Gotta love coach! Half way around the world, 34 hours and a middle seat across the Pacific later, I am back in Colorado. I'm tired and weary but excited to be home. I am now in post expedition staging mode. Maria's basement is once again witness to massive gear sprawl. I continue to be amazed at her patience for me being gone as well as home.

The odor from two months of unwashed Terramar base layer is overwhelming to say the least but I am fighting the battle with several cycles of Seventh Generation laundry detergent.

Planning, preparing and executing Save the Poles was more work and effort than I have time to describe here, but my real job begins now. The whole reason for the expedition was to simply have a platform to talk about the last great frozen places on the planet, how they are changing and what we all need to do to protect them.

So many times over the past few weeks, I have been asked, 'what can we do about climate change?' First and foremost, we need to drastically reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency. Then, we need to support regional and national mass transportation and renewable energy legislation . There is much more, of course, and this is only the beginning, but 'Begin with One Step' is what I often say. Voting this Tuesday is an important first step.

Image: At base camp with the 350 sign my nephew Tyler made me. This sign has been to both poles and Mt. Everest this year.