Written by Graciella Ganadhi, Content Writer Project Child Indonesia
International Polar Bear Day is celebrated worldwide every February 27th. It aims to remind the citizens of the world to preserve our environment, especially the polar bear habitat. Every year, their number decreased due to climate change. Polar bears are classified as endangered or vulnerable animals because there are only 23.000 of them in all 19 places of their habitat.
The main factor that contributes to their decline is the greenhouse effect. It is when our earth is heating up due to the excess use of carbon dioxide (CO2) and the other greenhouse gases. When the planet gets hotter, the ice where they live melts, thus limiting their living space. Moreover, due to climate change, the population of seals is decreasing. The decrease causes difficulties for the polar bears to hunt for their prey.
Climate change is not only affecting polar bears and seals. It is affecting us, humans, too! Have you ever noticed that the weather has become unpredictable these past years? It rains when it’s supposed to be sunny and vice versa. It is getting colder in places that have been hot for years and hotter in places that have been cold forever/ The Arctic, the polar bears’ habitat, for example. The ice, in which the polar bears have depended for years, has begun to melt, and it is melting fast. The polar bears are not the only casualties of this phenomenon. The melting of ice causes the surface of ocean water to rise, which then resulted in the flooding or even the loss of lands because their surface is lower than the ocean.
What can we do then? The answer is simpler than you might think. As a global citizen, you can start small and be consistent. Be aware of your carbon spending and ways in which you contribute to the excess of greenhouse gases. If you can bike, walk, or ride public transportation to help lessen the production of carbon dioxide, that’s a good start. You can start to reduce, reuse, recycle your trash, and switch to reusable or renewable energy since the use of fossil fuel is also a big contributing factor to climate change.
It is not too late to start taking action. As people often say, it’s better to be late than never starting. Reduce the use of single-use plastic, reduce the frequency of your carbon production, and change into renewable energy. Make small changes in your life and be the change that the world needs.
References:
- https://polarbearsinternational.org/about-us/. Accessed on Feb 21 at 15.30.
- https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/5-ways-to-reduce-your-carbon-footprint . Accessed on Feb 21 at 15.30.
