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So, I’m a polar bear, right? Got that? A polar bear. Not one of those brown bears that live in forests and on mountains. One of those big white ones, you know, surely. Where do I live? On an iceberg of course, not that far from the North Pole. We never go too near the North Pole though, it’s much too cold up there. We prefer to live in places like Greenland. You must have seen one of us on one of those tv documentaries. Or perhaps in a zoo somewhere. People think we’re cute and friendly. Unfortunately, I have to say that’s not entirely true. We don’t often attack people, probably because there aren’t many people up here to attack. I guess if you just leave us alone, we’re perfectly happy.
So, I’m sitting on my iceberg, perfectly happy, it’s my favourite iceberg this one, a great place for sitting around, hanging out, chatting to a few friends every now and then, catching fish and whatever else I can find. I’m sitting on my iceberg when I notice something strange. My favourite iceberg is getting smaller. Well, either my iceberg is getting smaller, or perhaps I’m getting bigger. Now then, if I’m getting bigger it means I’m getting fat. But I can’t be getting fat, because I’ve also noticed that recently I haven’t been eating very much at all. I sit on my favourite iceberg, hanging out, chatting to friends, you know, the usual, but I do notice that there are far fewer fish around now than there were a few years ago.
Let me tell you a few things about polar bears. We only live at the North Pole, not the South one. And no, I’ve never met a penguin. You know why? Because penguins only live in the South Pole, and not the north one. It’s a long way from one pole to the other, so we rarely meet. There was a cousin of mine though, who ended up in a zoo, and they put him in the enclosure next to the penguins. He said the penguins were ok, but they were pretty noisy.
Let me tell you something else about polar bears: we get cold. Yes, that’s a surprise, isn’t it? I bet you thought we’d have layers of fur and fat to keep us warm from the arctic cold. Well, we do, but it’s never quite enough. We still get cold. I do anyway, and so do most of the other polar bears I talk to (and, believe me, I talk to a lot of polar bears.)
So, where was I? Sorry, yes, I was telling you that I was sitting on my iceberg, noticing that the iceberg was getting smaller and the fish were getting fewer, when this walrus arrives. Now, I’m a pretty easy-going polar bear (as long as you don’t try and put me in a zoo!), but there is one thing I hate. Walruses. Perhaps you’ve never met a walrus. If you haven’t, don’t. They’re awful. Loud and smelly and stupid. Always bothering us. I mean, I know we eat them sometimes (we polar bears are happy to eat anything), but that’s no reason for them to be so offensive. There’s nothing that’s going to ruin my day as much as a walrus, and here comes Mr. Walrus. I tried to catch him, but it was no good, he was too quick for me. He just splashed around in the water making that terrible noise they make and shouting at me.
“Hey stupid!” he shouted. “Yes you! Big stupid polar bear! What’s the matter? Can’t you catch me? Of course you can’t! You know why? Because you’re iceberg’s disappearing! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Like I said, I hate walruses.
“I know that, ugly” I shouted to him. “If you can tell me why it’s happening then perhaps I won’t have you for my dinner!”
“You’re as stupid as all polar bears!” replied this extremely cheeky walrus. “Global warming! Never heard of it, have you? Bye now!” And then the walrus dived back under the water and splashed away. I did have to admit that I had never heard of global warming, so when a few of the other bears were around, I asked them if they’d heard anything about it.
“Oh yeah” they said. “It means the sea is getting warmer, so the ice is melting.”
“What’s causing it?” I asked.
“Humans, of course” they replied. Honestly, as if zoos weren’t bad enough. Now they’re trying to melt our ice as well.
“It’s always humans” said one of my friends. “That’s why there aren’t as many fish now as well. The humans are eating them all.”
This really was bad news. No iceberg; no fish. No dinner for me. Other than the occasional walrus if I manage to catch one.
“The problem is” continued my friend, “there’s very little we can do about it. I mean, how can we stop the humans?”
“Look” I said, “If there are no fish, then that’s bad news for the walruses too, isn’t it? They eat fish too.”
“I guess so” said my friend. “So that means...”
“Exactly...”
“No!”
“Yes...we’ll have to team up with the walruses if we want to do anything...”
“No way! Impossible! Absolutely out of the question!” shouted all the others. You see, I’m not the only polar bear who doesn’t like walruses.
So, the next day, I’m sitting there on my favourite iceberg again, and along comes the same cheeky walrus.
“Caught anything yet? Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Listen ugly” I replied to him. “You’re right about global warming, but what you haven’t realised – probably because you’re stupid as well as ugly – is that the humans who are causing global warming are also eating all our fish.” The walrus didn’t say anything, so I carried on. “The only way we can stop them is if we work together...polar bears and walruses and everyone else who lives here...”
“Work with you!!! No way!!!!” shouted the walrus, and off he went.
So, I’m sitting here on my iceberg, and my iceberg’s getting smaller everyday, and I’m getting hungrier everyday. Some other polar bears, I hear, the ones who live closer to places where there are more humans are going to the humans’ rubbish bins and eating everything they can find there. That’s one solution, I guess, but I’d rather have some nice fresh fish – or big juicy piece of walrus – than humans’ rubbish. I’d really like there to be a happy end to this story I’m telling you, but at the moment there isn’t. What am I going to have for my dinner?
