climate change threatens polar bears in canada
DESCRIPTION
In Churchill, Manitoba, a small town in Canada’s Tundra, there are more polar bears (900) than there are people (800). For those who love bears and hate humans, this is an ideal place to live. But with global warming, it won’t be for long. Polar bears do most of their hunting and eating (of seals) on ice, and they often build up fat as reserve for when they’re on land. But the thawing of the ice caps now begins mid-June, a full 30 days earlier than it did three decades ago. This means Polar Bears now spend more time on land, which in turn means: bears are eating less and are birthing smaller cubs who probably won’t survive. Polar Bears are the first vertebrate species to be listed by the U.S. Species Endangered Act to be threatened by extinction primarily due to global warming. People should be concerned about this. If the polar bears went extinct, how will Coca Cola market their product cutely? (Sorry to the environmentally-concious readers for that reference. The fate of corporations seem to be the only thing that motivate some people. If we can use it to motivate them to care about global warming, why not?) With more polar bears on land in Churchill, there are more possible clashes with local residents. Most of the bears usually come at night, and do try to mind their own business, but a few of them haven’t learned to be wary of humans. This year in Churchill, there have been two bears attacks that have injured three people. As they get hungrier and more desperate a decade from now, things could become much worse. But the people who allow global warming to run a muck don’t care about any of their fellow humans, let alone Canadians.TRANSCRIPT
