The Truth: Polar Bears are Really Starving Because of Global Warming
Angelinna Faisca
AP Bio E/F Even
Current Event #18
Leahy, Stephen. “Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows.” Polar Bears Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Melting Sea Ice, Study Shows, 1 Feb. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/.
In the article by Stephen Leahy, "Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows", there is a significant amount of importance that is placed upon the problem of the polar ice caps melting. The reason that this problem is so important, is because now Polar bears have to swim farther in order to capture seals, which make up about 95% of their diet, meaning that without seals, they will not have proper nutrition. Along with this percentage, Polar bears now have to spend at least 60% of their energy, meaning that if they do not get a meal, it is all for nothing. As we learned in bio, ,without the proper resources, such as food and space, animal populations can do nothing but go down. In the article, the population is talked about, as there is about 770,000 miles less of ice than there was in the 1980's. This number is alarming, as Polar bears are faced with longer trips and fights amongst each other. In one study, made by Anthony Pagano, it involved capturing nine female Polar bears and releasing them, re-capturing them eight to 11 days later. One bear had gone about 155 miles just to look for food, and the result of this study was that about four bears were not able to obtain a seal. From this study, we were given the percentage of about 35%, which showed how active they are, but it is even more alarming that they use up so much energy, mainly from reserves, as they use up about 12,325 calories a day, however they rarely get the chance to make up those calories again. The article also spoke of the myth of climate change, and how it doesn't affect people or animals. Leahy talked about a study that had shown that by scientific projections, populations now, of 20,000 to 30,000 are going to be less than 10,000 in the year 2050. In another study by Andrew Derocher, it has been found that Polar bears are not made for walking, and because of their home melting, they have to exert themselves to find food. Overall, his article examined the importance of the factors that have been ailing the poor Polar bears, and has said again why the ice caps need saving, and why people need to be more open about and aware of.
Polar bears aren't the only things that get impacted by the melting ice caps. People also are afflicted by this, including having their homes washed away, and ocean levels rising. I think this article describes what the problems are and the effects of them, trying to make people aware of what is actually going on. Especially for those who do not want to see the truth in global warming, especially when the ice is melting about 14% every year. Over all this article helps to show people why saving the ice caps is and should be a real talked about issue.
I thought that the author of this article, Stephen Leahy, made it very simple for you to understand what is going on, and also showed pictures of these animals, trying to get the reader more involved with the issue, including showing a video of a poor bear, that is starved and skinny, walking around and trying to find food, which finally, it finds some in a garbage can, also telling readers that they become very desperate as they are trying to find food. I think the article could have been structured in a more professional way, instead of small paragraphs and then it moves on to the next section, which I found to be tedious. Regardless of this, this article was very informative and the video Leahy had included, really affected me and I think it will stay with every one of its readers.
Julia Reich
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology C even
4/16/21
Leahy, Stephen. “Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows.”
Polar Bears Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Melting Sea Ice, Study Shows, 1 Feb. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/.
Link to blog: https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/
Angie’s review was well written and incredibly informative as well. One aspect well done was her inclusion of several pieces of data. For example, she writes “there is about 770,000 miles less of ice than there was in the 1980's.” I didn’t know much about her topic before I read her review, and the numbers made it much easier to conceptualize the polar bears’ dire situation. A second aspect done well was that her first body paragraph went into great detail that helped me understand every part of her topic. She covers the ice caps melting, to the amount of calories polar bears burn per day to get to their food, to a study about the polar bears’ situation. A third aspect well done was her including reports from several studies. For example, she includes one by Anthony Pagano, where scientists were “capturing nine female Polar bears and releasing them, re-capturing them eight to 11 days later. One bear had gone about 155 miles just to look for food, and the result of this study was that about four bears were not able to obtain a seal.” I learned a lot from Angie’s review, and felt that she did spend a lot of time researching the topic.
Though Angie’s review was nearly perfect, there are a couple aspects she could work on. The first aspect is cleaning up grammatical errors. For example, she writes “As we learned in bio, ,without….” These small mistakes can easily be fixed by rereading her review one more time. It is easy to miss the mistakes, especially after you’ve spent a lot of time reading and writing. A second aspect she could work on is sentence structure and flow. Though I found her topic super interesting, I found it a bit confusing to read because of the lack of flow. For example, she writes “From this study, we were given the percentage of about 35%....” I had to reread information on the study to accurately gain an understanding. Overall, however, her review was informative and nearly flawless.
