Louisville
Zoo has
its own “Final Four” team
Zoo teens are finalists in Project
Polar Bear contest; head to San Diego for awards ceremony
With March Madness at its peak and the
college basketball championship games still left to play, the
Louisville Zoo is excited to announce its own “Final Four” team
heading to San Diego.
Louisville Zoo teen volunteers Emily
Goldstein, an 18-year-old Atherton High School senior, and Brandie
Farkas, a 17-year-old Ballard High School senior, have made it to
the “Final Four” in the international Project Polar Bear contest
sponsored by Polar Bears International (www.polarbearsinternational.org/project-polar-bear).
The contest challenged teens to find ways
to reduce carbon emissions in their home communities. The four
finalist teams—from Louisville, Ky.; Portland, Ore.; Pittsburgh; and
Winnipeg, Canada—will travel on an all-expense paid trip to the San
Diego Zoo in California on April 24 where the winner will be
announced.
“We feel very privileged to be a part of
this project and to have this opportunity to help stop climate
change,” Goldstein and Farkas said. “We are proud to represent the
Louisville Zoo in San Diego, and we’re committed to continuing our
work here in Louisville.”
While in San Diego, the teens will get a
VIP tour of the San Diego Zoo, including a behind-the-scenes stop at
Polar Bear Plunge, and a trip to Sea World. The grand prize for the
winning team is a trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada—the polar bear
capital of the world—to see polar bears in the wild.
“Everyone who has encountered these teens
from Project Polar Bear has been motivated to reduce their carbon
emissions because of the enthusiasm and well-designed projects the
teams put together,” says Kathy Myers, a PBI Advisory Council member
and education specialist with the San Diego Zoo, who is spearheading
the project for PBI. “Teens today are plugged into what is happening
in the world around them and they want to be a part of changing the
future. The contest gave them a way to focus their efforts and
become involved.”
Goldstein and Farkas’ contest entry was a
“Project Polar Bear” website at
www.louisvillezoo.org/projectpolarbear to educate and convince
individuals to make necessary changes in their life to help solve
the world-wide climate crisis.
“With this website, we want to share with
everyone that it is up to us all to halt global climate change, and
every single person can make a difference,” Goldstein said. “If
everyone would make even small changes in their lifestyles, it would
add up to make the big changes necessary to save not only the polar
bears, but the whole planet.”
Their “Project Polar Bear” website contains
information and resources on polar bears and climate change in the
form of quizzes, a photo gallery and journal. It also offers tips
for conserving energy and a commitment pledge to reduce one’s carbon
footprint by making simple changes. For example, one can pledge to
replace five of his/her most used 75-watt incandescent light bulbs
with fluorescent bulbs, which saves 500 pounds of carbon emissions
per year.
The teens have been tracking the pledges
and so far more than 800 people (in 30 states and oversees) and 15
businesses and organizations have committed to saving nearly 16
million pounds of carbon a year!
Goldstein and Farkas continue to ask local
businesses, organizations and individuals to take the pledge.
“I can’t imagine a world without polar
bears,” Goldstein said. “These magnificent animals exemplify the
awesome beauty of the Arctic. Yet polar bears and their ecosystem
are on the brink of destruction and extinction, threatened by our
abuse and neglect. The mighty, magnificent polar bear has become a
symbol of hope for a change in our global policies, in our need to
fix the damage the human race has caused.”
For detailed information on the four
finalist projects, visit
www.polarbearsinternational.org/project-polar-bear-contest.
-- MEDIA OPPORTUNITY --
If you would like to interview Emily
Goldstein or Brandie Farkas about this accomplishment, please
contact Louisville Zoo Public Relations Manager Kara Bussabarger at
502-238-5331.
Photo by Kara
Bussabarger, courtesy of the Louisville Zoo
