Ever wonder what it must be like to be apolar bear living in a region threatened by climate change? A new exhibitionopening on Saturday at Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences aims toeducate visitors of all ages about the threats faced by polar bears and otherwildlife whose habits are changing due to global warming.
"Ends of theEarth: From Polar Bears to Penguins," which runs until April 27, featuresa huge stuffed polar bear standing on its hind legs, interactive exhibits, mapsand photographs. Children can crawl into an imitation of a bear den to see howthe animals live and compare their own weight on a special scale to that of agiant bear.
They can also learn about how melting ice forces the bears to gofurther to find food and limits their ability to build up fat to survive theArctic winter. The result is smaller bears, fewer cubs, higher death rates andan increased threat of extinction in the most southerly part of their habitat.
"I hope and expect this exhibit will open new eyes to the warming impactsof man's excesses in the Earth's most frigid places," said William Brown,the president of the academy.
The show takes a broad view of the natural lifeof the polar regions, and the scientific research being conducted there, butthe academy, the oldest natural history museum in the Americas, has staged theexhibition to heighten public awareness of the consequences of global warming.
In an attempt to link the Arctic to the local environment in the northeasternUnited States the show will also feature at specific times a live red-tailedhawk, a familiar species in the Philadelphia area which is now starting to moveinto the north polar region as rising temperatures allow it to find food there.
Although people are becoming more aware of the impact of individual lifestyleson global warming, many do not know how they can contribute to worldwideefforts to slow the process, said Jacquie Genovesi, the senior director ofeducation at the academy. "They are starting to understand that they havean effect but they feel helpless," she said.
The exhibition also aims toraise public understanding about the poles. It traces the history of polarexploration with an exhibit on early explorers and uses maps and photographs tohighlight current scientific work, as well as the native peoples of the polarregions.
The Academy isn't trying to tell visitors to buy hybrid cars or votefor pro-environment politicians, but it hopes that people will be betterinformed about one aspect of the global climate debate by the time they leavethe exhibition, Genovesi said. "We are not going to tell you who to votefor, but we will give you the information so you have a knowledgeablevote," she said.
Reuters
