Polar Bears Can’t Vote, So You Have To!

 

Thank you to Ms. Magazine for publishing my article,

Polar Bears Can’t Vote, So You Have To!”

Dr. Stephen Petersen, head of conservation and research at Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre, has only one word of advice for the environmentally conscious this week: “Vote.”

Polar Bear by Lisa Niver at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge, Churchill Wild
Polar Bear by Lisa Niver at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge, Churchill Wild

The Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Canada, which currently houses 10 polar bears, is home to the Centre where Petersen helps polar bear cubs orphaned in the wild adjust to life in the zoo, where they have far greater chances of survival.

On the same campus, visitors can explore the Journey to Churchill exhibit, where they’ll see snowy owls, caribou, musk oxen and seals, as well as his cubs—and do their part as citizen scientists to help him monitor the bears through whisker print patterns. Petersen’s research has focused on Arctic marine mammals like narwhals, killer whales, polar bears and beluga whales; his other projects at the Centre include a ringed seal-tagging map. 

Polar bears are at the top trophic level of the food chain, and climate change is having a massive impact on their lives. As their environments evolve, Petersen is calling for more marine protected areas and doing work to protect the denning areas where polar bears have their babies. But there are many species that need to be protected—birds in Papua New Guinea, orangutans in Indonesia and polar bears in the Arctic among them. 

Sleeping Polar Bear by Lisa Niver with Churchill Wild
Sleeping Polar Bear by Lisa Niver with Churchill Wild

Professor Petersen’s family has one car, and it’s a hybrid. Apps like Oceanwise, from the Vancouver aquarium, help him figure out which companies and products are invested in sustainability to guide his shopping, and he looks for items with reduced plastic packaging. (If a plastic container comes into his house, his family makes certain to have at least two more uses out of it before they recycle it.)

“Little choices create a big signal,” he told Ms. “Each choice, from who you vote for to how you select your food, creates change. Lots of people doing small things will make a big difference. You can start by picking one thing to try, from biking to eating local to active living, and be on the lookout for new ways to do things better. It all makes a difference to the bears.”

Petersen recommends that activists interested in supporting work like his, and the bears and wild populations he serves, contribute time or money to environmental research, education and advocacy organizations like Polar Bears International and World Wildlife Fund—but his initial call to action, he says, stands as the most important way we can have an impact.

Vote for people who care about the environment,” Petersen urged. “Polar bears cannot vote, so you need to.”

You can watch videos from Lisa’s trip to the Center on YouTube.

Lisa Ellen Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has been to 100 countries. Her website, We Said Go Travel, was read in 222 countries in 2017; her videos have over 2 million views on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and YouTube. Lisa has written for AARP, Sierra Club, Delta Sky, Smithsonian, and Robb Report and talks travel on KTLA-TV, but you can often find her underwater SCUBA diving, in her art studio making ceramics or helping people find their next dream trip. 

Read the article on Ms. Magazine

Ms Magazine Polar Bears Can't Vote So You Have to

Read and watch all of my Churchill Wild Adventures:
Part OneDo You Want to Walk with Polar Bears?
Part TwoAre You Ready for an Adventure? Walk with Polar Bears
Part ThreeHow Do You Get To Churchill Wild?

 

Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

We Said Go Travel