WE WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We won’t be writing our blog now until next year. That sounds like a long time but it’s only 11 days then it’ll be 2010.

We hope you have a REALLY great Christmas. We’re so excited, we can’t wait because Santa will be coming and on Christmas Eve mum will read us our favourite Christmas poem: Night Before Christmas Poem

Santa will leave loads of lovely presents.




We’ll eat lots of lovely food – including some Christmas pudding.

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!

Busy, busy, busy.....

Hello everyone, sorry we’ve not been around for a while but we both got so excited about Christmas coming and our advent calendar and all that lot, we forgot to write. It was only when we overheard Mum telling our Aunty Tundra that we had our own blog that we remembered.
“Snowflake said that we should tell everyone we’d had this swine flu thingy but I think it’s naughty to lie, and anyway I don’t know if bears can get swine flu do you?”
“SNOWBALL! YOU BIG TELL-TALE! YOU ARE ROTTEN. THAT’S UNFAIR. I DID NOT SAY THAT.....OK....OK......I did but only because I felt all guilty for not writing. Let’s move on, SHALL WE?”

Mum read this a bit ago about rising sea levels - Major cities at risk from rising sea level threat - Times Online

It is a bit complicated for us to read and it’s full of big words but basically what it means is this – there are some places that aren’t very high up and if the sea gets any higher then those not very high up places will be flooded. One place that isn’t very high up at all is a place called The Maldives, which is actually where there are lots and lots of really pretty little islands – here’s a photo of one of them.

REALLY pretty isn’t it? Well, if the sea rises much more then all the Maldives will be gone and Mum says there won’t be anywhere for you humans to go on your honeymoon. We don’t know what a honeymoon is but we guess it’s when you go and eat lots of honey somewhere and look at the moon, which sounds like a dead nice thing to do.

So, if you folk want to continue eating your honey and staring at the moon then you should start going a bit greener NOW.

Right, we’re off to wrap a few more presents and open today’s window on our advent calendar. Here is an online advent calendar for you to open yourself – ONLINE ADVENT CALENDAR

Advent time!

Did you know that last Sunday was Advent Sunday in some parts of the world and that today, 1st December, is what some folk say is the start of the part of the year called Advent? Mum calls it the run up to Christmas and she bought us an Advent calendar, which looks a bit like this one.

This will be our first Christmas and we’re REALLY excited. We’re going to take it in turns to open a window of the Advent Calendar every day.

“Today it was my turn, and tomorrow it’s Snowball’s turn, then it’ll be my turn again, then it’ll be Snowball’s turn, then it’ll be my turn, then it’ll be Snowball’s turn, then it’ll be...”
“SNOWFLAKE......I think they’ve got it, okay?”

We’re also going to decorate our Christmas Tree today. Our tree’s a real one, in fact it’s still growing. We’ve got fairy lights, baubles, tinsel and a big star to put on the top of it. It’ll look lovely. Mum’s going to let us do it all by ourselves. She says it’ll keep us quiet – hee hee. We don’t think so, do you?

Mum told us to go on the internet and find out how many types of Christmas Trees there were, there were LOADS. We thought there’d just be one type, like the ones that grow around us, but there were lots more...

“Nordman Fir, Fraser Fir, Douglas Fir, Scots Pine, Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, Omorica Spruce, White Pine.....”
“Alright Mr Knowitall Snowball, that’s enough. Here’s a photo of some of them so that you can see the differences...”



Mum says that decorating a tree at Christmas is something that has pagan origins. We have NO IDEA what pagan means, but it sounds old, so we reckon it’s probably something that people have done for a long, long time – decorate trees at Christmas. Whatever it’s origins, we think that it’s a great idea, so we’re going to go off now and get it done.

See you next week.

Climate change - are humans to blame?

Mum says that there are some people who think that the climate isn’t changing because of what humans are doing. Some people think climate change is just natural and that it would happen anyway. Some people think that all the pollution that is being pumped into the atmosphere and the rivers every day, and all the dumping of toxic waste, all the litter, all the cars that are being driven, all the waste that every human produces each day – all of that makes no difference.

Well, we believe it DOES make a difference. Those folk who say it doesn’t make a difference don’t live up here in the Arctic. They don’t see all the changes that mum sees.

Due to climate change over a hundred thousand animal species have been made extinct this year. Extinct means “all gone” – so that means they will never come back. That’s a shame.

Ten million tons of toxic chemicals have been released into the environment by industries this year. Mum says that lots of those chemicals can make you humans really ill. We don’t know how much a million is because we can only count to ten, but we bet it’s a lot.

