Digital Story Script Final

• Hi, my name is Sukari, I am a polar bear cub currently living in the Toldeo Zoo with my sister Suka and our mother, Crystal
• In my short 6 months of life, my curiosity has peaked about why the Zoo has created a carbon footprint exhibit with us as the main attraction
• With the help of some of my animal friends, I have learned that “carbon footprint” is the term used to calculate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that each person produces
• Currently, our largest source of power comes from burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas which are the cause for greenhouse emissions
• The result of these emissions is thought to be a known cause for the temperatures rising on our planet, which is known as global warming
• Emissions from factories like this rise into the atmosphere and create a thick blanket of what we call “greenhouse gases” that reflect heat back towards Earth. The gases create climate conditions similar to what you would find inside a greenhouse
• With the increasing demands of the world population, and predictions of future population growth indicate that there will be over 9 billion people on Earth by 2050 and the amount of fossil fuels needed to supply everyone with power will have to grow to match that demand
• So, how does that affect polar bears like me?
• Well, us polar bears require a few things to survive, a cold climate, plenty of ocean ice, and the ability to travel across this ice to find food
• The changes in global temperature are causing the ocean ice caps to melt more and more each year
• And when your survival depends on swimming from iceberg to iceberg in search of food, we run into some problems when the distance from one iceberg to another keeps increasing
• Polar bears are natural swimmers but we have a limitation to how far we can travel at one time
• Sadly, some of my brothers and sisters set out to find food and never come across another iceberg to serve as a resting place
• Luckily, there are a lot of people in this world who can see the devastating effects of our rampant energy consumption, and are trying to do something about it, we call these people environmentalists
• They are trying to influence world leaders to invest in alternative sources of energy that do not cause greenhouse emissions
• With the efforts of the environmentalists, some parts of the world are looking to harness the power of the sun as a means to supply electricity
• Others are looking to exploit areas where the wind is constantly blowing
• And some are even pushing for the generation of electricity from falling water
• Nonetheless, the number of people on this planet who rely solely on fossil fuels greatly outnumber those who are interested in preserving its pristine beauty
• The rest of my life is going to be spent staring through this glass at the people who have the ability to make the changes necessary to preserve the existence of my species in the wild
• I just hope that it isn’t too late for everyone to realize that we only have one planet that supports life, and when it’s ruined, there is nowhere else to go, this is not a suitable habitat by any means for us polar bears to survive
• My worst fear is that someday in the near future, my polar bear species is only going to exist within the confines of these glass walls
• So, do your part, help us out, turn off the lights when you leave a room, ride your bike, walk more places, write a letter to your senator about how you feel, because in the end everyone deserves a little happiness