Climate Change Through the Eyes of our Polar Bears

Written by Hailey Tapia, Spring 2022 Editorial Intern at Berkeley Pharma Tech.

There came a day in the Arctic that was not as cold as the many before it. Upon stirring, Paula the Polar Bear winced at the sweltering heat permeating her den. I must still be dreaming, she thought to herself. But this was no tropical fantasy; as Paula would soon discover, it was a nightmare turned reality.

She exited the chamber only to be met with an onslaught of sunshine, immediately retreating back inside. “Oh my goodness!” Paula cried out in alarm. The sun’s rays stabbed like a thousand knives on her fur. She had never experienced such intense warmth in all her years.

Paula’s outcry awoke her only offspring, Cody the Cub, from his slumber. Groggily rubbing his eyes, he asked his mother if she was okay. She tenderly smiled down at him, promising that all was fine. Cody nodded before turning back over, falling asleep as quickly as he roused.

Once she heard her son’s light snores, Paula took a deep breath, terror setting back in at the thought of returning outside. She knew all too well the cause of this. Climate change. It is the long-term shift in Earth’s climate patterns largely due to human activities. It was also the main cause of Paula’s stress. As temperatures rose, the Arctic’s sea ice — the primary habitat of all polar bears — began to melt, which made it difficult for Paula to hunt for her majority sea-inhabiting prey.

And as the ice shrunk, it became more difficult for Paula and her fellow polar bears to swim from one piece of ice to another. She even lost many friends to drowning as they attempted to trek through the waters, many, just like her, only trying to feed their few offspring. That was another consequence of climate change: less time to find food, which means fewer and smaller cubs being born. In fact, Cody was a miracle to Paula, for he was the only child she ever had. The very thought nearly brought her to tears.

Though emotional, Paula knew it was not the time to stand back and be idle. She had her young to feed, and the small bit of food she had managed to gather was running out. She mustered up the courage to leave again and go hunt, racing through the blistering heat as quickly as her heart raced in fear. But to Paula’s dismay, it did not take long for her to arrive at a vast expanse of water, nearly void of any sea ice save for a handful of ice caps. There was no prey in sight, meaning she would have to go another day without eating so that Cody would not starve.

She trudged back home, tears again welling in her eyes. Paula was not upset for herself but rather her cub, whose life was destined for much more than this. She remembered an Earth that was clean and vibrant, allowing polar bears to roam and hunt, live and thrive. Now, as her species neared extinction, those days only served as a distant memory — a reminder of what once was, when humans were mindful of their impact on the environment.

To her surprise, Cody had been awaiting his mother’s homecoming outside their den. Her eyes set on her young son, grief-stricken by his obliviousness to the challenges they are facing. She hoisted him up on her back as her mind began to wander into a frightful future. What would be his fate when she was no longer around? How could he survive on such a harsh, hot planet? Would Earth even be habitable in the coming years?

Paula suddenly came to at the sound of fast-approaching footsteps. It was Peter the Polar Bear, a grin on his face and a pep in his step. She sighed, preparing to dampen her pal’s spirits, but before Paula got the chance to speak, Peter beat her to it.

“Paula! Paula! Have you heard the news?”

She shook her head “no.”

He outstretched his clenched hand, beckoning Paula to open it. She found in his palm a thick piece of bark, reddish-brown in color. It did not look common to their homeland. Confused, she gave a puzzled look to Peter.

“What’s this?”

Peter grabbed the bark from her hand, raising it up to the light for a better look. “This,” he beamed, “is from a redwood tree. It’s native to North America — well, California, to be specific. They’re doing a lot of work over there in the United States to help fix all of this!”

Paula, at a loss, shook her head to and fro. “What kind of work? And to fix all of what, Peter?”

Handing the redwood bark to Cody on his mother’s back, Peter continued, “Planting trees! They’re planting redwood trees because of how big they are and how much carbon dioxide they can absorb. The less carbon in the atmosphere, the less hot our climate is. And the less hot our climate is, the more sea ice, food, and, heck, even us polar bears there’ll be!”

Paula stood quiet for a moment, processing his words as Cody repositioned himself on her shoulders. He now held the piece of tree up to the sun.

Peter flashed a reassuring smile, saying, “Paula, they’re going to bring our lives back to normal.”

She stared longingly at the redwood being illuminated by the sun’s rays, and for the first time in a long time, Paula smiled. Maybe there would be hope for Earth and them after all.

About Berkeley Pharma Tech

Based in Silicon Valley, Berkeley Pharma Tech is a biotechnology incubator for today’s young scientists. We are making strides toward medical revolutions through a variety of avenues, including biomedical research, cryptocurrency engineering, and software development. Our goal for the CRISPR project is to create a cleaner, more vibrant environment for the next generation, with net zero — a state of balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and their removal from the atmosphere — being a focal point. For more information about the CRISPR project and Berkeley Pharma Tech, visit our website or any of our social media channels below.

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