We are really rejoicing in all of your entries into our Share Your Polar Bear Story contest! With every point of view we get closer to an understanding of how important conservation efforts are to save the polar bears and our planet. The following story comes from Harley Merrigan of London, who contributed this awesome and intricate drawing:
Eliminate our Greed, not our Planet by Harley Merrigan
Harley tells us a little about herself as a “wildlife conservation student with a big heart for all things nature, in particular polar bears. Outside of studying I thrive to photograph the natural world, participate in conservation projects and share my knowledge on polar bears to others.
Earth’s resources are our life support system, we depend on it for our survival as well as many other species, yet we hardly care to pay attention to our consumption of these resources and the subsequent impacts on our planet’s health thereafter. How can we sustain human development if we cannot sustain our Earth’s resources? We have become greedy in that we are mass resource gatherers and consumers in a world where resources are sensitive and limited. Each time of their use we eliminate parts of our planet and in doing this we are destroying habitats for numerous of species and creating further consequences for ourselves.
However, we are now beginning to learn and understand more about how our actions affect our environment and how we can make better lifestyle changes for our planet as well as for our development. Many of you are already taking the steps to being sustainable and are now the driving force for change. Never let anyone tell you that small actions are useless and that one person cannot make a difference because they are far from the truth! Each and every little action you do, added up, results to be a huge difference. And it has always been the action of one individual that has passed on their knowledge and passion to teach and inspire change in many others. You could be that next person!
I’ll finish up by leaving you with one of my favourite quotes by Baba Dioum: ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught.‘
And as Charlie & the Explore Team always say, ‘Never Stop Learning'”.
Thank you for your polar bear story, Harley! If you’d like to be featured on our blog or win a prize, send in your entries to more@explore.org along with your age, the town you live in, and a sentence or two about yourselves. Share your stories and passion for polar bears today!
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