Natural and Sustainable

The polar bear is one of nature’s most beautiful and fascinating creations, but global warming and oil drilling threaten its existence.

It may be the latest evidence of global warming: Polar bears are drowning. Scientists for the first time have documented multiple deaths of polar bears off Alaska, where they likely drowned after swimming long distances in the ocean amid the melting of the Arctic ice shelf. The bears spend most of their time hunting and raising their young on ice floes. As the sea ice goes, that will directly, to a very great extent, be what happens to polar bears.

Coca-Cola began airing commercials featuring polar bears in 2004 to try to get the word out about how important it is to save these polar bears. These commercials continue to air as of today. But, a lot of people that view these commercials, don’t know what they are all about.

Although the magnificent creatures are well adapted to the water, and can swim scores of miles to solid land, the distance is getting ever greater as the Arctic ice diminishes. They just kind of float along and kick. But as the ice gets farther out from shore because of warming, it’s a longer swim that costs more energy and makes them more vulnerable.

Climate change is a very real threat. It not only threatens us as humans is it treatening everything that lives and breaths. Climate change is threatening polar bears with starvation by shortening their hunting season. If you think it is just little animals getting threatened by global warming, it isn’t. This threat is only the beginning. Positive changes have to be made NOW!

Here are 5 changes in your lifestyle you can do to help, remember, every little bit helps:

1. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket.
You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50°C.

2. Cover your pots while cooking.
Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!

3. Take a shower instead of a bath.A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.

4. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible.You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.

5. Reuse your shopping bag.
When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE TIPS TO HELP SAVE THE POLAR BEAR.

**Having matress issues? Catherine Neal over at San Jose, CA. blog here at 451 Press is and boy, does she have a commical story. Read her funny air mattress mishap here.**

(Sources: Wal Street Journal, Daily Mail)
*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: After you finish baking a cake or a holiday meal in the oven, turn the oven off and leave the door open to help heat your home. If your kitchen is already warm, don’t open a door to the outside, just turn your heater or furnace down and let the heat from the oven wrap up the warmth. Why open a door and let the heat out and waste more energy when you can cut the energy source off completely. Let common sense be your guide to conserving energy.

It’s official: Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change,” the Nobel committee said. The former vice president was described as “probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted” to fight climate change. The IPCC is a collection of some 3,000 scientists from around the world who crank out authoritative reports detailing climate impacts and climate predictions for world leaders. The Nobel committee said of the panel, “Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.” The award marks only the second time the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to honor work in the environmental field; the first was Wangari Maathai’s win in 2004.

(As seen in Grist Weekly, subscribe to the Environmental News and Commentary now and stay in the know with environmental issues.)

**It’s a diaper how-to over at Sympathy Pain. Read all about it by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Turn off your dishwasher’s drying cycle. Air drying your dishes by opening the doors and pulling the drawers 1/2 way out will save you electricity within your home as well as energy lost on needless comforts.