Polar Bears: The Earth’s Barometer

Live Holistically is a multi-author site.
This post was written by: Gailstrail

Polar Bears are the earth’s barometer. They live in desolate areas: you would think human beings couldn’t reach them in such far away places. Not so. When I read that these incredible creatures are turning to cannibalism; my heart takes a plunge into the abyss! Their hunting territory is melting away. The Polar Bear will cease to exist by the end of this century. How does this make us feel?

How much of the Polar Bear’s demise is due to ‘Greenhouse Gases’? How much is due to the worlds natural changes? No matter. My heart is saddened to lose these ‘angel beasts’. Feeling as I do, my instinct is to do whatever I can to decrease my impact to their territory.

What does it mean to decrease impact? I buy as much organic food as possible. Organic food comes from Sustainable Agriculture. Sustainable Agriculture means no chemicals. No poisoning of water or wildlife.

Soon I’ll be able to stop driving to and from to my day job; gulping down fuel that spills fumes into the atmosphere that clogs and poisons the air we breath…and contributes to the melting away of the land that these angel beasts live upon.

I’m trying to co-ordinate my trips shopping…asking myself, do I really need this now or can it wait. Asking a neighbor, do they want to go with me to shop, or is there something I can pick up for you. Walking more; buying ‘earth friendly’ cleaning products.

The other day as I spade away from my home on my way to work, I passed a squashed squirrel in the road; acknowledging its passing for maybe a half a second. As insignificant as this incident may seem, it touches my heart in a tiny place. The tiny place causes me to wonder; how much space do we humans deserve? How much of the planet do we have to claim?

For now, I continue weaving in and out of traffic on my way to my ‘day job’; fulfilling someone else’s dreams. How slow can I go? How fast can I see? I want to slow the aging process; slow my footprints to a snails pace or screech to a halt!

At night I dream of Bobby and Jennifer and leaping tall mountains; barley leaving an imprint.

The photos in this post came from a National Geographic story from about ten years ago.

Happy and Sustainable Trails!