Age:
16
Sponsor:
Alaska Zoo
School:
Steller Secondary School
City:
Anchorage, Alaska
Biography:
My name is Kelly Pierce-Bulger and I am a 16-yr.-old junior at Steller Secondary School in Anchorage, Alaska. I was born and raised here in Anchorage and I live here with my mother, Marilyn, my father, Tom, my dog, Sara, and my cats, Nicki and Killer. Some of my hobbies are horseback riding, hiking, silk painting, reading, photographs, and experiencing as many new things as I can. I am very interested in different cultures, international issues, and animals, particularly wild animals like polar bears. I have participated in an international camp called Seeds of Peace, (a camp that brings kids from conflict regions, such as Israel and Palestine, together to discuss the conflicts in their countries and solutions to them) last year. I have also been an exchange student to rural Alaska as part of the Rose Urban Rural Exchange program, which is supported by the Alaska Humanities Forum in an effort to facilitate understanding between urban and rural Alaskans. Both of these experiences increased my interest in international issues and cultures. Until about 2 weeks ago, I had never even heard of PBI or this camp, but when the Alaska Zoo asked me to go, I was very excited. I have always been interested in the exotic animals, particularly the bears and the big cats.
At one time, I wanted to work at a zoo. At this camp, I?d really like to learn more about polar bears, (of course!) and I?d also like to understand how global warming is affecting them, since I have noticed it myself in Alaska and am concerned about it. I?m not really sure what I want to do for a career, but I would prefer it to include international and global connections, human and/or animal. I?d like to be in a position to solve international environmental or social challenges.
Attending this camp will help me see another side of international relations.
Friday, October 7, 2005
8:08 PM
Day 8
We woke up today to the wonderful and melodious singing of Robert, singing "Oh what a beautuiful morning....". It was very jarring and he doesn't deserve a Grammy. Anyway, we started off the day by finishing the last 2 key findings. My group's key finding was "Elevated ultraviolet radiation levels will affect people, plants. and animals" and my groupc consisted of Andrew, Adelia, Lauren, Mary Blake, Chris, and me. We just did a straight presentation, without any creative quirks, but it took forever because Sharon kept having to mess with the light and make us do our part of the presentation over again. One effect of UV radiation that I didn't know about was that it affects our building materials. Not only is it really bad for us, (it can give people cornea damage, cataracts, immune system suppression, skin cancer, aging of skin, viral infections, and a bunch of other skin disorders) but it also ages synthetic polymers, (which are found in the paint on the outsides of buildings), plastics, and natural polymers, (found in wood). So, the infrastructure of the arctic would change because we would have to replace the walls of our buildings much more often as UV rays are reflected off snow onto those walls. Most likely, indivduals would have to pay for that sort of thing. Anyway, after our presentations, we went out in the tundra buggy in search of polar bears, even though both Homer and Flanders were still hanging around. We didn't see any, but we did stop somewhere and Sharon talked some more about giving a good interview and presentation, and then we all gave presentations on one of 3 possible topics. I did my presentation about what my inspiration is and how I can inspire others, but I won't tell you what I said because I think it will be posted here. Anyway, we were all fantastic, of course, and then we were off again. Now my father can't read this next part, because he would really not like it, but then we all took turns driving the Tundra Buggy!!! Now, I've never driven before in my life, and I have only a vague idea where the accelerator was, but I didn't drive into a lake, so I figure thats progress. I also now know where the accelerator is. Anyway, that was awesome, although Telecia was trying to be the next Indy driver, and it was a rather bumpy ride. When we got back to the lodge we watched a few movies and we are currently having a poetry contest. Right now all the teachers are going, and they're really good!! We'll see how the students do.
