Xtranormal: Global Warming Video
The Arctic Food Chain
The loss of the ice caps goes far beyond the polar bears. The Arctic environment has a food chain. It all revolves around the ice algae that grows under beneath the ice. You can see it in the diagram above, it's the green stuck to the bottom of the iceberg. This algae is the main food source for copepods. Fish feed off of the copepods, and both the seals and the birds feed off of the fish. Polar bears, who are at the top of the food chain, are getting less and less seals to eat because the situation gets worse as it goes up the line. Global warming is destroying the entire Arctic lifestyle, and something has to be done to stop it.
The New York Times
"Nations Near Arctic Declare Polar Bears Threatened by Climate Change"
This is a great start, but we need to raise more awareness and create more movements to create publicity for the polar bears. If enough people jump in, a change could be mad that would be as impactful as saving an entire species.
Rally Time: Bear Bikers Unite
Please join us for the largest polar bear stand-up our nation has ever seen.
Who: You, me, your neighbors, everyone you know. Everyone that cares about global warming, our arctic environment, our planet, our polar bears
What: An awareness movement in form of a bike rally. Bring your bike, a donation, and prepare for a good time
When: October 28, 2013 from 12:00 pm through 4:00 pm; lunch and refreshments will be provided
Where: Pearl Street, Downtown Boulder, CO
Why: By making this a big event, it will open the eyes to many people that didn't know about the situation the polar bears find themselves in. Many people don't know that the main reason this is happening is because of the greenhouse gases WE the people have placed in the atmosphere. It's time to take responsibility and turn this all around.
See you there.
Not-So-Normal Facts
- Polar bears are so strong that they can kill an animal with one blow
- Cubs learn to stay still and "freeze" while their mother is hunting. If they move, they are disciplined with a whack on the head
- Female bears always dig dens for their cubs, sometimes they are elaborate and have different rooms
- Polar bears are thought to be as smart as apes
- Polar bear skin is actually black, and their fur is translucent, but the light bounces off of it making it appear to be white
- Polar bears can typically swim up to 100 miles at a time, at 6 mph
- They overheat more often than they are cold
- They obsess over clean fur because dirt can mess with their insulation
- They have a mix of body language and vocals that they communicate with. For example, head wagging occurs when a bear wants to play, and deep growls are warnings.
- On bitterly cold days, polar bears will dig shelters in snow banks and curl up into tight balls. Sometimes they cover their muzzles, which radiate heat, with their fur paws.
It Doesn't Add Up
Polar Bear Basics
- Adult male bears weigh anywhere from 775 - 1200 lbs
- Adult female bears weigh anywhere from 330 - 650 lbs
- The Arctic as well as five other nations have polar bear populations: US (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway
- A mother usually has 2 cubs, but can have 1 or 3 depending on her health
- Cubs stay with their mothers for 2 - 2.5 years before they're on their own
- Their main diet consists of the ringed seal, but occasionally they will hunt a trapped whale or a sleeping walrus
- Polar bears only eat the seal's blubber, they actually leave the muscle and organs for other scavengers as they lack interest in it
- They can eat 100 lbs of blubber in a single sitting
- Their diet consists of feasting (all winter) and fasting (all summer)
- Walk at about 5-6 km/hr
- Run up to 40 km/hr, but only for short distances as they quickly overheat
- Newborns are born 12-14 inches long and weigh little over one pound, but they grow very rapidly thanks to their mother's milk
- Polar bears have to layers of fur and up to 4.5" of fat that provide perfect insulation. Their metabolic rate doesn't even change when it is -34 degrees outside. They have the same body temperature that a human does.
On Thin Ice
The Stats Don't Lie
Biologists have been keeping records of the bear populations, temperatures, and amount of ice over time and have collected a large enough body of evidence to prove that the conditions are only worsening for these animals. The graphs below show this.
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| The amount of ice that is freezing on the polar ice caps during the month of September is steadily decreasing, and has been since 1979. The average is growing lower all the time. One day, we might not have any left at all. |
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| This pie chart shows that the amount of declining population in bears has greatly increased from 2005 to 2009. That is only four years of global warming's effects. It also shows that less of the population is stable, and less of the population is increasing, yet the amount of insufficient data stays the same. |
Book Review: "Sanna the Polar" Flop
The Plight of Sanna the Polar Bear:
A Cautionary Tale About Global Warming
by Denise Hawkins
The Plight of Sanna the Polar Bear: A Cautionary Tale About Global Warming by Denise Hawkins is supposed to be a factual based fictitious novel told from the first person point-of-view of Sanna the bear. It is entertaining as well as informative. The main message of the book is to educate society on the way polar bears live their lives, how they interact with the creatures around them, and raise awareness of how global warming is effecting their arctic environment.
