Goat Whisperer
Well-Known Member
I wrote this to enter a writing contest type dealio for the environment:
You’re a foot away from a wild polar bear. You’re heart pounds; you see your breath in front of you, mingling with the white breath of the great animal just inches away. The mighty beast, with the power to end your life with the simplest swipe of it’s paw; and yet, it seems so peaceful. So curious. So little interest in destruction, in ending your life. Its big black eyes stare into yours. Like your breath, your souls mingle, unite, there is no going back, you are one, together. Suddenly it ends, the polar bear jumps back, away from the window, and eventually, you pull back, into the safety and comfort of your seat. You, however, are never the same. You will always remember that moment, those seconds of simple beauty.
This was my reality on Oct 7, 2008, following a week of adventure, in Churchill, Canada, the polar bear capitol of the world. I had gone there to learn about the polar bear, climate change, and have lifetime experiences; but I had learned even more then I could have imagined. I was immersed. I forgot my life. My friends, school, I even forgot about my job. If I hadn’t been wearing a name tag throughout the experience, I would have forgotten my name too.
I went there with a feeling of want, a want to reduce CO2 and help the polar bear, but I came back with a need. Losing the polar bear feels like losing part of my soul, a part of my soul I gained only two years ago, but also, a part that completes me, makes me whole. Even right now, writing this, I feel a pang in my stomach with just the thought; the thought of losing the great white bear, of discontinuing it’s existence, of disallowing the future to feel the feeling of completion I do now.
And that’s exactly what’s happening, eight of the well researched eleven polar bear populations are in decline, scientists estimate that 2/3rds of the polar bear population will be gone within the next 40 years, right now, today, polar bears are resolving to cannibalizing their young and mother bears are losing their cubs to the freezing waters of the arctic, as their small bodies with little fat build up, simply can’t make it back to the shore. I see pictures, videos, and hear stories daily; more bodies found, more polar bears lost in time. Is that cub I met that frosty morning still alive? Is his brother, his mom?
I’m not writing this to depress you, make you feel bad, or hopeless. I am writing this to invigorate you, motivate you, and get you to change. Every choice we make today, in our daily lives, whether or not to switch off the computer, as we run out the door, buy a CFL light bulb for a few extra dollars, or bike to school instead of drive a car, makes an impact on the polar bear up in the arctic. Good or bad, decisions made in our daily lives, are deciding the fate of the polar bear in the near future. And it isn’t just the polar bear that’s at risk. The polar bear is the canary in the coal mine; like the spokesperson for all the animals. It’s one of the first animals we will lose, but it certainly will not be the last. Scientists estimate that millions of animals will go extinct due to climate change.
It won’t only have environmental effects either, economic, political, and social collapse; public health will decline, thousands, possible even millions of people will die as deserts expand, shore lines disappear, and as the invasive species enter new lands, so do diseases, such as the flesh eating disease and malaria; water could spike to the cost of oil, reaching one hundred dollars a barrel. All off this is something that can be changed, something that can be stopped, but only if we work together.
“Going Green” becoming “Environmentally Friendly” are phrases we here daily, but what do they really mean? Yes there are those little changes we can all make, that add up and save millions of tons of CO2 from release into the atmosphere; but is that enough? I say no. I say no, because I know that with a little effort from each of us, we can make a difference that is even bigger, a difference that really can change the world, save the polar bear, make the future a sustained and bright place.
As a Chinese Proverb says “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is now.” Did you know that if you planted ten trees today, it would offset you’re carbon from release for an entire year? Or that, one mature tree breaths out enough oxygen to sustain two humans? However, we can’t wait twenty years for those trees to become mature, to start sucking up the CO2 for us. We can plant them for the future to use, to rely on, to make the world a better place, but right now, we need to do more. We definitely need to plant more trees and make those changes in our daily lives, but it isn’t enough, there are other things that need to be done to save the polar bear.
Research and funding green technology, hydro-power, solar-power, wind power, nuclear power, even methane power collection from cows! The solution is in our grasp. We have bright minds, a new generation of unselfish and green thinkers. A good friend of mine, and also President of Polar Bear’s International, Robert Buchanan once said, "There are three kinds of people in the world: those who make change happen, those who watch change happen, and those who ask what happened. Be one of those who make change."
Ten years from now you will begin to feel the decisions you made take effect, twenty years from now, they will be in full force, and forty years from now, you will be explaining to your grandchildren, either how we all came together, united, as the human race to make the planet a better place and to save the polar bear, as well as make their future brighter; or you will be explaining why they have to ration their water, where the great white bear has gone, and why the 9 -11 memoriam and the Statue of Liberty lies under water, lost, and forgotten. Will you be able to explain why the future is bleak, why we didn’t come together in time, why we didn’t change the future? Will you have the answer?
We are answering those questions today, right now. We are making decisions that will affect hundreds of generations following us, the question is: Are we making the right ones? Will future generations, our children, our children’s children, look back on us and be inspired by the good we did, or be forced to ask an unanswerable question: Why?