Friday, October 7, 2005
6:52 PM
Day 7
Today we did more presentations of Key findings, (there are 10) and more discussions. This time though, we were creative. There were 4 groups, and 2 of them did skits, and 1 did a game show, (which was very fun; the presenters asked questions of 2 teams and whenever one of the teams got it right, they voted a person off the other team. I was the last one left, so I won.). My group presented the key finding "Indigenous communities are facing major economic and cultural impacts" and my group consisted off Becky, Andrew and me. Andrew was an indigenous man (Indigenous Andrew) who went thru a bunch of effects of global warming, like rashes, sunburn, biting insects, unpredictable weather, abnormal warmth for the season, etc. Becky narrated what was happening to Andrew, and I was special effects. I got to buzz and pinch him to simulate insects, push him around to simulate wind, that sort of thing. It was a lot of fun. Everyone else did their presentations at the lodge, then we went out and my group did our presentation out on the tundra. After our presentation, we drove around a bit and Sharon, (the woman with the camera) gave us some tips about how to give a good interview and a good presentation. When we got back to the lodge, there was another bear with Homer. We think its another adolescent male because they were doing a little bit of sparring and such. The new one, who we've named Flanders, came right up to the window when we were having dinner, but he was kind of shy, so he got scared off by the flashes of the camera. I stayed up pretty late agian last night and ended up doodling all over my hdnds while we were talking. It looked pretty cool, if I do say so myself.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
6:27 PM
Day 6
Today we woke up at 7; Homer was still here and we had chores. Joy. Today I washed dishes after breakfast, and just as I was finishing and we were getting ready to go on a day trip, Marge, Lisa, and Bart showed up!! This time I actually got some good pictures, (in the light). We tried to get closer in the buggy, and Bart got curious and came over, but Marge got scared, called him back and split. Homer was, of course, only too happy to give us really great shots, so we photographed him for a while, then set out for Gordon Point. The night before, we had picked Key findings in the book "Impacts of a Warming Arctic", (which we had all read before coming to Churchill) to present in groups today. My Key finding was "Arctic warming and its consequences have worldwide implications" and I was in a group with Chris, Telecia and Lauren. We presented first, then the other 2 groups each presented and we discussed each chapter and how the chapters are connected. The other 2 chapters were about how vegetation and animals are effected by arctic warming. One animal that I didn't think would be effected by global warming was the caribou. Apparently, because of the repeated freezing and thawing in the fall, the lower layer of snow is very icy, and in winter, when the caribou need to be able to punch through the snow to reach the lichen beneath, they have a much harder time of it. When they do get to the lichen, they must pull the entire plant out, roots and all, and it takes centurys to grow back. Therefore, caribou grazing areas will shrink, since the lichen can't recover in time for the next winter, when they need a reliable food source. Since the caribou are affected, the people who rely on the caribou are also negatively affected. Anyway, thats just an example of how global warming can affect just 1 species, and that can affect everything that feeds on that species, and everything that feeds on the second species, etc. So that was interesting. When we were done with all the presentations and discussions, we went back to the lodge. On the way, we say an arctic fox and followed him for a while as he ran, taking pictures along the way. He was about half-way thru his color change, with some white fur and some darkish-brouwn fur. When we got back to the lodge we played a few games, looked for northern lights, (none that we could see) and talked for a looong time.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
6:24 PM
Day 5
Today we started out with a helicopter ride!! I've never been up in a helicopter before, and it was really awesome! There was absolutely no turbulence, unlike a bush plane that has a ton of turbulence, which I actually kind of like. On the way back, I got to sit in the front, which was really cool! Apparently, a helicopter is a lot harder to fly than a plane. Anyway, you may be wondering why we were in the helicopter to begin with. Well, we went out to see a maternal den, a den the pregnant female makes to give birth in and raise her cubs for the first few months after they're born. (Not occupied of course!!!) We found a den pretty quickly and we all took a turn going in. It was really interesting! The den was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but I guess that makes it warmer. I could barely turn around to come back out, but we all got our pictures taken coming out of a polar bear den, which was pretty cool. When we got back to town we milled around for a while and finally left for the lodge in Tundra Buggy #10!!! The Tundra Buggy itself was very cool, but it was a very rocky ride. There was a lot of swaying involved, and we averaged about 4 mph. Slow, but still pretty interesting. We didn't see much on the way out, just a few arctic hares, and a ptarmigan, which wasn't exactly new to me. But then, we got to the lodge, and there was a polar bear!!! He was just laying on the ground, waiting to be photographed. (It seemed to be about a 4-year-old male) We have since named him Homer, and he's very photogenic. He just hangs around camp, mostly. Camp itself was a bit of a surprise too. The bunks have curtains and shelves, and each buggy, (there are 4) has a very nice heater. But by far, the most exciting event of the day, as far as I'm concerned, was right before dinner, when a mother and her 2 yearling cubs showed up!!! It was very, very exciting!! I've never seen a polar bear cub in real life before, so it was really awesome. The mother seemed a little nervous about having the male around, but Homer seems to know that she would tear him apart if he went too close to her cubs. (In fact, she ran him off at one point!) We've named her Marge, and we think 1 cub is female (Lisa) and the other cub is male (Bart). Bart is very curious; he came right up to the lodge, despite the fact that his mother and sister were headed in the opposite direction. Marge had to go after hiim and call him back. All in all, today was a truly awesome day. The only thing that could have made it better was if we had snow. Oh well, maybe we'll have a blizzard tonight!!!
