Patty Polar bear

 

  I need your help! I am a very sad polar bear because my baby polar bear has been separated from me. Can you help reunite us and other polar bears that might be separated from their family? One day my baby Petunia Polar bear and I were out searching for food when the ice cracked and split, with Petunia on one half of the crack and me on the other. The temperature of the earth has increased so now our ice habitat is melting! Not only does melting ice increase the chance of us being separated from our families but it makes hunting for food really hard to. Many of our neighbor polar bear families have started to go hungry. You are probably wondering how the temperature got high enough to melt my home. And I know you talked with my friends Ophelia Oyster and Dakota Duck, so if you knew the answer was global warming, you are right! Global warming has endangered us polar bears and if nothing is done about it we may become extinct! Extinct means there will no longer be any polar bears ever, anywhere! Not only does melting ice have an impact on us polar bears, but you humans too. When the ice up here melts it goes into the ocean and causes the water level to rise. This means that beaches you use to play on will be underwater! In fact some whole islands will even be underwater. I know this is kind of scary but there are things we can all do to prevent it.  One thing you can do is to turn your heat down in the winter. I know it can get cold sometimes but do what I do and wear a big warm coat. Bundling up in sweaters and turning down the heat is a great way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Use the same idea in the summer, instead of using air conditioning to cool down go for a refreshing swim!

Polar bears stuck on melting ice

   Another way to help the environment is to ask your parents to buy fruits and vegetables from local sources. When the food you eat has to be transported a long way, lots of fossil fuels are burned in the process. Better yet, plant a garden in your back yard. This can be super fun, and did you know that plants actually eat carbon dioxide! So not only are you consuming local food but the plants are helping to reduce carbon dioxide too. If you can try to do all the things my friends and I have talked to you about I am certain it will help us all.

 Ophelia Oyster will be able to go back to filter-feeder school, Dakota Duck will be able to play in puddles some more, and I will be reunited with my baby! 

Some more detailed information on polar bears and climate change:
http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/Effects-on-Wildlife-and-Habitat/Polar-Bears.aspx

For some great facts on polar bears check out:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/wildlife-habitat/science/critical-species/polar-bear-fact-sheet/index.php?gclid=CMDQrv6A_KcCFRphgwodWEghpQ

Dakota Duck

Howdy Folks! My name is Dakota and I am a daring duck who lives in a wetland marsh. I love to splash around all day and get dirty in the mud. I bet you like to splash in puddles too! Lately I have been very sad though and not my energetic self. This is because all the biggest and best puddles to play in are vanishing! Not only are the awesome puddles disappearing but also my entire home in the marsh is starting to dry up. I am very worried about where my family and I will live if the marsh completely dries up. At duck school we learn how to move to new wetlands when our current wetland home dries up. Kind of like how you learn how to prepare for earthquakes and fires at your school. Having supplies in place in case your home is damaged during an earthquake or fire is very important thing to learn about. But lately the temperature of the earth has become warmer and more and more wetlands are drying up, or not staying wet in the same way they used to. This makes it difficult for us ducks to plan our moving trips, which we call migration.

Why is the temperature of the earth higher than normal?

Baby ducks are effected by climate change too!

    The answer is global warming.  My friend Ophelia Oyster already told you a bit about global warming, but she forgot to mention a few of the other ways people may be contributing to global warming. Anytime you use electricity carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This is because using electricity requires the burning of fossil fuels.

How can you cut back on electricity?

    Remember to turn lights off when you are not in that room. Always turn off your computer when you are finished. Try to limit your time watching TV and playing video games. Playing outside can be fun too! Get some friends together and play a game of hide n’ go seek tag! That is one of my favourites. It is definitely important to have a shower after playing in the mud, I always make sure I do, but it doesn’t take that long to get all sparkly clean again. Try to reduce the amount of time you spend in the shower, because heating up water requires electricity.  If you try really hard to do the things I have mentioned you can help save my home! And I can continue to be a daring duck that loves to splash in puddles.  Stay tuned for next week, you will learn how to save my good friend Patty Polar bear who is in serious danger!


More on Ducks and Global Warming
http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/Effects-on-Wildlife-and-Habitat/Birds-and-Waterfowl.aspx

Ophelia Oyster

HELLO!
My name is Ophelia and I am a little oyster who lives in Fanny Bay on Vancouver Island. I live with my Mom Opal, my Dad Otis, and my older brother Oscar. We have a cozy home in a nice warm sand pit on the ocean floor. We oysters’ are filter feeders, each morning we wake up and go to work, filtering water through our gills. This is a very important job as we are removing pollutants from the water. We are a tough species and are able to handle these pollutants, however; when temperatures are too high we can’t protect ourselves from the pollutants. Just like when you are outside in the winter without a coat and it is cold outside, your body has a harder time protecting you from the cold. Lately the temperature of the water surrounding my home has been too high and many of us oysters are getting sick. When we are sick we can’t go to work and filter-feed, just like you can’t go to school.

Live Oysters on the Coast!

Why is the temperature of the water higher than normal?


The answer is global warming! Whenever people drive a car, use the dishwasher, or even leave the lights on, a gas called carbon dioxide is released into the air. Carbon dioxide traps light from the sun in our atmosphere. Like when a car is parked outside in the summer, and sunlight shines through into the windows, the car heats up because the sunlight cannot get out. So that tells us how global warming heats up the earth but what about the ocean? Well if there was a glass of water in the parked car it would heat up too, not just the air in the car. The ocean is like the glass of water and the earth’s atmosphere is like the car. When the atmosphere heats up so will the ocean. So how can you help me and my oyster family and friends from getting sick and missing filter-feeder school and work? Try walking or taking the bus to school. Remember to always have a buddy when walking to school though. This will help to reduce the carbon dioxide released by cars. I love going to my filter-feeder school and learning how to filter pollutants, I get to play with all my friends! Lets work together to reduce carbon dioxide in the air and make sure this can happen.


Stay tuned for next week; you will get to meet my friend Dakota Duck.


Full Article on Oysters and Global Warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1010-aps.html
Learn About Oysters on the Coast
http://www.everythingcoastal.com/2010/09/r-is-for-oysters.html