The book begins with Sanna, which means "sea goddess and mistress of animals," in the Inuit (Eskimo) language. Right away, Sanna is leaving her momma bear and her twin cub Pakak which means "one who gets into everything." She is upset, but quickly learns to adapt to her surroundings. Throughout the course of the story, Sanna runs into everything a typical polar bear would. She has to hunt for food, swimming miles and miles to find a place where the seals will come up for air. The video below describes how Sanna manages to do this in her cold weather environment.
Sanna also has to search for a a place to sleep, find a mate, raise her cubs, hide from hunters, and even make friends with an Arctic fox.
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| Sanna and her friend, arctic fox named "Puqik" which means "smart" in the Inuit language. |
It was clear that the author did have an understanding of the book, and it was a clever concept for a book, but unfortunately Hawkins did not write in a very professional way, and that made it less convincing. There were grammatical errors, an overuse of exclamation marks, and almost every single fact was cited from Wikipedia. The global warming concept didn't come up at all until the last two chapters of the book, and it was brief. So brief in fact, that it shouldn't even be part of the title of the book, because it's misleading.
It can be inspiring depending on how you look at it. Because it is written in a way that follows the polar bear (it is not first person point of view as it had claimed, it's actually more omniscient) you do get attached to the characters and root for them. It makes you feel for all the arctic animals that are suffering.
With everything being considered, I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend. It is short, poorly written, and only slightly informative. I'm sure there are better polar bear books out there. But incase you do, for some reason, feel like you need to buy this book, then the link can be found below.
Polar Bears International
Polar Bear International is the world's leading polar bear conservation group.
"We are dedicated to saving polar bears by saving their sea ice home. Our research, education, and action programs address the issues that are endangering polar bears. Things like climate change. Environmental impact of industry. Sea ice loss. Global warming. Sustainability options. Endangered species. Our interest is in anything that can, will, or is happening to polar bears. Learn here what we’re doing to help polar bears survive all the problems they face."
The links below will take you to the official website, and also to the Facebook page so that you can learn more on how to help, and also share it with your friends and family.
GHGs & Government Involvement
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ is a great reference to learn a bit more about maintaining a healthy planet.
Global Warming
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) sit in the atmosphere and act like a shield that keeps the Earth warm. Without it, life would not be able to exist on the planet. Over the last two centuries, humans have added to the levels of GHGs by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil and blowing them up into the atmosphere. This adds a second coating of protection, and causes temperatures to rise.
"Are scientists still debating global warming? No. Over 97% of climate scientists—the experts in their field—agree that human activities are causing the current warming and related climate chaos."
There are natural fluctuations in the climate, of course, but the proof of the matter is that the baseline will continue to grow. If things continue as they are, one day we will not be able to grow wheat, and the Arctic wil be ice free. This will effect many species, including humans.
Governments Need to Take Action
Obviously taking action won't result in immediate resolution the problem. It will takes years and years to reduce the blanket of buildup that's blocking our atmosphere, but we can prevent it from getting any worse. It's the only way to keep our planet as we know it.
Cap-and-Trade on Carbon Emissions
The government needs to implement a cap-and-trade system on the level of carbon emissions in America. This happens when the government puts a limit on the allowed pollution levels and then reduces them every year until we reach a set pollution goal. Because it decreases every year, it will cut businesses GHGs and force polluters that exceed their limit to buy their resources from others who haven't. The way that this will happen is that the government will create "pollution quotas." This will motivate factories to strive for greener resources so that they can sell versus buy the quotas, because that will be most economically beneficial to them. Cap-and-trade systems have been successful in the US before, when we were able to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrus oxide, which are two of the main things that create acid rain. The reason that we should use a cap-and-trade method versus a carbon tax one is that we will have more clarity about the carbon emissions that will be reduced. If we can stop producing large amounts of carbon dioxide, we can potentially halt the growing of the GHGs in it's tracks.Deforestation
Now that we've figured out how to stop from creating more carbon emissions, the attention shifts to erasing the problem that's already here. Evidence over the past decade shows that forest destruction is plays a major role in heat trapping gasses. Trees are important because they soak up carbon dioxide in the air. As we cut down more and more trees we are eliminating one of the balancing elements of our planet, and removing less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Science Journal published an article that read "that up to 20% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions throughout the 1990's came from logging in tropical forests." It also states that "cutting tropical deforestation in half by the middle part of this century will reduce heat-trapping emissions by 12% and will ultimately be necessary to keep our climate stable." It's clear that the US government needs put in a word to to stop deforestation and start making movements that promote healthy plant growth. We need to petition this because we can't afford to lose any more of our rain forests or our tropics to the monsters in forms of heat and humanity.Oil Drilling in Alaska
Whether or not oil companies should be able to drill in Alaska is a hot debate. Check out the H.R. 139/S. 33 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Bill below:
Make a Stand
By showing off your sweet "polar bear wear," you raise awareness for the cause and influence the world into making better decisions for these animals. They will thank you. You can place an order at www.cafepress.com for the t-shirts and iphone cases, or www.stickerjunkie.com for the bumper stickers.
T-Shirts
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And the male version below:
Bumper Stickers
Phone Cases
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