I decided to bring a new friend from Miami to join us in the Arctic! He is a box turtle, and is a Florida native. Even though he would never meet a polar bear in the wild (maybe he’ll see one on the trip!?), they are both so well-suited to their own environment that changes in climate can be catastrophic for them. For turtles, rising sea levels affect their coastal nesting habitats and increasing temperatures have an impact on the gender ratio of hatchlings. For polar bears, increasing temperatures and decreasing Arctic sea ice means they are losing their food hunting grounds. So our box turtle is joining the trip to see what we’ll learn about climate.
I recently received a poem from a reader of this blog (who prefers to remain anonymous) that I want to share with you all, while we’re on this topic. I think it sums up not only what’s happening to our friends the box turtles and polar bears, but also how we are all connected in what’s happening. In honor of this writer, I have named our mascot Willy the Box Turtle!
A polar bear from the Arctic named Chilly
A turtle from Miami named Willy
Who would ever think?
Is there really a link?
Oh Yeah! It’s mankind we’ll name Silly.
So if the ice is crucial to Chilly
And water equally so to Willy
If we all hold the key
‘Cause we’re the powers that be
Isn’t it time to stop being “Silly?”
-Anonymous
Great limerick! Google Translated to Norwegian:
En isbjørn fra Arktis heter Chilly
En skilpadde fra Miami heter Willy
Som noen gang tror?
Er det virkelig en link?
Oh Yeah! Det er menneskene vi vil nevne Silly.
Så hvis isen er avgjørende for Chilly
Og vann like så til Willy
Hvis vi alle sitter med nøkkelen
Fordi vi er de makter det
Er det ikke på tide å slutte å være “Silly?”
Love it! I should have my new scientist friends translate it into Russian and all the other languages that will be onboard!
We are all responsible for everything on the planet
Absolutely! I hope more people begin to understand that.