Trip to Shedd sheds light on plight of polar bear

12/08/2011 8:39 AM

By AmySue Mertens
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from the IMAX film To the Arctic

The World Wildlife Fund has partnered with Coca-Cola on a new project called Arctic Home. In the most basic terms, they are trying to raise awareness and funds to work with the Inuit population and scientists to help create a safe haven for the polar bear. I attended their Chicago PR event at the Shedd Aquarium this week.

The website is robust, but a little confusing to navigate. Younger users will likely find it more intuitive than I did. Nonetheless, the site boasts live views of the arctic, with the option to track a handful of polar bears in real time. I bet it will be a great addition to geography and science curricula.

It’s hard to take sustainability and healthy lifestyles messages from Coca-Cola, given their business of selling soda by shipping it across the world in plastic bottles, but their goal is admirable. Nearly $87,000 has been raised via the site already. The short-term goal is to raise $1 million by mid-March, and the company is donating millions to the project.

What does this have to do with the West Loop? If you attended the event, you got the message that it has a lot to do with every person in every neighborhood. We previewed the new IMAX film, To the Arctic and heard from top scientists and explorers on the plight of the polar bear and what it means in the larger context of our environment. Takeaways? Use less water, insulate your windows and doors, seek and use cleaner energy--and if you need a reason as to why you’re doing it, think of the polar bear gripping the edges of broken sea ice as it collapses into the Arctic.


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