Even mild temperatures didn’t keep a mammoth polar bear from making an appearance behind Wells Hall on Thursday afternoon.
In an effort to inform students about the threats of global warming and the United States’ position on the Kyoto Protocol, ECO members stood with a 17-foot inflatable polar bear to attract attention.
“We’re out here trying to get signatures on a petition to encourage President Clinton to take a stronger stance on global warming,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a sociology sophomore and member of ECO, an MSU student environmental group.
The Kyoto Protocol is a climate-change treaty that requires a worldwide reduction in carbon dioxide. Loopholes in the treaty allow the United States and industrialized countries to substantially increase its emissions, some say.
The polar bear was donated by the World Wildlife Foundation and it symbolized the Arctic Circle, which is greatly affected by global warming.
The polar bear is the mascot for the Climate Voice Campaign, an online campaign that sends e-mail to world leaders asking them to take action on climate change, said Katherine Silverthorne, climate policy officer for the World Wildlife Foundation.
More than three million messages have been sent thus far.
“There has been quite a public response,” Silverthorne said.
The polar bear is on an eight-state tour before heading to The Hague, Netherlands in November for the United Nations’ Climate Summit. The conference will negotiate issues including the extent a country’s reduction commitments can be met regarding chemicals in the environment.
Green Core organizer Jim Dawson also attended Thursday’s festivities, dressed as a human polar bear.
“I am really pleased (with the turnout), and I think we are getting information out,” he said.
Even though the groups were collecting several signatures, some students weren’t sure signing a petition would be in their best interest.
“I’m not even sure (global warming) exists,” Peggy Yokom, a criminal justice sophomore, said. “I’m skeptical about the research that has been done, and the data (it has produced).”
She said there are too many questions unanswered - and wouldn’t sign the petition.
“I am not informed enough on the logistics of what my signature does,” she said.
Global warming has become an important issue recently because temperatures all over the world have been higher than normal.
Researchers believe it’s because sulfur dioxide, a chemical released by burning coal, for example, reflects heat in the atmosphere.
“Evidence is more clear now than ever that pollution is causing the warming and that it is even greater than previously predicted,” Silverthorne said.
“Everyone has the right to weigh the evidence to themselves, but there are only a small number of skeptics and a vast number of scientists finding this information.”
