CHURCHILL, Manitoba (PGN) >> Actor Josh Duhamel came north to learn first-hand about the impact climate change is having on the polar bear population.The 36-year-old Transformers star was joined on his excursion to the shore of the Hudson Bay near Churchill – where polar bears gather to await the freeze – by Dr. Ian Stirling and Dr. Steven Amstrup of the Scientific Advisory Council of Polar Bears International (PBI), a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation.
"I'm blown away by the beauty of seeing these awesome creatures up close and personal," Duhamel said. "I wanted to see the effects of climate change and confront the contradictory claims about polar bears first-hand. The plight of the polar bear is a symbol of what's going on globally."
Duhamel, whose fiancée Fergie stayed home in Los Angeles, heard from Dr. Stirling that polar bear body weight has dropped 20 percent over the last 25 years. The animals are therefore more likely to lose their cubs during birth.
The former Las Vegas star toured Cape Churchill last week on a Tundra Buggy and got a view from above in a helicopter. Duhamel taped a public service ad for PBI and also met with Manitoba’s Minister of Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, Eric Robinson.
He told locals he will go home and remind Americans of the need to think green. "In Los Angeles especially, we have got to travel more efficiently," Duhamel said. "Reducing electricity as much as possible, and eating locally-grown, organic food are easy actions to take for most of us."
Winnipeg-based PBI launched project thermo-STAT, a program designed to focus attention on the plight of polar bears in the warming climate and what people can do to lessen their impact on the environment.
(Click on images to see full size.)
Photos courtesy of Polar Bears International.
Posts