Monday, October 3, 2005
5:17 PM
Day 4
Well, the forecaster was right. It was still raining when we got up, and the wind had gotten worse overnight. On the bright side, it was Christina's (the girl from Germany) 19th birthday, so we sang her happy birthday over breakfast, and she got a muffin with a candle in it to blow out. After we finished breakfast, we prepared to face the cold again and got on a bus driven by a man named Kelsey, who seemed to know just about all the was to know about Churchill and its history. He took us on a tour of Churchill and the surrounding area on the bus. The most interesting place we went was an old research lab that was used several decades ago for polar bear research. The lab was shut down because the media found out about some of the experiments that the scientists were doing on the bears, most notably tests on how oil effects them by having them swim through pools with oil slicks on top. The bears tried to get rid of the oil by grooming themselves, and so ingested the poison. 2 of the 4 bears died, and subsequently, the project was shut down because of public disapproval. We had a short discussion about it, trying to understand the different sides to it. On the one hand, there were some valuable things learned about polar bears due to that study, but then again, 2 bears died when maybe they didn't have to. Public approval decided that the research wasn't worth the mortality rate of the bears, which was the first time that happened. If it hadn't happened, maybe we wouldn't care so much about the polar bears today. Then again, some people would see it sort of like what happened during the Holocaust, when the Germans experimented on the Jews to test human endurance, its limits, ect. Some very important things were learned due to those experiments, but the experiments themselves were monstrous. I'm not saying that's what I believe, but it was definitely a very interesting discussion. After we toured the lab, we continued on to several other important sites to polar bears, such as the polar bear jail, (holding center) a science center outside of town that houses researchers working on all kinds of projects, including polar bears, and the dump where we saw our first polar bear!!!! It was extremely cool. It was a subadult, (a teenager) and it was really more brown than white. It also didn't stick around long, but it was very cool!!!
Hopefully that will be the first of many. We finished our tour at a museum where we learned about the Polar Bear Alert program, the only one of its kind in the world, where they relocate the bears if need be, or chase them out of town. All in all, it was a very interesting day.
Monday, October 3, 2005
5:02 PM
Day 3
Today we woke up bright and early, ready to go to Churchill. This is really what I've been waiting for, and I couldn't wait to go. The plane we took wasn't a bush plane, (which usually seats about 6) but it was still pretty small, so since we had such strong winds, we still got the same roller coaster experience without the part about being attached to the ground, which is the best part. It was about a 2 1/2 hour flight and when we got off the plane, we were immediately blasted by gales of icy north wind coming from the Hudson Bay. I felt much more at home. Winnapeg was just too warm. I feel much more comfortable in Churchill, although the absence of mountains is still a bit disconcerting. After we got settled in our hotel, (yes, they have one, a very nice one with apartment-like suites at that). Adelia, who is from Churchill, and Lisa-Joy, who was a student at the camp last year, gave us a tour of the town. It's very small, with 1 building that has all the sports arenas, the hospital, the library, and the movie theater in it, called the Complex. Very exciting. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any bears yet, but we just got here, so I guess we have plenty of time. By the time the tour was over, it was starting to rain, on top of just being windy. Not just any rain, but sleet, freezing rain. Apparently, it's supposed to storm all night, and possibly tomorrow. Despite that, I'm so happy we're in Churchill!! I can't wait to go out in the Tundra Buggy to the Lodge, and we might be going for a helicopter ride to the maternal dens on Wednesday before we leave. That should be amazing!!! I can't wait!!
