Polar Bears in the Spring
What would you do if a polar bear poke into your car?
There are probably two options: give up your car, or drive the polar bear back home. Perhaps for now this is only for fun, but in face of worsening environmental problems, the likelihood of this kind of thing is growing.
Yesterday I watched a movie "Binne’s tough days" (National Geographic’s Planet Carnivore: Ice Bear), a documentary recording how a female polar bear Binne struggled through the brutal 15 weeks in the spring on the Arctic Svalbard Islands.
Arctic seals rest and birth on pack ice in spring, and return back to the sea when the ice disappear in summer- as seals are the main source of food for Binne and her fellows, spring ice is vital for them. But this year it is unseasonably warm in March and April, and there’s no hunting ground for Binne at all.
Life is harsh on Svalbard Islands and one need enough courage and luck to live up to the next spring - Binne is lucky to come across a whale corpse on the coast after a long long swim, which is sufficient for her to survive this year. But her fellows may not be so lucky; some of them are drowned out of exhaustion in the long journey searching for food. Even more ironic is that the whale saving Binne’s life probably is, like Binne, also a victim of global warming.
In the meantime, more and more polar bears like Binne show up on the major media headlines. I see bloody images of hungry polar bears killing each other and those of them haunting garbage dumps from time to time. Global warming might make human headache, but it is a truly disaster for polar bears.
The main reason for global warming is greenhouse gas emissions, and transportation vehicles, especially cars and aircrafts, are major sources of greenhouse gases. The United States and the European Union have developed strict environmental protection policies and cars are listed as the main focus of attention. Environmental group Plane Stupid have launched a Public Service Ad named "Polar Bear" (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTM2NjM5MTEy.html), which is very extreme and bloody, it warns that one passenger on a European trip will generate 400 kg of greenhouse gases, equivalent of the weight of an adult polar bear!
Of course, to abandon planes or cars to save the polar bears is unrealistic. Perhaps, new energy can solve the dilemma.
In order to reduce dependence on oil and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we must develop new energy and new energy vehicles. Since this year, major countries developing new energy vehicles in the United States, Japan, Germany, and so on, have set out a new round of competition on a global scale by carrying out incentives policies and increasing R & D investments.
As early as 2008, GM's Cadillac Provoq hydrogen fuel cell concept car, Cadillac Escalade two-mode hybrid vehicle models, and so on, already began to focus on environmental protection and energy consumption reduction, which have thoroughly changed the correlation between luxury cars and large fuel consumption. General Motors even plans to launch the revolutionary Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles in the U.S. market in 2010.
Now, more and more car companies realize that green product of "better performance, lower power consumption, and less emissions" not only caters to short-term market demand, but also to strategic development in the long run.
After this tough spring, Binne will go into a peaceful hibernation, she will not hear arguments on the Copenhagen conference, nor will she know environmentalists struggling for her welfare. An increasing number of individuals and enterprises are joining them in the actions to save her. With the development of new energies, perhaps next year, Binne’s "spring" of abundant ice and seals will come true.