“The Question Is…”
You’re a foot away from a wild polar bear. You’re heart pounds; you see your breath in front of you, mingling with the white breath of the great animal just inches away. The mighty beast, with the power to end your life with the simplest swipe of it’s paw; and yet, it seems so peaceful. So curious. So little interest in destruction, in ending your life. Its big black eyes stare into yours. Like your breath, your souls mingle, unite, there is no going back, you are one, together. Suddenly it ends, the polar bear jumps back, away from the window, and eventually, you pull back, into the safety and comfort of your seat. You, however, are never the same. You will always remember that moment, those seconds of simple beauty.
This was my reality on Oct 7, 2008, following a week of adventure, in Churchill, Canada, the polar bear capitol of the world. I had gone there to learn about the polar bear, climate change, and have lifetime experiences; but I had learned even more then I could have imagined. I was immersed. I forgot my life. My friends, school, I even forgot about my job. If I hadn’t been wearing a name tag throughout the experience, I would have forgotten my name too.
I went there with a feeling of want, a want to reduce CO2 and help the polar bear, but I came back with a need. Losing the polar bear feels like losing part of my soul, a part of my soul I gained only two years ago, but also, a part that completes me, makes me whole. Even right now, writing this, I feel a pang in my stomach with just the thought; the thought of losing the great white bear, of discontinuing it’s existence, of disallowing the future to feel the feeling of completion I do now.
And that’s exactly what’s happening, eight of the well researched eleven polar bear populations are in decline, scientists estimate that 2/3rds of the polar bear population will be gone within the next 40 years, right now, today, polar bears are resolving to cannibalizing their young and mother bears are losing their cubs to the freezing waters of the arctic, as their small bodies with little fat build up, simply can’t make it back to the shore. I see pictures, videos, and hear stories daily; more bodies found, more polar bears lost in time. Is that cub I met that frosty morning still alive? Is his brother, his mom?
I’m not writing this to depress you, make you feel bad, or hopeless. I am writing this to invigorate you, motivate you, and get you to change. Every choice we make today, in our daily lives, whether or not to switch off the computer, as we run out the door, buy a CFL light bulb for a few extra dollars, or bike to school instead of drive a car, makes an impact on the polar bear up in the arctic. Good or bad, decisions made in our daily lives, are deciding the fate of the polar bear in the near future. And it isn’t just the polar bear that’s at risk. The polar bear is the canary in the coal mine; like the spokesperson for all the animals. It’s one of the first animals we will lose, but it certainly will not be the last. Scientists estimate that millions of animals will go extinct due to climate change.
It won’t only have environmental effects either, economic, political, and social collapse; public health will decline, thousands, possible even millions of people will die as deserts expand, shore lines disappear, and as the invasive species enter new lands, so do diseases, such as the flesh eating disease and malaria; water could spike to the cost of oil, reaching one hundred dollars a barrel. All off this is something that can be changed, something that can be stopped, but only if we work together.
“Going Green” becoming “Environmentally Friendly” are phrases we here daily, but what do they really mean? Yes there are those little changes we can all make, that add up and save millions of tons of CO2 from release into the atmosphere; but is that enough? I say no. I say no, because I know that with a little effort from each of us, we can make a difference that is even bigger, a difference that really can change the world, save the polar bear, make the future a sustained and bright place.
As a Chinese Proverb says “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is now.” Did you know that if you planted ten trees today, it would offset you’re carbon from release for an entire year? Or that, one mature tree breaths out enough oxygen to sustain two humans? However, we can’t wait twenty years for those trees to become mature, to start sucking up the CO2 for us. We can plant them for the future to use, to rely on, to make the world a better place, but right now, we need to do more. We definitely need to plant more trees and make those changes in our daily lives, but it isn’t enough, there are other things that need to be done to save the polar bear.
Research and funding green technology, hydro-power, solar-power, wind power, nuclear power, even methane power collection from cows! The solution is in our grasp. We have bright minds, a new generation of unselfish and green thinkers. A good friend of mine, and also President of Polar Bear’s International, Robert Buchanan once said, "There are three kinds of people in the world: those who make change happen, those who watch change happen, and those who ask what happened. Be one of those who make change."
Ten years from now you will begin to feel the decisions you made take effect, twenty years from now, they will be in full force, and forty years from now, you will be explaining to your grandchildren, either how we all came together, united, as the human race to make the planet a better place and to save the polar bear, as well as make their future brighter; or you will be explaining why they have to ration their water, where the great white bear has gone, and why the 9 -11 memoriam and the Statue of Liberty lies under water, lost, and forgotten. Will you be able to explain why the future is bleak, why we didn’t come together in time, why we didn’t change the future? Will you have the answer?
We are answering those questions today, right now. We are making decisions that will affect hundreds of generations following us, the question is: Are we making the right ones? Will future generations, our children, our children’s children, look back on us and be inspired by the good we did, or be forced to ask an unanswerable question: Why?
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