About Project Polar Bear
Project Polar Bear is a way for small groups of young people to make a big difference! As part of Polar Bears International's Year of the Polar Bear, Project Polar Bear challenges teens to develop community projects that will reduce the carbon dioxide load in the atmosphere.
Since this is a community improving experience, Polar Bears International has teamed up with communities in North America with zoos that have polar bears on site. There is also an "at large" category that encompasses teams of teens who live outside of those zoo-based regions but who care about polar bears and want to be a part of this challenge!
What do we do to compete in Project Polar Bear?
Working in teams of two or three teenagers (ages 14 to 18), along with an adult advisor, Project Polar Bear Participants can create changes that are good for the climate and good for polar bears!
Prizes
Semi-finalists: Each partner zoo will determine one team as the runner-up and one team as the overall local winner from their area (defined as a 50 mile radius surrounding the zoo). These 10 overall local winners and the 1 "at-large" winner will be the semi-finalists. The PBI and partners judges will review all the semi-finalists and a finalist will be chosen in each Category from that pool. Those semi-finalists who do not advance to the finalist level will receive a prize package from PBI including products and a one-year membership in the organization.
Finalists: The members of the 4 teams chosen as finalists and their adult leader will be awarded with round trip airfare from the major airport nearest their home to San Diego, CA and two nights accommodations while in San Diego to attend the Awards Ceremony during Spring 2009 (actual dates TBD). Each team will be recognized at an Awards Ceremony at the San Diego Zoo. The Best Overall winner will be announced at that ceremony.
Best Overall Winner Prize: The Best Overall team will participate in tour of the San Diego including a behind the scenes stop at Polar Bear Plunge. They will also be awarded $300 (USD) per participant and a trip to Churchill, Manitoba Canada, the polar bear capital of the world, to see polar bears in the wild. The Churchill trip will occur in October 2009 and travel arrangements will be made by agents of PBI for a trip with Frontiers North/ Tundra Buggies Lodge Company.
The Second Prize team will enjoy a Wild Arctic Encounter at Sea World San Diego as well as a tour of the San Diego Zoo, including a behind the scenes visit at Polar Bear Plunge. Each team member will also receive a $200 (USD) monetary award.
The other two teams of finalists will enjoy a VIP tour of the San Diego Zoo, including a behind the scenes stop at Polar Bear Plunge. They will also receive admission to Sea World San Diego. Each team member will receive $100, and a membership and prize package of PBI merchandise.
All prizes are awarded without warranty of any kind, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose). Prizes are not transferable. No substitutions or exchanges (including for cash) will be permitted except that PBI reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any prize.
Steps
Get a team together of 2 or 3 teenagers (ages 14 to 18)
Find an adult advisor who will be able to guide you but not do your project
Set a meeting schedule for your group
Decide what your project is going to be (see the categories below for ideas and inspiration)
Register your team and outline your project. Sign up between February 15 and June 1, 2008 (These projects may take awhile to accomplish so we want you to have plenty of time)
Measure your Impact - Figure out a way up front of how you are going to measure the impact of your project. Will it be by counting the number of trees planted and calculating the amount of CO2 they absorb? Will it be by keeping track of the amount of CO2 saved on "Ride your Bike to School Days" that you organize? You decide what makes sense for your project
Meet with your group regularly to keep your project moving along
Update your Project Polar Bear Web page. Take before, during and after data and pictures; make a video; record audio interviews with people, any way you can to capture the essence of what you are doing. Keep track of your progress and record some real numbers (remember Step 6?)
Complete the Project Polar Bear Success Report on the PolarBearsInternational.org website and submit it by the deadline of December 31, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
BONUS!: Keep up the good work! Hopefully your project changed some habits and changed some minds about how we can all reduce our carbon footprint. And the polar bears thank you!
What are the categories for our projects?
Project Polar Bear projects can be focused on one of the following categories:
POWER DOWN
Medium to large-scale reduction in consumption of fossil fuelsHere medium to large scale means more than just the Project Polar Bear team engaging in this effort. Medium scale could be the size of your school, for example. Large scale could be your whole town! Ideas include installing a solar or wind power generator, changing out all of the incandescent bulbs in town for LED and compact fluorescent bulbs, conducting energy audits for small businesses and helping them save energy and money. That's not all. The possibilities are as great as your imagination. Just be sure to figure out a way up front to actually measure the reduction in energy consumption.
[return to top]MAKE IT BETTER or DO IT BETTER
Bring about an innovative change to an existing policy, process, or product that results in reduction of CO2 emissions, or reduced use of resources.This category is wide open ... facilitating a policy for a community-wide "ride your bike to work or school day;" a school-district wide process that brings about trash free cafeterias because all of the products are recycled or composted. Lots of communities have curbside recycling for residences. Find out where recycling is not happening in your community, figure out what's not working, and make it happen! This is also the category for you inventor-types to build the better CO2 trap. Tinker with something that emits CO2 and reduce or capture the emissions. Make sure you calculate a way to measure the changes you bring about.
[return to top]BUY RECYCLED
This category is ideal for the shoppers among you! In this category, we want you to find ways to increase the use and purchase of recycled materials by manufacturers and consumers, so we can close the loop. Re-using the plastic, paper, glass and even clothing items that are already made decreases our demand for oil, wood, and other resources, which in turn decreases human impacts on polar bear habitat. In the U.S., only about 23% of plastic water bottles are recycled and actually make it to the point that they become raw materials for new products. We know that people know how to recycle, and many people are recycling, but in order for your efforts to be worthwhile, we have to build the market for stuff made from recycled materials.Here are some more suggestions: Create a project that supports products that use recycled materials. Maybe you could figure out which manufacturers are using recycled materials in their products and create a website for all of your friends and family to use as a resource. Do whatever it is teenagers do to make it cool to buy recycled stuff. You could convince local stores to stock merchandise made from recycled materials. Get your crafty friends together and start a group that makes usable, cool stuff from old stuff. Sell it all on e-bay! We can't wait to see what you come up with.
[return to top]INCREASE THE GREEN TO SUCK UP THE CO2
The increase in CO2 in the atmosphere has already lead to noticeable and dangerous changes in polar bear habitat. It's warmer in the Arctic. The sea ice is decreasing and polar bears that can't get out on the ice can't get food. By increasing our natural carbon grabbers, those nice green things called plants, communities around the world can help decrease CO2 levels. Possible projects in this category include: Tree planting campaigns, community gardens, patio plant sales, contests to see how long teens can keep a pet plant alive, teach little kids to grow their own food and help them fall in love with gardens. This category is for those groups with a green thumb. If you choose a tree-planting project, please check with your state agriculture department or local university biology department so that you choose trees and plants that are native to, or appropriate for, your local habitat.
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All of the examples listed in the categories are truly just suggestions. We encourage and welcome projects of your own invention that apply to any of the categories.
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