Polar bears are going extinct because their unique icy habitat in the Arctic is melting at a faster rate than before and it’s all thanks to global warming. Sea ice in the Arctic has been melting faster and faster each year as a consequence of global warming. This rapid destruction of their habitat doesn’t just affect the polar bears by taking more and more land from their habitat, it also affects the polar bears because it’s harder for them to hunt their prey: seals. Global climate change is affecting the polar bears in more ways than one, but can we change that?
If the sea ice continues to melt, obviously this means that polar bears are going to less land to live in. This leaves them no choice but to move close to humans which will have drastic repercussions and might even endanger humans. If they’re forced to move closer to land, they’ll pose as serious threats to human life and society. So by destroying their habitat, we’re not only putting polar bears in danger, but ourselves as well.
A solution to reduce global warming is obviously to start emitting less carbon dioxide. There are many ways to do that,
Using less AC (the energy used up by air conditioning to keep it working is a big contributor to global warming. The amount of electricity burned by an air-conditioned household has drastically increased a whole 38% since 1990 and we’re projected to increase a 4.3 degrees celsius by 2100. Air conditioners are used as a solution to stay cool, but in reality, it’s making our world hotter. There are only about 10% of people left in United States alone that don’t use air conditioning and most of them believe that air conditioning is not a necessity especially when we look back half a century ago when most homes didn’t have the luxury. There are more ways to cool down, more passive ways that include taller ceilings, cross ventilation, ceiling fans, or roof exhaust fans that will be able to move the hot air out of the house. Proper insulation in a house helps keep the cool air in and it doesn’t waste energy, unlike air conditioning).
Walk/bike/use public transportation
Eat less meat
Educating others
Some states have even begun to take serious action with states like California limiting the amount of CO2 factories are allowed to emit each year.
Spreading ways to personally emit less CO2 through campaigns, social media, or even real life can really make a difference in such a global issue.
However, it would be very hard to do so seeing as global warming is very obviously a global issue and would require everyone to care in order to really make a difference. However, it’s really hard to get everyone in the world to participate in reducing global warming because no one really knows if every single person is putting in effort.
It’s far too difficult to coordinate a worldwide effort because no one can keep track of every single human being. This just brings up the question of whether or not we can actually save the polar bears or if we should just let them die. Is global warming too large of an issue for us to save the species? There’s not much we can do to ensure that global effort will be put in except for the general things like campaigning for polar bears or putting in personal effort, which is just the same as the solution.
Another implication of spreading less CO2 is that it will mean an economic loss for factories and businesses. If the world adopts the policy of limiting the amount of CO2 that factories are allowed to use like how some states are already doing, this will mean a possible collapse in sales for the factories. Having less fossil fuel (fossil fuels contribute to global warming when burned) to use means that factories aren’t able to produce as much as before. Since there are fewer products being produced by these factories, that means the consumers will also have fewer products to buy, which could drive up inflation and create more economic problems for the whole country.
Having economic losses will prompt people to find a way to prevent inflation as a result of a decrease in products. A way to possibly prevent having to limit the amount of fuel/energy that factories can use is by using a more natural source of energy like wind or the sun. These sources of renewable energy are continuously replenished and cannot be exhausted which makes it easier to access. They also usually don’t harm the environment so by using alternative energy and/or renewable energy, it will allow these factories that normally use fossil fuel to use as much energy as they want and prevent economic loss.
Implications for conservation of the polar bears might be high, but we owe it to them to restore their habitat seeing as we’re the ones who destroyed it in the first place. There are ways to deal with these implications obviously from looking at the further implications, and although it might be hard, polar bears are too symbolic of an animal for us to lose to global warming.
Citation: (2017). Alternate energy sources. Retrieved June 1, 2017 from http://www.theplanetgreeners.com/alternate-energy-sources/