_WHAT IS Polar|Bear|Reality ? Climate Change! Temparature is
constantly raising, climate is changing! Not only for humans, also for
animals. We are destroying thousands of species through our behavior
and, for some of them, we are making life literally hell on earth. Polar|Bear|Reality
is meant to show people in a very vivid way, how global warming hits
the polar bear as a wave of heat because of the way nature designed
them. This installation is going around the world in order to bring people closer to the biggest problem of our time: Climat Change
_WHY POLAR BEARS ? Polar Bears are not even the most endagered species, according to WWF. Still, we decided to show you the polar bear because it suffers in a very cruel way from global warming . Its
natural habitat, the north pole, is melting away year for year, forcing
the polar bear to move to warmer regions, which he is clearly not made
for. It can survive for some time, but naturaly, the icebear needs ice
from where it hunts. Nature thought about a very elegant solution to
keep polar bears warm even at -30° C. But in warmer regions, this
mechanism becomes very uncomfortable for these animals.
_NATURAL HABITAT OF POLAR BEARS Polar
bears spend more than 50% of their life on arctic ice, hunting for
food. But this won’t be possible much longer, the ice is melting away
year for year. That causes a rising sea level, which is going to hurt
us, humans, very soon also. Cities like Venice, countries like the
Netherlands already can feel the consequences. For the polar bear the
melting ice means that it is not as reliable anymore as it used to be.
It tends to break easier. Or, even worse, they try to find ice to rest,
but they can’t find any and will drown eventually.
_HIGHLY INSULATED BEARS The fur consists of long, transparent hair,
which scatters sunlight to provide camouflage while allowing the skin to
absorb warmth. The next layer is a dense underfur, which prevents the bodily heat from escaping. The skin itself is almost black, optimized to absorb the sunlight and heat the body. Under the skin, there is the so-called blubber, a layer of fat that insulates the body. This
system is so effective that polar bears tend to overheat even in Winter
and need to be careful, to not move too fast and too much.
So imagine the result if winter isn’t cold anymore…
_POLAR|BEAR|REALITY HUT Why are you sweating inside the huts? We
are simulating the polar bears‘ skin to give you an impression of how
uncomfortable climate change can get if you can’t just take off your
jacket. We told you about the fur before, but how does it work? If
the sun shines on the fur, the black skin heats up. The air that is
stuck in the fur heats up through the black skin. The combination of
white fur and black, heat-absorbing skin creates an extra layer of
insulation around the polar bear. Our huts meme this effect with our
artificial fur and black PTFE foil. Step inside and get an impression
of how smart nature designs, and of how hard it becomes for polar bears
if the temperature keeps rising!