THE END
What do you think of this story? What can we do to make sure there will always be polar bears in the future? Send us your texts.
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Elena Startseva from Russia writes “First of all I would like to express my gratitude for raising the problem of the global warming in such an unusual, though extremely depressing way.
It can hardly be argued that all the changes we face nowadays in the climate and environment are all direct results of our progress. I, personally, tend to think that the only way to slow down the process of nature's destruction is to raise awareness of people all over the world of the vile consequences we may face in the forthcoming future (sadly, we cannot count on any considerable improvement, but only that the situation will not deteriorate). The main problem is that most of the tycoons would not seriously fancy the situation when people reject using their cars, or will travel less because of the carbon dioxide emissions.
So just to sum up: personally, I am ready to give up using my car and I am actually looking forward to that (I am sick and tired of the traffic jams and smog). I am absolutely sure that if it could be legislated that every city would have to cut down the number of the cars to, let's say, just 20%, polar bears would probably lead a more bearable existence.”
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Rajani Saran Gupta writes “I liked this story very much. After reading it, I felt a great affection towards them. They are completely harmless. It is true that humans are causing global warming. The government should impose strict laws against polluting the environment. The men who live in the North Pole should also raise their voice against pollution in the poles. If they become an endangered species, then they should be brought into zoos so that we can save their species.”
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Adel Alg writes “It's a very pretty story and I wished it wasn’t so short. For the problem taken by this story is very complicated and it concerns most of the big companies throughout the world, especially in America. Please save the wild life!”
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Ayesha Rehman writes “I really enjoyed listening to the story, it was very interesting. Well Done. Brilliant work. This Story does leave you with a thought and a message.”
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Ko Lin Aung Han writes “I was very sad to read this story. But it is a true. Nowadays, we have to face up to global warming. In preventing this, individuals in the world have a responsibility to reduce eco gas emissions, use CFC approved air conditioners, to love the country. So that I can expect that the next generation will be able to see such sweet, smiley polar bears and cheeky (like that polar bear said in the story) walruses.”
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Anna Evans writes “Well, as is perfectly shown in this little story, the whole issue of polar bears is critical. The story really showed us how we, people, are “in charge" of our planet. Whatever we do affects not only us but our little friends - animals. It is very sad that things like these are happening. Imagine it is only from the point of view of polar bears. What about other animals?”
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Yasin Hutoglu writes “I considered our lifecycle and decided that humans are killers. Imagine being a bull in spain ... and the other animals ... Then imagine our comfortable life … Dont forget that we are melting our iceberg and all of us are bears.”
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Ruwani Fernando writes “This is very good story and I am very sad about this situation. Environmental pollution is directly affecting these animals, and if we do not reduce the environmental pollution, our future generations will not be able to see polar bears in their natural habitat.”
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Carla Morales from Peru writes “I think polar bears are so important to us, they are such beautiful animals and it's our responsibility to look after them. We must develop an sensitization campaign against pollution, and in my way of thinking, there should be a natural reserve just for polar bears to protect them. As far as I am concerned polar bears don’t have too much food and icebergs are disappearing. I think that this story explains in a easy and very sentimental way how polar bears are suffering right now and this text should be published on many sites to become very popular and make people know that polar bears have feelings and they could all die.”
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Roshan Naik writes “Although the story talks about polar bears, it has smartly inculcated deleterious effects on the environment caused by global warming. We have to maximize our efforts to reduce the green house gases (e.g. carbon dioxide) responsible for global warming. We have to also reduce encroachment/pollution in areas inhabited by polar bears so that we and our future generations can see polar bears in their natural habitat.”
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François Menneson from Belgium writes “I think this story is a little sad. I can't image that polar bears will disappear one day. But it's true. The story resumes perfectly the currently situation for the Arctic animals. Now they use too much fat to swim between icebergs. So their fat stocks are decreasing in comparison with their day-to-day food. There’s a bad future for us and for them.”
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Alison writes “Is it too late for human beings to prevent from deteriorating the global climate? I have no exact answer. But I think at least we can abate the pace of deteriorated global climate if we do something to protect our environment.”
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Vuong Tuyen writes “It’s true. Nowadays we are very unscrupulous. We just pay attention to how we urbanise well, we don’t care about the evil of it. More and more toxic wastes in our environment. They make the weather change. Many houses and factories, and fewer trees and animals. The air is polluted! More disease threatens the humans! But they don’t care about that, they just know how to be richer! Terrible! Now, some countries, some people in the world have a sense of responsibility but I think it isn’t enough. Because the globe is warming, ice is thawing, and there are more floods!”
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Abdul Razack writes “Iit is a good story and it helps me to know about human attacks on earth.”
“Bank of India” writes “Stop eco-gas emissions. Let the developed world show the way rather than expecting the underdeveloped one to start. Let there be awareness among all to protect our earth.”
Noora Salem Khalaf Muftah Sanqoor Al Mazrooei writes “Control population; raise awareness among people; reduce the factories emissions; reduce using chemical spray.”
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