Project Polar Bear
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. Follow their blog.
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.
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. Follow their blog.
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.