charismatic birds also face threats from oil pollution, predators, and habitat destruction. Warming oceans and diminished sea ice have wreaked havoc on penguin food availability. For example, krill, an essential food source not just for penguins but also for whales and seals, has declined by as much as 80 percent since the 1970s over large areas of the Southern Ocean with the loss of sea ice. Less food has led to population declines in species ranging from the southern rockhopper and Humboldt penguins of the islands off South America to the African penguin in southern Africa. Ocean acidification, resulting from the ocean¹s absorption of human-produced carbon dioxide, is expected to produce lethal conditions for key marine organisms at the base of the Southern Ocean food web as early as 2030, which will have cascading effects on penguins. Industrial fisheries that deplete the penguins¹ food supply and entangle and drown the penguins in fishing gear also pose a significant threat to these unique animals. Listing under the Endangered Species Act would provide broad protection to penguins from a variety of threats, raise awareness of their urgent plight, and increase research funding. Federal approval of fishing permits for U.S.-flagged vessels operating on the high seas would require analysis and minimization of impacts on the listed penguins. The Act also has an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas pollution by compelling federal agencies to look at the impact of the emissions generated by their activities on listed penguins and to adopt solutions to reduce emissions. Protecting penguins will require national and international action to slow climate change. Leading climate scientists have concluded that the atmospheric CO2 level must be reduced to less than 350 parts per million to prevent dangerous climate change and protect vulnerable species like penguins. Doing so will require the United States to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 45 percent or more below 1990 levels by 2020. However, President Obama pledged an insufficient 3-percent reduction in the Copenhagen Accord. For more information on penguins and a link to the federal petition, please see: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/penguins/index.html For information on how penguins are harmed by climate change and on the importance of reducing atmospheric CO2 to less than 350 parts per million, see our ³350 Reasons to Get to 350² Web page: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/350_reason s/index.html

Image: A Magellan Penguin.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com

For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com

For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

'I'm back. It's me.' was usually what Dongsheng said anytime he left the tent and then returned. It developed into a fairly funny joke throughout the trip because with Bill and I still in the tent it didn't take Einstein's IQ to figure out who it was unzipping the tent door.

I say this only as an introduction to the fact that, 'I'm back'. Back with regular updates. Sorry for the delay in getting information out, but there have been a few factors. One, I'm really tired. Two, it's been a crazy couple of days.

We were at the pole for less than 24 hours when an ALE Bassler DC-3 landed and whisked us away. In a little over three hours we traveled over most of our route that we had been snailing our way across for almost two months. It was humbling to say the least.

Coming back to ALE's Patriot Hills camp was a great relief. There was a big feast and we gorged ourselves. Happy and replete with good food and good friends, we slept long into the next day.

Despite our relaxed demeanors, eating with knives and forks, changing our underwear, it was a little bittersweet to be finished. Our journey to the pole was so physically, mentally and emotionally intense that to be instantly removed from that situation is shocks the system. I am still reeling trying to figure it out all out.

We were only in Patriot Hills camp for a two days when the Illyshun landed and in another unusually abrupt step, flew us back to Punta Arenas.

While I am looking forward to going home, it was surprisingly hard to leave. I hung back marveling at each subtle wonder as I walked by - the pattern of each snow drift, the blueness of the ice and sky, the line cut by the Patriot Hills, my friends still in camp... I inhaled deeply and held my breathe making sure one last piece of Antarctica would remain deep inside. (as if it was possible that it already there already). Remember always this smell I thought. Cold and remote. Pristine.

Arleigh Jorgenson, my old dog mushing boss used to say say, 'moving slow and enjoying moving slow,' after returning from a long time on the trail. I have taken his remark to heart as much as possible. Lingering after meals, enjoying using a glass, sleeping in a bed. My body needs this extra time to recover after such a long exertion. Sleep and sitting are priorities for the next day or so. Life in Punta unfortunately doesn't seem to be on level with my snow weary body. I have been having a hard time crossing the road. Cars move faster than skiers. The number of close calls have been unnervingly numerous.

I want to take the next week to thank all the people who helped with our journey and talk more about the next steps in the Save the Poles expedition. Now more than ever, there is more work that needs to be done in protecting our climate.

Yes, I still believe that it's cool to be cold, but it's also nice to be warm once in a while too.

Image: Walking to the Illyshun on the Blue Ice runway with the Patriot Hills in the background.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com

For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com

For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

A new remote audio post has been added to the blog...

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.

A new remote audio post has been added to the blog...

The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by bing and Terramar with major support from Goal0, MSR, Scream Agency, Sierra Designs, Stanley, Optic Nerve and Clif Bar.

Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.

For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com. For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com. For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net. For lecture inquires, please contact smakmaria@yahoo.com.