Earth Day
Alright, yesterday was Earth Day, so what better way to spend it than getting a treat at the hippie bakery then going to see Earth. If you haven't seen it, it's a feature length version of "Planet Earth" that intersperses breathtaking shots of our planet with the stories of various animal families.
One thing bothered me though. In the movie we see a starving polar bear's frenzied race against the melting ice to get to his hunting grounds. He goes from walking on solid ice, to crawling across slush, and finally is forced to swim a long distance. The trek takes so long that he misses out on the normal prey of seals and instead is forced to desperately attack some walruses. Ornery sharp-tusked walruses that look like Wilford Brimley. In the end he dies from a combination of his injuries, hunger, and exhaustion. The cruelty of nature? Perhaps.
Here's the thing, though. In the credits they show you the great lengths the camera crews went through to get these shots. In one of these "bonus" scenes, we see a camera guy get close to the polar bear in question while they were still on solid ice. The polar bear detects his presence and chases him into a set-up shelter then spends some time trying to open the window to get at this delicious food source. Of course, the shelter holds and the camera crew goes uneaten. My question is this: What if this was happening throughout the entire trip? Did the bear miss the seals and ultimately die because global warming melted the ice? Or did he die because he stopped every few days to try and eat an intrusive camera crew?
One thing bothered me though. In the movie we see a starving polar bear's frenzied race against the melting ice to get to his hunting grounds. He goes from walking on solid ice, to crawling across slush, and finally is forced to swim a long distance. The trek takes so long that he misses out on the normal prey of seals and instead is forced to desperately attack some walruses. Ornery sharp-tusked walruses that look like Wilford Brimley. In the end he dies from a combination of his injuries, hunger, and exhaustion. The cruelty of nature? Perhaps.
Here's the thing, though. In the credits they show you the great lengths the camera crews went through to get these shots. In one of these "bonus" scenes, we see a camera guy get close to the polar bear in question while they were still on solid ice. The polar bear detects his presence and chases him into a set-up shelter then spends some time trying to open the window to get at this delicious food source. Of course, the shelter holds and the camera crew goes uneaten. My question is this: What if this was happening throughout the entire trip? Did the bear miss the seals and ultimately die because global warming melted the ice? Or did he die because he stopped every few days to try and eat an intrusive camera crew?