We Can Help And They Need It

Picture from [National Geographic] (https://www.nationalgeographic/) of a starving polar bear.

What is something that you care about? Do you have any pets at home or care for any? Have you seen something that you felt was wrong and wanted to do something about it? Well, that is what this all is about. I wanted to bring attention to climate change and the effect it’s having on polar bears.

I saw this kind of influence on tv of polar bears starving and even in some cartoons. I didn’t pay it much mind. It was until I actually looked into the topic that I started to care about it. I am a person who loves animals and I care for a cat of my own. I hate seeing animals being mistreated and hate to see animals in poor conditions. Another reason why I care about this subject is that we can do something but a lot of people don’t care. The earth is getting warmer due to climate change and is affecting the animals in the arctic mainly polar bears.

Graph showing the 19 polar bear subpopulation from the [WWF] (https://arcticwwf.org/newsroom/stories/polar-bear-assessment-brings-good-and-troubling-news/) article. From the research I have done about polar bears there are 19 subpopulations of polar bears. About 2 of the 19 subpopulations have a stable population going for the past 8 years. For about 7 of the other subpopulations, we don’t know how they are being The decline in sea ice due to climate change has affected how polar bears reproduce and hunt. There is a time in the year where sea ice is supposed to freeze and make more, but in recent, this process has been shortened and less sea ice has been made due to climate change.

Graphs from the [Carbon Brief website] ( https://www.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say) showing the trend of sea-ice from 18 of the 19 polar bear populations in the past 3 decades.

Since the ice caps are melting polar bears are having to move closer to land when their main food source seals are at sea. This causes polar bears to starve for days, have no stamina, and die from starvation. Polar bears also need a lot of food to survive so they wouldn’t even be fine if they found a new source of food on land. Polar bears have been seen to up to a total of 200 pounds of food in one sitting. I also found out from the national geographic study on polar bears that they use about 12,000 calories per day even though they mostly stay still. There was a study on a polar bear for 9 days. By the end of the journey, she had lost the cub she was traveling with and 22 pounds of her body weight.

Picture of polar bear cubs in their den while their mother hunts from [Carbon Brief] (.https://www.carbon brief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say)

Greenhouse gases are a major threat to polar bears causing global warming and sea ice to melt. Even though there have been some measures to stop greenhouse gases it is not enough and they are still rising and won’t stop until 2040. But by the time 2040 does come the population of polar bears will be about 40% of what it is now.

There is still time to help. There are ways I can help and so can you. There are sites online where you can [donate] (https://polarbearsinternational.org/donate/us/) to save polar bears. Or even adopt one which I don’t recommend if you don’t have any animal experience or can deal with a 1-ton bear living with you. I have many ideas I can do to help this post. Let’s all work together to save polar bears and stop global warming, all we need to do is try.