May 1, 2007 —A U.S. team plans to drive from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole later this year to demonstrate the viability of alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuels, a spokesman said Monday.
The 1,000-mile journey to the South Pole will take 10 days using alternative fuel vehicles driven along a U.S.-developed ice highway, said Nick Baggarly, executive director of the "Zero South" expedition.
The expedition would "demonstrate the viability of these energy alternatives," Baggarly said, without specifying what types of alternative energy sources the group plans to use.
Zero South is one of the expeditions organized by Drive Around the World, a registered non-profit group, which Baggarly describes as "a creative response to what may be the most important issue that humanity has ever faced," protecting the environment.
Drive Around the World includes leading scientists from Caltech, JPL, and NASA.
Baggarly rejected claims by a New Zealand Antarctic specialist that the expedition could help promote tourism on the frozen southern continent, where some 50,000 visitors are expected this year, raising concerns among some environmentalists that the industry was threatening the pristine environment.
"In fact, we oppose tourism in Antarctica or exploitation of this precious area of any kind," Baggarly told The Associated Press in an e-mail.
Three of the vehicles to be used in the expedition will later be used as exhibits in the United States to educate youth on global climate change, alternative fuels and the importance of the earth's polar regions.
Baggarly gave no details of the vehicles, shown as snow tractors on the group's Web site.
