Amanda Hao
Foster City, CA
2019, Junior, Creative Writing

Nestled in cashmere, Abigail Palmer’s thoughts were far from the frigid Arctic as her teacher droned on about the dangers of climate change. The 13-year-old, an eighth-grader, attended an elite, private school where admission could be bought, but was seldom earned. Long enshrined in privilege, she was dismissive of matters outside her cloak of protective wealth.

Abby, as she preferred to be called, was unfazed by this talk of apocalyptic doom. Empathy was not her strong suit. But students would need to give presentations on global warming in a week. Specific topics were selected at random as each student drew a folded slip of paper from a cup. Abby had drawn “polar bears.” She groaned. It was bad enough listening to these boring lectures, but a presentation?

As she began to research her subject, though, Abby was surprised to learn that the world’s largest land carnivore is already imperiled. The threat: melting sea ice due to global warming. She watched a video of an emaciated polar bear, an apex predator in the Arctic marine ecosystem, looking helplessly at an iceless landscape. Although Abby, safely ensconced in her academic sanctuary a continent away, was unstirred by the animal’s plight, she decided to incorporate the footage in her presentation. The photos might tug at heartstrings enough to earn her an “A.”

And an Arctic devoid of ice because of climate change was certainly germane to her assignment. Polar bears use ice floes as hunting platforms; their diet consists mainly of ringed and bearded seals. But the glaciers in Alaska, Canada, Norway, and Russia, and the vast ice sheet of Greenland, are melting, pouring 14,000 tons of water into the oceans every second. [1] It is the main cause of the world’s rising sea levels, producing waves of climate change refugees. [2] A startling new study, which found that polar bears need to eat 60 percent more than previously thought, predicts many of the marine animals will starve because of vanishing ice. Although they often lounge around, waiting for their prey to come to them, at times the bears are extremely energetic, burning 12,325 calories a day on average. They can swim constantly for days at a time. [3]

Sea ice is essential to the bears’ survival, but it is disappearing at an alarming rate: 14 percent every decade. Even in the midst of a bitterly cold Arctic winter, satellite photos show there are 770,000 square miles less ice than the 1981 to 2010 median—an area larger than Alaska and California combined. [3] Meeting the bears’ energy demands has become increasingly difficult as the sea ice recedes.

A joint study of nine bears over a three-year period, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California at Santa Cruz, found that the animals need to consume at least one adult or three juvenile seals every ten days. Five of the bears studied were unable to meet that goal, resulting in a loss of as much as 20 kilograms of body weight. [4]

The study also found that bears are moving 1.6 times more in their quest for food than previously reported, bringing them into contact with humans. [5] It is a vicious circle: as the ice caps melt, bears are forced farther afield in their search for food, burning more calories. Although half of their time is spent looking for food, the hunts are rarely successful.

Scientists say the bears are currently vulnerable, but not yet endangered. They have been listed   as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act since 2008. [6] There could be as many as 25,000 polar bears in the wild, but because they are spread out over such a vast, inhospitable terrain, the animals are difficult to count. [7] In the absence of enough food, though, researchers worry the bears will be less likely to breed. Pregnant bears must build up large stores of fat to sustain them through the birth process and nursing.

As Abby plunged deeper into her assignment, even she found the grim statistics disturbing: less ice not only robs bears of their habitat, but opens the Arctic up to more oil drilling, shipping, pollution, tourism, even hunting. None of this bodes well for the majestic creatures that call the Arctic Circle home. The polar bear population is predicted to decline 30 percent by mid-century. [8]

After her initial indifference, Abby was feeling an affinity for the iconic bears, one of the best-loved species in the world. Learning they are not really white left her incredulous. Polar bear fur is translucent, and only appears white because of an effect called “light scattering.” Their skin is jet black. [9]

When presentation day finally arrived, Abby wore a pantsuit and an aura of confidence. Her classmate, Shanice, finished her talk on coral reefs to respectful clapping. Abby was next. As she strode to the podium, she could almost hear the thunderous applause that would greet her presentation. “I’ll bring the house down,” she thought.

Abby was good—quite the actress. She brimmed with verve. Her message would be equal parts condemnation and battle cry. On this day, she was a climate change warrior.

Abby opened her talk with an adorable photo of a mother bear and her two cubs, explaining that 125 million acres had been protected as a nursery for the animals in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska. [10] No more. A year after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, Congress opened large swaths of the refuge to oil and gas drilling, a process that begins with seismic testing to locate deposits. Experts believe the bears will be adversely affected—even killed—by the human activity. [11]

Because of the instability of ice floes, pregnant bears are now frequently giving birth on land. If denning bears are disturbed, they may exit their shelters prematurely, exposing their cubs to extreme weather and risking their survival. Mothers may also abandon their young. [12]

Entire marine ecosystems are unraveling due to climate change and other human interference, Abby stated. The Southern Beaufort Sea population of polar bears, for example, is only about 900—half of what it was in the mid-1980s. [13] The pristine environment is also home to bowhead and gray whales, walruses, and other magnificent wildlife, she added, displaying pictures of animals native to the region. An oil spill would be catastrophic, yet a handful of companies are willing to gamble everything in their blind pursuit of profit. Abby paused for a sip of water; her voice was beginning to crack.

Since polar bears are at the top of the food chain, Abby continued, they are likely to be the most significantly affected species as the Arctic warms, a development blamed largely on the world’s obsession with burning coal, oil, and natural gas. Instead of seeking alternative forms of energy, companies are brazenly exploring for more fossil fuels. One result: temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as the global average. [14]

And polar bears, which split from their brown bear cousins hundreds of thousands of years ago, are squarely in the cross-hairs, Abby pointed out. There is not remotely time for them to re-evolve into terrestrial animals. [15] “Scientists say they will surely die,” she concluded, a single tear coursing down her cheek. “Will we offer only pious condolences to the next generation?”

The room was deathly quiet as Abby resumed her seat. She didn’t notice.

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The Bear Facts: A Species Imperiled