When the women of Polar Trek 2001 cross-country ski to the North Pole, they will take special care to respect the Arctic environment. One goal is to make sure that they take all of their trash back out with them. The women also hope to assist in scientific experiments on the environment and global warming by gathering ice samples. In this section, Polar Trek member Susan Martin, a middle-school teacher herself, offers a wide variety of experiments and activities on environmental science and math:

• Identifying the Start of Spring - Phenology is the science of charting the rhythms of nature. This lesson asks you to tell us when you spot the first signs of spring.
• Sunlight & Soil - Build a chart that shows the relationship between the length of each day, the amount of cloud cover and the temperature of the air and soil.
• Calculating Wind Chill - Apply the formula to five cities.
• Latitude & Temperature - Enter daily temperatures at five different weather stations at different latititudes into a spreadsheet that can be used to create a bar graph that shows whether there is a relationship between latitude and temperature.
• Measuring Ground-Level Ozone - Use test strips to measure the amount of ozone in your area and learn why ozone depletion concerns us all.
• Monitoring Acid Rain - Collect water samples and use pH strips to see whether acid rain is a problem in your area.