Project Polar Bear

It's Countdown Time for Four Amazing Teen Teams

Four dedicated teams are recognized as finalists for their projects that significantly reduced carbon emissions in their communities. It's all done for their love of the planet, a more sustainable future for all, and of course, the polar bears of the world.

Canuck Nanooks from Winnipeg, Assiniboine Park

Reduced carbon emissions by 80,270,850 pounds; saved 26 million gallons of water; and kept more than 4.5 million pounds of garbage from going to landfills.

Green Tree of Tulsa, Tulsa Zoo & Living Museum

Reduced carbon emissions by 164,446 pounds; planted more than 800 trees; and touched more than 200 million lives.

Polar Bear Parktection, Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium

Reduced carbon emissions by over two million pounds; saved 806,650 gallons of fresh water; recycled 36,000 aluminum cans; and obtained 50 pledges to have Christmas trees recycled; and held 18 community outreach efforts that resulted in dozens of carbon-reduction pledges.

There for Tomorrow, Louisville Zoo & Aquarium

To track their progress, the team created a web pledge page that includes info on polar bears and climate change. Generated pledges to reduce carbon emissions by over 17 million pounds a year... and counting.

Read more about all of the teams' accomplishments on Polar Bear International's web site.

Teen Activist Writes on How to Save the Environment

Emily Goldstein, from finalist team There for Tomorrow, submitted an article titled "Inspiring Change Through Passion and Awareness" to the National Council for Science and the Environment. They presented it at their conference and published it in their journal. With their permission, we have it here...for your inspiration.

Polar Bears on Ice in Manitoba

The Vickery sisters were busy sculpting snow statues for the Festival du Voyageur, an annual event celebrating Manitoba's heritage. Their subject? What else...

Be a Carbon-Reducing Teen! Register for the 2010 Contest!

If the efforts of these polar bear-loving kids inspire you or someone you know, register for the 2010 contest. Get more details.

Polar Bears, Dedicated Teens & Camera Bags

Polar Bears International (PBI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the worldwide preservation of the polar bear and its habitat through research and education. Project Polar Bear is part of its Adventure Learning Program, engaging teens in the United States and Canada to develop community projects that reduce the load of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Last year's finalist teams together reduced more than 17 million pounds of carbon dioxide because of their projects.

This year's 13 teen teams are working on a variety of projects and each is required to measure their impact, meet as a group regularly, update their Project Polar Bear web page, and complete their Project Polar Bear Success Report by December 31, 2009 to qualify for the Grand Prize. The Grand Prize winners will win a trip to Western Hudson Bay to observe polar bears in the wild.

Lowepro is proud to be the 2009 Platinum Sponsor (you can read more in our press release), and we're incredibly proud of the teens participating in this year's contest. To give them a little photographic incentive, we sent each of the13 teams a Lowepro kit, complete with digital camera and one of our Terraclime 30 recycled camera pouches.

We'll share their images as they come in and give you a link to their blogs on the PBI web site so you can follow the progress. Their endeavors inspire us because each has the potential to make a real impact on their communities, our communities and the world. Go teams!

Canuck Nanooks: Four Sisters from Springfield, Manitoba

Rebekah, Rachael, Miranda and Madison Vickery are in their second year of participation in Project Polar Bear. As they share the same province with 60% of the world's polar bear population, they take the reduction of CO2 very seriously. The sisters love polar bears and love involving their community in energy-reducing projects.

The Canuck Nanooks with their mobile livestock service in the background; the sheep are used to mow lawns and reduce amount of CO2 released in the environment.

The girls are all about sustainability; hence the certificates and scholarships to acknowledge their efforts.

There for Tomorrow: A Trio of Friends from Louisville, Kentucky

Also participating for their second year, Emily Goldstein, Sam Leist and Kaitlin O'Bryan developed a free Energy Use Evaluation Kit for local businesses and organizations that evaluates the business' energy use and offers easy energy-saving options to implement. So for, more than 15 Louisville businesses have signed the team's carbon emissions reduction pledge.

The There for Tomorrow Team gets the word out about the plight of the polar bear and what the Louisville community can do to help reduce CO2.

The trio plot out their next presentation on behalf of polar bears; the Terraclime 30 pouch is at the ready for the next photo op.

GreenTree of Tulsa: Three School Mates from Tulsa, Oklahoma

Connor Cass, Mike Barton and Caroline Adelson are on a mission to plant trees and re-forest Tulsa and environs, one tree at a time, as they participate in Project Polar Bear. They started with a seed of an idea and generated enthusiasm and activity from their school community. Over the months, their efforts have produced the plantings of hundreds of saplings and created a buzz among fellow students, citizens and business leaders in their hometown.

The GreenTree of Tulsa team readies for their school meeting with saplings and Lowepro Terraclime bag around them.

Fast-growing Loblolly pine saplings await planting as the GreenTree of Tulsa team celebrate the donation of 600 trees.