I chose Angie’s review because global warming and climate change are major topics of discussion today. I wanted to learn more about exactly what is happening with the polar bears, and the data found in Angie’s review helped with that. Her article reminded me to reduce my carbon footprint in order to save the polar bears (and other sea life in the Arctic).
Erin Foley
ReplyDeleteAP Biology C Block Odd
Current Event #19
April 15th, 2021
Leahy, Stephen. “Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows.”
Polar Bears Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Melting Sea Ice, Study Shows, 1
Feb. 2018,
www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-w
arming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/.
Faisca, Angelinna. “Global Warming is Harming Polar Bears more than we think.” 9 April, 2021,
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/04/global-warming-is-harming-polar-bear
s.html.
Angelinna’s review was informative on the issue at hand, but also connected to the reader through emotion-evoking descriptions. Angelinna begins the review with a concise summary whose length in no way inhibits depth. She not only describes the problem by saying that “polar ice caps melting” is a problem, but she explains why this is a problem, stating that a lack of ice caps means that “polar bears have to swim farther in order to capture seals, which make up about 95% of their diet”. In this short introduction, Angelinna grabs the reader’s attention without giving too much information, making for an effective beginning to her summary. Moreover, her use of statistics enables greater understanding and visualization of the issue at hand. Angelinna states that walking rather than swimming to find food means that “Polar bears now have to spend at least 60% of their energy” on obtaining food. She also explains that the ice coverage includes “770,000 miles less of ice than there was in the 1980's,” which supports the prediction that populations of “20,000 to 30,000 are going to be less than 10,000 in the year 2050”. For a topic as far-away-seeming as the plight of the Arctic and its populations, these statistics provide sufficient visualization tools for the reader, enabling greater understanding. Finally, Angelinna connects to the audience via her significance paragraph, in which she not only notes the devastating effects of global warming on polar bears, but also on humans, giving the image of people “having their homes washed away, and ocean levels rising”. Angelinna’s summary and description of significance of this article show her in-depth understanding of the topic as well as her nuanced take on its relevance to society.
Although her review was very well written, she could improve it greatly with just a few adjustments. Firstly, there were times where some specificity would’ve strengthened her article. For example, when she stated that “there is about 770,000 miles less of ice than there was in the 1980's”, this statistic would’ve been more impactful if she explained where the loss of ice occurred. Moreover, when Angelinna explains that melting ice caps would lead to “homes being washed away”, this image is very engaging to the audience, but could be strengthened if she included a bit more information about what regions will become underwater. By being more specific in her descriptions, the hard-hitting facts of this review would come through even stronger.
I chose to read this review in aims to learn more about the state of the ice caps melting, and Angelinna provided this information to me just as I’d hoped. My impression is that we are in the genesis - or even in the middle - of a mass extinction of polar bears, unless we act fast. I feel a reinforced urgency to find out how we can stop the ice caps melting, and hope to support governments and corporations who actually want to make a difference.
Hugh Duffy
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
4/15/2021
Leahy, Stephen. “Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows.”Polar Bears Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Melting Sea Ice, Study Shows, 1 Feb. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/.
Faisca, Angelinna. “Global Warming is Harming Polar Bears more than we think.” 9 April, 2021,
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/04/global-warming-is-harming-polar-bears.html.
I found Angie’s review of “Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows” to be informative and insightful. Throughout her review, Angie uses specific pieces of evidence to reinforce what the original article has stated, “there is about 770,000 miles less of ice than there was in the 1980's.” Facts like these are important to include in articles because they help the reader digest a more complicated topic. The review was compelling and hooked me immediately from the title. I liked the large picture that she illustrated by talking about the correlation between ice caps melting and the distance that polar bears must travel to find food. Information like this can really help readers understand a broad concept from a much smaller point within that topic.
Though I found her review to be neat and well written, there were some aspects I think she could improve on. There were a couple slight grammatical errors in punctuation, likely due to a rushed proofread. Had Angie looked over her work for longer, she may have caught these errors. These errors, however, were completely outshone by the rest of her brilliant review.
I chose to comment on Angie’s review because it was one of the only articles that wasn’t talking about Covid-19, and I found that brought some originality to her work. Additionally, I found the title to be compelling because global warming with regards to animal life has been criminally put on the back burner for some time now. For the past year or so, the issue of climate change has persisted, but wildlife conservation has been ignored. I was happy to finally see someone remarking on this forgotten issue.