Activist Speaks Up for Polar Bears at EPA Hearing
Jennie Gosche advocates for wildlife by testifying in support of limits on carbon from coal-fired power plants and sharing her photography of polar bears in the Hudson Bay.
In the fall of 2010, Jennie Gosche travelled to the Hudson Bay and saw first-hand the polar bears that are stranded on land for longer each summer as climate change leads to the ice melting earlier each spring and later each fall.
The hungry bears were waiting for the ice to freeze for the winter so they could return to the sea and end their long summer fast. Without ice cover on the sea, the polar bears could not hunt for seals--their primary source of food.
The trip brought together two of her passions, photography and wildlife. Since then, Jennie Gosche has been raising awareness of the impacts of climate change and threat of drilling to the Arctic by sharing her photographs of wild polar bears, arctic foxes, seals, and ptarmigans--a type of ground bird that turn white in the winter.
Last week, Gosche's photographs of the Hudson Bay polar bears helped her make the case to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants must be limited. She spoke at a public hearing in Washington, D.C. at the EPA headquarters in support of proposed first-ever limits on carbon pollution from new power plants, and urged the EPA to continue towards limiting carbon from existing power plants.
As Gosche stated simply, "if there is no ice, there will be no polar bears."
She was one of hundreds who came to the carbon pollution hearings, held by the Environmental Protection Agency in D.C. and Chicago. Those who testified included people of all stripes, and NWF representatives from across the country.
Speakers urged the Environemntal Protection Agency to move forward in limiting the carbon pollution that causes global warming by telling personal stories of the local impacts of global warming that are already being felt and emphasizing the scientific consensus on the unsustainable rate of warming being caused by pollution.
The strong attendance at these hearings, along with the over one million comments that have been sent to the Environmental Protection Agency demonstrate the overwhelming support for action to limit global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Take action for polar bears in the Hudson Bay--show your support for limits to carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.