Homeless Polar Bears Converge on Washington DC

As Arctic Sea ice nears record-lows; multiple oil rigs are presumed sunk due to Hurricane Ike, and Congress readies a vote to expand offshore drilling - homeless polar bears have been reported across Washington DC!

Polar bears are dependent on stable ice to survive - and as the climate crisis worsens, their critical habitat is disappearing. Increasing numbers of polar bears have been spotted homeless in the Arctic - swimming across open seas desperate for food and solid ice to call home. But despite clear directives from science, ecosystems, destructive weather patterns, and people’s movements demanding change- politicians and industry still don’t seem to grasp the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis. Polar bears (and other ice-dependent species) are facing imminent extinction - and are an indication of what continued climate change will mean across the globe.

After a week of these homeless bears popping up anonymously around Washington DC, today Greenpeace and street-artist Mark Jenkins took ownership for these creative actions. At various Metro stations, the National Mall, and on street-corners, these polar bears had been drawing curiosity and attention (and at least once, the DC Bomb Squad) to the seriousness of climate change - and illustrating the connectedness of the polar bear’s fate with our own.