Courtesy Steve Payne

The Arctic Ice Project is pursuing a radical solution to climate change: restoring the Arctic ice. “The project’s scientists believe that a thin layer of hollow glass microspheres—spread in strategic, limited locations on the brittle new ice that freezes and melts each year at the pole—can increase the amount of solar radiation the region deflects and slow global temperature rise. It’s an audacious idea,” says Steve Payne (MBA 1985), chair of the board of the 12-year-old nonprofit.

Payne joined the project as a volunteer when its founder, Leslie Field, who holds a PhD in electrical engineering and 58 patents, asked the venture capitalist for help in setting up the organization. In the intervening years, the small nonprofit has attracted interest from such organizations as the United Nations and the Arctic Circle Assembly. Now, after a dozen years of research, the Arctic Ice Project is ready to scale. “It’s time for us to put our foot on the accelerator,” Payne observes.

The Arctic Ice Project recently hired a new executive director and is in the process of expanding its board. Fundraising is key now. Payne estimates it will take $50 million over the next five years to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of the technology. “That gives us time to still make a difference,” Payne says. “If this takes 15 years, we’ve passed the tipping point.”

But, ultimately, Arctic ice restoration is only a Band-Aid solution, says Payne. To truly address climate change, the world has to come together and do the hard work necessary to shift away from a carbon economy and to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. “This buys time to allow that transition to happen,” he says.

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