Saturday, October 1, 2005
5:58 PM
Day 2
After sleeping for a good 12 hours, I was much more awake today. We had another speaker, right after breakfast, Robert Taylor, a naturalist photographer. He had a slide show of some of his photographs, which were simply incredible. I would love to be able to take pictures like that. All of his pictures were from Churchill, and it was mostly to give us an idea of what Churchill's like. It looks like beautiful country, and I can't wait to see it for myself. Since there are mountains everywhere in Alaska, its strange not to have any. Anyway, he was a very interesting man. We were also introduced to Clarence Tillenius, who is a very famous painter here in Canada, a 92-year-old who is still paints and really doesn't look or act older than 70. After these presentations, wsed went on the bus to see the Bears on Broadway. This is a fundraiser for CancerCare Manitoba, in which 62 concrete bears were made, and each was decorated by an artist following a theme. Clarence painted 2 of them. My favorite was Ursa Major: Starry Starry Bear. It was painted dark blue and had mirrored glass pieces attached inthe shapes of constilations and bands of stars, that sort of hting. It was very cool.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
5:50 PM
Day 1
Togay I arrived at 2 pm, or something like that, completely sleep deprived and starving, but very excited. I'm finally here!! The hotel is connected to the airport, so it wasn't hard to find at all, and it turned out that I was the third last to arrive, so almost everyone else was already here. My roommate is Mary Blake, from Baltimore, and she's very cool. We each have our own beds, (the pillows amazing!) and the room has stenciled maple leaves on all the walls, which I thought were very funny. Since we still had 2 more people to wait for, we all congregated in the lobby and got to know each other a little bit. Everyone I talked to was very excited about what we're going to do and they themselves were extremely interesting. While all of this was happening, Sharon, the woman who is making a video about the camp for PBI, was selecting us, one by one, to interview us. It was fairly easy, just questions about what I expect, what I want to take home with me, that sort of thing. By the time everyone was finished the last people had arrived and it was time for dinner. (Finally!!) After dinner, we had a speaker; Bill, who was going to be one of our teachers. He talked about a story that had been in the newspaper that day that talked about the morality of having polar bears in zoos. Apparently, in the 80's, it was decided that the adult bears that were hanging around the dump of Churchill needed to be either shot or sent to a zoo, because tehy were "problem bears". Since no one really wanted to shoot the bears, they were moved to zoos. Now thats all fine, but a few years back, it was discovered that there was a circus that had 9 polar bears and was not caring for them properly. 3 of these bears were from Churchill and they had been sold to the circus by the zoo that they were sent to. So now, only orphan cubs are sent to zoos, and Churchill has standards that the zoos have to meet in order to get a cub. Now, the article that we were discussing talked about a bear in Edinburgh, Scotland, (which was one of the original "problem bears" that were sent out in the 80's) and how some animal activists didn't thnk that the bear should be in captivity. Some people would rather seen the bear shot than living in zoos. I think that having bears in zoos is very important, but only if it helps the bear. If its an orphaned cub that wouldn't be able to take care of itself, or if its a "problem bear" that would have to be shot because its too used to humans, then I think its a good idea for the bear to be in a zoo. It also helps people, because they can learn about polar bears, and b e able to see the animals, and about the problems the species is facing and what they can do to help. Thats pretty much what everyone else thought too, so it was a relatively short discussion, which was good becasue I was very tired.
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