TODAY Show team travels to the Ends of the Earth

About this time tomorrow, the ever-adventurous TODAY Show team will take part in a historic first-ever live simultaneous broadcast from the top, bottom and middle of the earth’s surface. As part of NBC’s “Green Is Universal” initiative, the news anchors have been dispatched to the Ends of the Earth to report on climate extremes, wildlife and the limits of human exploration. It’s the very first time that a TV network has linked locations live around the entire circumference of the planet in a single program.

So, of course, you’re wondering, Where in the World is Matt Lauer going to be? It’s no surprise this time — he’s headed to the Arctic, and will broadcast from the Greenland ice sheet. Ann Curry is in Antarctica, and will be broadcasting from the McMurdo Research Station and other extreme locations. And weather guru Al Roker will travel to the Equator and broadcast from the middle of an endangered cloud forest in Mindo, Ecuador. Meredith Vieira picked the shortest straw — she gets to “connect the global dots” from the studio back in New York.

Matt’s yearly whirlwind adventures always leave me wondering why? But at least this team-effort groundbreaking expedition is grounded with the goal of green.