Mascots for Global Warming?

I love mascots. The Phillies Phanatic is the best entertainment for baseball, the Nittany Lion did the complete Napoleon Dynamite dance in between quarters at Penn State… and even Swoop is entertaining to watch.

My least favorite mascot? Polar bears.

Cute, white Coca Cola symbols may have been what came to mind when you thought about polar bears ten years ago. Now, most people associate polar bears as the “mascot” of global warming. Even Coke is promoting a fund to save these animals instead of using them as “marketing material.”

Environmental action groups constantly send out emails requesting funds to ‘save the polar bears’ featuring  pictures of these beautiful animals dying from ice melting around them.

The Ends of the Earth Exhibit exhibit at Philly’s Natural Academy of Sciences last spring made a great point – Polar Bears aren’t the only arctic animals affected by climate change. When the polar bears, at the top of the food chain, struggle – so do animals such as seals, walruses, fish, penguins and more. So why are polar bears the face of global warming?

While it’s heartbreaking to think about, perhaps more people are taking action because of the surplus of environmental action group emails using polar bears.  People may be more likely to donate when they associate a face with this less visible threat.

Are politics helping this battle? Anti- Sarah Palin ads target her aerial shooting promotion (brutal attacks to kill wolves from planes, so they have no chance of survival), encouragement to drill in the arctic and request to keep Polar Bears off the Endangered Species Act.  Time says the Bush Administration had a crucial decision of the Polar Bears status on the endangered species act to make. Unfortunately, they chose a route so our emissions would not have to be federally regulated.  (The Obama administration did not overturn this decision.)  Go here on the Center for Biological Diversity to  help overturn this ruling.

I saw my first real life polar bear at the San Diego Zoo a couple weeks ago, and am hoping our children can  see the remaining polar bears in captivity.

Some fun facts about Polar bears:

• An estimated 20-25,000 polar bears remain in the wild
• Polar bears can turn to cannibalism
• Polar bears help keep balance of nature by eating seals
• Polar bears are an average of 8-10 feet tall and weigh 550-1700 pounds
• Threats to Polar Bears? Killer Whales, Humans, & Sarah Palin

What do you think? Should polar bears be the symbol of global warming?  Any other ideas of other global warming symbols?

Posted by Julie

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Julie Hancher is Editor-in-Chief of Green Philly, sharing her expertise of all things sustainable in the city of brotherly love. She enjoys long walks in the park with local beer and greening her travels, cooking & cat, Sir Floofus Drake. View all posts by Julie Hancher