Friday, March 20, 2009

Save Our Polar Bears!

*** To support my company's move to bring awareness on wild life endangered species and what we can do to help, I am posting this article courtesy from my company's bulletin.

Let’s play our part...
to know our world a little better,
to contribute a little more,
to secure a better tomorrow.

I would like to share news on the animals that we, humans, are threatening to extinction.
Understand them and what threatens them and we could all make a change before its too late.... not only for them... but for us as well.

Scientific Name : Ursus maritimus
Habitat : Arctic (northern hemisphere)

Did You Know?...
Polar bears evolved from brown bears during the time period that spanned from 1.8 million to 11,000 years ago.
Its coat also serves as camouflage where it can sometimes pass as snow drifts and surprisingly, the fur has no white pigment!

Polar bears are studied to better understand what is happening throughout the Arctic. If a polar bear is at risk, it is often a sign that the arctic marine ecosystem is threatened or imbalanced in some way.

The future of these furry creatures are far from certain with the climate change due to global warming where sea ice in the Arctic is melting earlier and forming later each year. Ongoing research (funded by WWF) finds that polar bears are left with less time on the ice during critical periods to hunt for food that builds up their fat stores, and increased time on land or on ice over deep waters where they have decreased feeding opportunities. As their ice habitat shrinks, polar bears face a grave challenge to their survival.

What Can We Do?...
1.) Use less air-conditioning
Keep temperatures moderate at all times;
2 degrees of difference could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

2.) Switch it “OFF”
Turn off:
- electrical items when you leave a room, and use only as much as you need.
- water while brushing your teeth, shampooing, or washing your car, until you need it for rinsing.
3.) Change a light bulb
Use Compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs wherever practical. It lasts 10 times longer then regular bulbs, consumes two-thirds less energy, and releases 70% less heat.

4.) Drive less and drive smart (Less driving = Less emission)
Tires that are properly inflated can improve your gas mileage by more than 3%.
Every gallon of gas you save not only helps your budget, it also keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

5.) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Need we say more?!

“Global warming is by far the most serious manifestation of the collision, and Mother Nature is making the evidence ever more obvious” - Al Gore

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi Amidrin, we've started to go green too, have set our bedroom air-cond to 26deg since the past few months, also the rest of the "What we can do?" :)