Saving the Polar Bears -A big Idea From Inuit Folklore to WW2
There is a legend from the Inuviatuit (Inuit) of the high Arctic about How Tulugak,The Raven Stole the Sun.
It starts with Raven finding himself alone on an island with a good food supply. Raven was lonely and restless and decided to dig a hole. He wondered if he was the only Raven.
The hole was so big he could fly down until he could no longer see the opening. Raven kept flying but he was now over a vast expanse of water.He flew until it was tired, a voice told him to land and rest, "we know you are searching for land, but you must leave in the morning." In the morning,Raven flew off what he thought were islands but turned back to see he was on a school of beluga whales that had been sleeping near the surface. Raven kept flying not seeing land and getting very tired. Again a voice would invite him to stay the night,again it was a sleeping whale, this time the convenient island was a school of bowhead whales. This imaginative story goes on but it is far enough for the point of the story.
There is a very funny story from WW2 that starts off with an meeting between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt at the Quadrant Conference in Quebec (1943) to talk about the cross channel invasion of Normandy. It was no secret the Brits and the Yanks did not see eye to eye regarding priorities. During the acrimonious meeting between the British and the American joint chiefs of staff, gunshots were heard. One member on the outside exclaimed,”Good heavens their shooting at each other.”
General Mountbatten had the idea to use a “secret new product,” made from ice and wood pulp. He wanted to build a floating airstrip for fighters to land and takeoff from during the invasion. During his presentation at this high level conference he began shooting into the product. One of the bullets went through the Pykrete,ricocheting around the room of the admirals and generals nicking the top American Admiral King's leg. The none were hurt seriously and idea was dropped, the invasion on the other hand, would be history making.
What is the point of these two disconnected stories. One is a problem,the other may be a solution.
So, I ask the the question, can polar bears in the Hudson Bay region be saved from the effect of climate change through the melting of sea ice. Is the problem really melting ice. The idea is to see the ice, not as frozen sea water but as a vehicle and a place to rest in the vast expanse of Hudson's Bay.
So we have to think in terms of the theoretical first, take Leonardo da Vinci, Skunk Works Kelly Johnson, Howard Hughes and Elon Musk, think till it hurts, if you can think it you can do it, approach your in the right space. If you are in the No,Never,Can't Party then stop reading now.
The town of Churchill Manitoba has a unique feature, sea ice passes by the community, the bears walk through the community and hop on the ice flows. The bears and ice ride the currents of Hudson's Bay, hunting seals. At the end of the season the current returns them back to Churchill where they walk back through the community and head off into the tundra.
The ice is a vehicle and a resting spot for the journey. Can an artificial ice flow be created? Howard Hughes built concrete ships at the end of WW2, some of them form the break-wall in Powell River BC today. Floating islands could be created to assist the bears on their voyage around Hudson Bay. They could actually be self propelled as drone like technology exists for shipping. They could be free floating with buoy like navigation technology or they could be anchored in an archipelago for island hopping.
Replace the ice with floating concrete or some new material.
The other factor is the seals, the bears have to eat a certain number of seals, currently the ice disappears before that number is reached. The weight of the bear determines if it can mate. Currently many of the bears are just under weight so by creating these floating islands they can stay out longer and get the 3-5 extra seals needed. Recent studies show that the polar bears are adapting to climate change, but the change is coming faster and faster.
CRAZY, huh. My wife and I set the ball rolling for the rescue of polar bears (some from taken illegally from Churchill) from the Suarez Brothers Circus traveling through Central and South America. When the story we brought back spread across North America of the existence of these bears, PETA began to track them. Eventually they were rescued and sent to US zoo's for rehabilitation. Talk about crazy ideas, there was a president of a major US airline who got involved early on , he sent an cargo jet and guys with guns to seize (steal back) two of the bears. Since there are no permits to transport polar bears they were (in true Inuit fashion) transformed into lions (there are permits for lions)for the flight. The story is in Else Poulsen's book Barle's Story, Greystone Press.
So big ideas still exist. China created artificial islands in the South China Sea,they call them unsinkable aircraft carriers. Island hopping won the WW2 Pacific war, creating islands is possible, floating islands ,why not?
So the question is there someone in the scientific community with technology that can be adapted to create a feasible solution to prevent the extinction of the polar bears. Opinion by Ken Gigliotti
Topic: Saving Polar Bears-A Big Idea From Inuit Folklore and WW2 (Read 1140 times)