Assignment 3 Commentary [Part 1]

I have decided to do my infographic on polar bears and the effects of climate change on its decline as I felt that it was very visual way to see the direct impacts of climate change, and given that many people have a soft spot for animals, especially polar bears, this would cultivate more emotions with regards to this issue and drive more action towards preventing global warming from worsening.

These are the information I decided to include for the infographic.

Brief Summary
•Status: Vulnerable •Population: 22000 – 31000 •Scientific Name: Ursus Maritimus •Weight: 800-1300 pounds •Habitat: Arctic sea ice •Length: 6-9 feet
[Source: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/polar-bear%5D

Polar Bear Subpopulations
[Source: https://arcticwwf.org/species/polar-bear/population/%5D

Focus on sea ice loss from climate change

•30% of the population expected to decline by 2050 •Polar bears have high dependence on sea ice •Shrinking Arctic ice cover is increasingly depriving them of their almost exclusive prey, seals •Process of eating seals: To minimize their energy consumption the bears still-hunt, waiting for the seal to surface when the bear stuns it, bites it on the neck and drags it onto the ice. •Cannibalism: Cases of polar bears killing and eating each other are on the rise in the Arctic as melting ice and human activity erode their habitat
[Source: https://polarbearsinternational.org/climate-change/status-endangered-polar-bears/, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/]

How To Save Them?

Transport: Walk or ride a bike when possible and encourage friends, family, and colleagues to join you. Use public transportation likes buses, street cars, or subway trains.
Energy: Use energy-efficient appliances and equipment and turn appliances off when not in use. Replace light bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs
Dining: Buy and cook only what you’ll eat. Don’t waste food. (Currently, one third of all food produced is wasted.)
[Source: https://polarbearsinternational.org/get-involved/actions-with-impact/]

Threats to Polar Bears

•Biggest threat to survival: Sea ice loss from climate change
•Increased commercial activities
•Pollution
•Disease
•Inadequate habitat protection (of denning and seasonal resting areas)
•The potential for over-harvest
[Source: https://polarbearsinternational.org/climate-change/status-endangered-polar-bears/]

I wanted to show that the polar bear is suffering from climate changes and these are my visions, where the polar bear is literally on a piece of ice and it is melting.

COMMENTS AFTER CRITIQUE

1. Most preferred the first vision, where the polar bear is on the top of the ice
2. To include the other threats portion first, and while doing up the infographic, see if there is significance for that as there is evidence of flow for the infographic as for now. Priority is cohesiveness.