Attention! Polar Bears Need Your Help!!!

http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/polarbear.jpg                                                                                     http://www.lazyenvironmentalist.com/3%20lazy%20polar%20bears.jpg                            

Polar bears are the world's largest terresteral carnivores, however climate change is causing polar bears to become endangered. In fact they might be extinct by the end of the century! We will edcucate you on polar bears and how you can help, then you can test your knowledge in our quiz!

http://www.worldwildlife.org/polarbearshttp://www.worldwildlife.org/polarbears

       

 

 

Physical Characteristics

http://www.ecotourism-activityguide.com/endangered%20species/graphics/polar%20bear%20watching%20and%20ecotourism.jpg

 Polar bears have black skin and a thick white coat that insulates the bear from cold water. They have little round ears and a purple tongue. Adult males can measure more than nine feet in length! Polar bears normally weigh between 770 - 1,430 lbs.    http://www.worldwildlife.org/polarbears/ecology.cfm

 

Habitat

 http://www.ngo.grida.no/wwfap/polarbears/about_polar_bears/_images/img-distribution-big.jpg

Polar bears live in northern Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia;  with reports of polar bear tracks as far north as The North Pole! Click HERE to see a polar bear tracker we found. (Pretty cool!!!) http://worldwildlife.org/polarbears/ecology.cfm  

 

Diet  

 

http://www.nwtwildlife.com/images/m11.jpg

Polar bears hunt bearded and ringed seals on the sea ice. They are going hungry,  because global warming is causing the sea ice to melt.  This limits the  polar bear's ability to hunt seals. Polar bears also eat young walruses, beluga whales, narwhal, fish, and seabirds and their eggs. http://www.worldwildlife.org/polarbears/ecology.cfm 

 

Breeding

http://www.firstpeople.us/pictures/bear/Polar_Bears/1600x1200/Playful_Baby_Polar_Bear-1600x1200-Bandwidth-thief.jpg

Polar bears breed in March, April, and May. Males find their females by following the female's tracks in the sea ice. During November and December, the female digs a maternity den in a snow drift. Female polar bears give birth to sets of twins, not single polar bears. The female does not leave her den and babies for food; she just lives off the stored fat in her body. The cubs leave their mother's den in March or April. Several days before the cubs leave the den, their mother takes the cubs outside so they can adjust to the cool tempratures of the arctic. http://www.worldwildlife.org/polarbears/ecology.cfm

 

http://animals.timduru.org/dirlist/bear/PolarBears_02a-Mom_N_Baby-Sleeping.jpg

 

 How YOU Can Help

There are about 22,000 polar bears left in the wild(http://www.worldwildlife.org/polarbears/ecology.cfm), and we need to raise that number. Here is a graph comparing the polar bear to three other types of bears, some are even more endangered than polar bears! (For different reasons)

                 

                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                       

  Here is a picture of the bears........                                                                                                     

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/12/28/polar_narrowweb__300x387,0.jpg      http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~sedwards/photos/kyle200604/20060412-7108%20Grizzly%20bear.jpg

                                                                      

         Polar Bear                                               Panda Bears                         Grizzly Bear                                       Black Bear (Baby)

                                       http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/03/96/23359603.jpg                  http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/wildlife/photolib/black_bear_cub.jpg

 

 

                                      

                                                                                                                                                    

                                                               

 

Here are 10 ways you can help save polar bears from becoming extinct........(http://globalwarming-facts.info/50tips.html)

 

1.Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact flourescent light bulb (CFL)

CFL's use 60% less energy than a regular light bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide a year.

2. Move your thermostat down 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in the summer

Almost half the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

3.Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner

Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide a year

4. Replace your old single glazed window with double-glazing

This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.

5.Use less hot water

It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 lbs. of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 lbs. saved per year) in stead of hot.

6.Be sure you are recycling at home

You can save 2,400 lbs. of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half the waste your household generates.

7.Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can

You will also cut down on waste production and energy use... another help against global warming.

8.Reuse your shopping bag

When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.

9. Reduce Waste

Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you can save the energy needed to produse new lunch boxes.

10. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, carpooling, or taking mass transit wherever possible

Avoiding just 10 mi of driving every week would eliminate about 500 lbs. of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.

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Some Organizations

Still wanna help?!? Here are 10 of the many organizations that think like we do........

 

• Green-e http://www.green-e.org
• Rainforest2Reef http://www.rainforest2reef.org
• Earth Island Institute http://www.earthislandinstitute.org
• The Rainforest Foundation http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)  http://www.worldwildlife.org
• The Wilderness Society http://www.wilderness.org
• Earth 911 http://www.earth911.org
• Friends of the Earth International http://www.foei.org
• Green Biz http://www.greenbiz.com
• BP http://www.bp.com

 

 

Quiz!!!

Here is a PowerPoint quiz we created for you so you could test your knowledge!

 

 

 

 

 

Hope from now on you will be thinking green!!!!