By Lisa Cohn
You’ve heard about our love of dogs. But truth is, we love all animals–including polar bears.
Michael and I recently participated in a National Geographic story about climate change anxiety in kids.
The writer approached us because I had written a similar story for a local parenting magazine, PDX Parent.
As the National Geographic article below mentions, Michael loves polar bears. And he’s sad when he hears about how much they’re struggling due to climate change.
Climate change affects dogs and other pets. Take wildfires, for example. Last summer the wildfires here in Oregon were so extreme that Portland’s air quality was the worst in the world. That meant we couldn’t go outside, and we couldn’t take our golden retriever, Hudson, for his usual long walks because breathing the air was dangerous.
Another climate related change that affects Hudson is warmer weather in the summer. He much prefers cooler weather, and gets easily overheated when we’re playing in a park or hiking with him.
Sometimes her swims in the mud to cool off:
To help address climate change, Michael and I attend climate related marches and events. We talk often about how we can help address climate change. In fact, this week, we read an excellent article in the New York Times explaining climate change to kids. We discussed what we’re doing to deal with climate change. For example, we have an electric car, which has zero emissions. We plant flowers and trees with an eye toward attracting and nurturing wildlife. We have a bee house that gives Oregon’s non-stinging mason bees a home. We purchase solar energy from our utility through its “green power” program. And we’re on special “time of use” electric rates that provide incentives for us to use electricity when it makes sense environmentally. We also don’t eat much meat.
Read the National Geographic article that includes our input here: Helping Kids Deal with Climate Anxiety.
Are you a reader who is worried about climate change and how it might affect the animals you love? We’d love to hear from you! Email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com