Did you know that today the sun’s energy striking earth will be over 16 billion MWh?

Did you know that there is enough energy coming from the sun each day to power the whole world? The energy that comes from the sun is free. And it doesn’t pollute anything, so why don’t you humans use more of it? Only 7% of energy coming from renewable sources like the sun is used by the world each day, the rest comes from things that aren’t renewable, like coal, oil, gas and stuff like that. Things that pollute the atmosphere.

Did you know that this year alone 20 billion tons of CO2 has been pumped into the atmosphere?

We reckon that those folk who say that climate change isn’t happening because of what humans are doing are simply fooling themselves. Mum says they’ve got their head stuck in the snow, or is it sand? Anyhow, mum says they just don’t want to know because they don’t want to accept responsibility. Mum says that people should act now, whilst they’ve got the chance. If everyone did just a little bit more than they’re already doing, it would make a big difference. We want our world to stay clean, as clean and as lovely as the photo below.

Litter can kill!

We’ve had a great day today playing in the snow, but mum says that some of our relatives in a place called Alaska are running out of ice and snow because of all this global warming business.

The ice is melting when it shouldn’t melt and some of our relatives are having to eat human food in order to survive. Mum says they have to raid litter bins, go on rubbish dumps, like the one below, and eat leftovers from places where humans eat.

Mum says these human food places are called ‘fast food’ places, and that the food is sometimes horrid.

We don’t know what she means by fast food. Perhaps it’s food that can run really fast? Cheetahs can run really fast and some dogs can run really fast, but they’re not food. Not for us anyway. Mum says that there are ‘fast food’ places called Muck Donalds, Ken Yucky Fried Chicken and Bogey King. We reckon you humans go there and then have to chase your fast food around all day before you catch it. We bet you’re dead hungry by the time you eat it, with all that running around and stuff.

The trouble is, mum says that some humans eat this fast food and then throw all their litter all over instead of putting it in bins or recycling it.



Dumping litter is HORRIBLE. It looks ugly and it can kill animals and it pollutes our planet. Some things like plastic carrier bags and plastic pop bottles can last a long, long time – hundreds and hundreds of years and they can kill animals because animals sometimes eat them or get trapped in them, read about plastic bags here - Deadly plastic bags

Don’t litter! Never! Don’t let your mums and dads litter, and don’t let them use any more of them killer plastic bags and tell them always to re-cycle those plastic pop bottles and not to dump them in the countryside like some nasty people do. They should put rubbish in a litter bin where it belongs, recycle things whenever possible and use those nice re-useable cotton bags for their shopping. Remember, its YOUR planet so don’t let them kill it.

Here’s a clip about the ice melting – its funny to watch, but sad too. The ice has always melted in these parts, that’s what happens, but it’s melting at times when it shouldn’t melt, and in some parts its not coming back – and we polar bears need ice to survive.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LMmu-DKaQ0

Did you know.....?

Did you know that polar bear cubs are born in a den deep under the snow? Just like the one above. Can you imagine that? I bet you think that it’d be really cold, but it wasn’t because mum is all furry and warm. Mum made a great big den deep in a snowdrift and sneaked in when nobody was looking, then she covered the entrance so that from the outside nobody knew that there was a huge polar bear underneath it.

After a week or so she gave birth to us and then we all stayed in the den together for three whole months. When mum was in the den with us she didn’t eat or drink anything at all and she didn’t have to go to the toilet. You’re probably thinking that’s impossible, but it isn’t. Mum says that female Polar Bears have a very special METABOLISM - we don’t really know what that word means, but whatever it is mum’s right, it must be VERY special.



We were very tiny when we were born. Much, much tinier than a human baby. We looked a bit like that photo above. We only weighed about 500 grams and we were blind to start with and couldn’t hear very well, but we soon started growing with the rich milk that mum fed us.

After about three months mum decided it was time to get out and find some food. By that time we were big enough to walk and play.

“By that time Snowball had got on my nerves SO MUCH I was DYING to get out.”
“ME? Getting on YOUR nerves? Listen everyone - Snowflake had been a pain too, she kept wanting to play ‘Eye-Spy’ and trust me there isn’t much to spy in a big white snow den - it was always something beginning with 'S' - boring....”
“It was better than noughts and crosses....”

What would happen if all the snow melted? Then mum polar bears wouldn’t be able to dig ice dens and they wouldn’t be able to have any more cubs. That would be a CATASTROPHE – We don’t really know what that word means, but mum uses it a lot.

INTERESTING FACT: Did you know that the word ‘Arctic’ comes from the Greek word ‘arktos’, which means bear?

