Polar Bear Crisis, Illustrated
Two polar bears with floatation devices. Illustration by Louise Jennison
Two polar bears with lights to mark out the safe parts ice. Illustration by Louise Jennison
I’m completely awed by Louise Jennison’s delicate and archly whimsical (or is that whimsically arch?) watercolor paintings that so cleverly illustrate the quagmire global warming has placed polar bears in. (The captions are hers; you can find more of her hauntingly beautiful artwork here.)
Sea ice is vital to polar bears’ survival because they depend on it to hunt their primary food source: ring and bearded seals. Without the ice, the bears wouldn’t be able to sneak behind and ambush the fast-swimming marine mammals. Worse, as melting sea ice recedes from the coast—to which the bears migrate when it gets warmer—bears that climb aboard shore could find themselves stranded without food, as the ice becomes increasingly distant and out of reach. Drownings from exhaustion, gut-wrenchingly, are not uncommon.
So forget the cheerleader—save the ice, save the polar bear, save the world.
kmkat said,
June 17, 2007 at 12:51 am
Not to be overly critical or anything, but those flotation devices would flip those bears on their backs every time they jumped in the water. I just hope their necks are long enough to stretch their noses above the surface.
louise said,
July 12, 2007 at 1:26 am
Wow! I’m so thrilled you liked my recent polar bear watercolour works… thank-you!
You can find more in this series on flickr, here (after they’ve appeared on my elsewhere blog)… all in the one spot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gracia_louise/sets/72057594068260821/
(P.S. kmkat… I’m not planning on putting a yellow floatation device on a live polar bear any time soon, twas merely a means of illustrating a point. In other works I have given black bears money to buy back their habitat, and I have given scissors to porpoises so that they can cut through fishing nets… all imaginative concepts for actual environmental concerns.)
take care, lj
gracia said,
July 12, 2007 at 1:28 am
Louise’s polar bears are handsome, aren’t they? Those generous rumps… those long white snouts… ah!
Always enjoyable to read your blog… great!
cheers, g