A Global Warning

On October 3, 2010, I began what was to become an experience of a lifetime, as a participant in what was then known as Polar Bear’s International Leadership Camp for Communicators in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. I could hardly wait as I was traveling to the Polar Bear Capital of the World! What I wasn’t expecting was the how quickly the tundra habitat was changing and the effect it was having on the Churchill community and on the wildlife that called the Arctic home. 

 

My week was spent on the Tundra Buggy Lodge, thanks to Frontiers North Adventures, learning first-hand about the effects of climate change on the tundra ecosystem, watching bears waiting for the ice to form and experiencing firsthand the early changes of climate change on this ecosystem. They camp brought together informal educators from across North America. Our goal was to design an action plan for each of our institutions and communities to slow CO2 production and ultimately save sea ice for the bears.  

 

In the past, October was when the sea ice formed on the Bay – in 2010 it hadn’t. What I witnessed were hungry bears stacking up along the shore. The ice finally did form – almost two months after I returned to Salt Lake City. I can’t imagine how hungry the bears I saw were when the ice finally formed. In 2010 we hoped that the slow ice formation was an anomaly but today, we know it is the new norm.

 

Why should we care? Each day a bear waits for the ice formation and the chance to hunt seals, it loses up to two pounds of body weight, lowering its chances for survival. Many of the bears I saw that winter were below weight and probably didn’t make it through the winter.

 

My visit was a personal wake-up call.  I was on hand to experience the first frost of the season – something that should have happened weeks earlier. When I walked on the tundra, the ground was squishy instead of frozen. What struck me about this ecosystem is that it shares a lot of similarities to Utah’s ecosystems. Seven years later, I am seeing habitat changes in my own backyard, and am afraid of not only losing polar bears in the Arctic, but also of losing the wildlife I treasure here in Utah. 

 

My biggest takeaway from this trip was it isn’t someone else’s problem. It is mine and I need to be part of action to slow climate change. I want wild polar bears as well as the other wildlife I have grown up with to be part of the future. These magnificent animals and the habitats they rely on shouldn’t vanish because I was too lazy to unplug my cell phone charger, turn off the lights, turn down my thermostat, or to stop idling my car. I learned that it takes just one person to start a movement of change, and I hope you’ll join me in reducing your carbon footprint too.

 

To learn how you can help save polar bears and sea ice by making simple changes to your lifestyle