Watch this great video about a mum polar bear emerging from her ice den with her two cubs - it could be us....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZH_aT0FGI

We've now got names - THANK YOU!

Hello! After calculating the offline votes at Crystal Peaks and the online voting, the winning names were Layla for mum, Snowball for the little boy Polar Bear cub and Snowflake for the little girl Polar Bear cub. The other favourites were Nyla, Paws and Poppy. Thanks everyone for voting.

“Hello, I’m Snowball and I’m the little boy Polar Bear cub.”

“Hello, I’m Snowflake, and I’m the little girl cub.”

“TOGETHER WE’RE THE ICE BLOGGERS.”

It’s great having names, it’s a bit dull being called Little One and Little Two, which is what mum used to call us. Mum’s lovely but she hasn’t got much imagination. Now mum’s got a name too and she’s really proud and keeps telling her friends to call her Layla

We’re writing to you from the Arctic, which is the cold bit around the North Pole and a lot of it looks like that photo above. We don’t know why it’s called the North Pole, because there isn’t a pole here. Well, if there is one we’ve never seen it and neither has mum, and she’s been around a LONG time – she’s ancient – but don’t tell her we told you that.

The Arctic is REALLY, REALLY cold, but not as cold as it used to be ‘cause your mums and dads haven’t been very green in the past and now the world’s warming up much faster than everyone thought it would and if something isn’t done about it all the snow and ice might melt and we’d have nowhere to live. We’d be homeless and after that us Polar Bears might be extinct. We think that the word ‘extinct’ means ‘all gone’. We don’t want to be all gone, we want to keep living and have our own cubs one day. With your help maybe we will.

We’re off now to play with mum and look for something to eat. See you soon.

Here’s a game for you to play until our next blog next Monday.

Polar Hockey

Happy Halloween & only two days left to vote

Hope you all have a ghoulish Halloween and have lots of treats. We don't do Halloween in the Arctic - not yet anyway - who knows what we'll do when all the snow melts.

Only two days to go to vote for your favourite names. Yesterday at Crystal Peaks the favourites were:

Mum Polar Bear - still Layla
Boy Cub - a new favourite - Snowball
Girl Cub -another new favourite - Snowdrop.

Online voting is a bit different today. For Mum the name Suka is now the favourite. Snowflake and Snowbelle now have equal votes for Girl Cub but Snowball is still the favourite for Boy Cub. By Monday we will all have names and we'll start to blog about our life in the Arctic.

Keep voting......

Not long to go now....

Not long to go now before we all have names.

The voting at Crystal Peaks remains the same for Mum and Boy Cub - you are all still loving Layla for Mum and Paws for Boy Cub but there was a new favourite yesterday for Girl Cub, it was SNOWBELLE.

Online the voting has changed for Mum, the new favourites are now Nyla and Suka. The favourites stay the same for Boy Cub and Girl Cub - Snowball and Snowflake.

Keep voting..........

Another update

This is getting quite exciting. Only a few days to go now and the voting is going really well at Crystal Peaks. The favourites are still

Mum Bear - Layla

Boy Cub Bear - Paws

Girl Cub Bear - Poppy

Voting online though is a bit different. Mum bear is evens at the moment with Tundra, Layla, Suka and Nyla having the same votes. For the Boy Cub Bear Snowball is in front and for the Girl Cub Bear Snowflake is in front.

Keep voting!! Voting closes on Sunday.

Here's a game for you to play in the meantime

Polar Dash

Another update

Hello again, here's another update on the voting at Crystal Peaks, which is a bit different from the voting on this website.

Mum Bear - we have a new favourite - Layla

Girl Cub Bear - still Poppy!

Boy Cub Bear - a new favourite - Paws.

Keep voting!

An update on the voting

Hello again everyone. Lots of children have been voting for their favourite names at Crystal Peaks Shopping Mall. Up to now the favourites are:

Mum Bear - Nyla
Boy Cub Bear - Snowball
Girl Cub Bear - Poppy

Keep voting!

CHOOSE OUR NAMES

Some people from A Shade Greener will be at Crystal Peaks Shopping Mall in South Yorkshire from 26th October to 1st November. They're hoping to encourage you to change your lives and be greener so that our world can be saved, because it's melting fast at the moment.It's hard to be totally green, but everyone can go just A Shade Greener by doing their bit.

They'll also be asking children to choose names for us so that we can start blogging. You can vote for your favourite names here too if you wish - just click on the names you like best from the ones at the side. We'll keep you updated as to how the name choosing is going, but we hope you all choose a really nice one.

See you soon!