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Artist creates lifejacket to save polar bears when all the ice melts
As the icecaps melt, polar bears are having problems. They've now got to swim further than they ever have to hunt for food, which can tire out the suckers long before they find an ice sheet to rest on. A Swedish design group called ADDI thinks it's about time people did something to help the poor guys, proposing a polar bear lifejacket.
The group says it's not actually a serious proposal — a lifejacket would make it pretty hard for the bear to dive for fish — but ADDI makes the case that a threatened species like the polar bear could use accessories like this far more than your average Park Avenue Chihuahua. Fair enough, though we don't think ADDI should dismiss its own idea so quickly. It just might be possible to design a lifejacket that helps the bear float during a long continuous swim, but then de-inflates when it's time to hunt. After all, my iPod Nano can tell when I'm shaking it for shuffle and when I've strapped it to my arm during a run; why not something similar (though more sophisticated) here?
Hit the Continue jump for a pic of the group's proposal to save the Bengal Tiger — a bulletproof vest.
Via ADDI
By Traveler at 12:32 PM ON 10/28/08
Stupid on so many levels.
By testy at 1:13 PM ON 10/28/08
This is the best joke yet, the funnier side of dvice...On a serious note someone fell asleep during Biology just around the chapter for Evolution (right, wrong or indifferent).
By murc at 6:31 PM ON 10/28/08
dumb.
not to mention that the polar bear population is going up...its like 2.5 times as high as it was 30 years ago...
By Dana at 6:54 PM ON 10/28/08
Despite the comments above, I believe that DVICE has found a way to display a serious problem with some humor. In order to display to the public this crucial issue, we need to have ridiculous photos such as the above. It sends a wake up call to viewers hopefully leaves them thinking, "WOW thats dumb, but they really do have a point... How can I help to save the polar bears." Nice use of advertising and imaging. Kudos to DVICE.
By murc at 9:56 PM ON 10/28/08
DVICE didn't make it, they only blogged about it.
if you (dana) havn't noticed by now, dvice (like 95% of all the media coverage out there) is left wing....which includes the tree hugger crowd....hence why this article was posted.
By iori at 11:47 PM ON 10/28/08
@Murc,
Less then 50% of the media is 'Left wing', it split three ways between the left, the right and neutral, with the neutral ones making up the plurality.
Beyond that environmentalism transcends left-right politics, as you have it on both sides, IE Eco-Socialists as well as Evangelical 'Creation Protectors'.
As to the article, it is funny, and does get the basic message out there.
And I do agree, an advanced version of this idea with the ability to inflate and deflate may just be a good idea for them.
By Anonymous at 5:38 AM ON 10/29/08
Global warming has been solved by using a lifejacket.
By sherpa at 7:40 AM ON 10/29/08
Funny how all the left wing people say the media is right wing, and the right wing people say the media is left wing, and the the rest of us say both groups are idiots.
By Unique Gift Ideas at 1:39 PM ON 10/29/08
What a joke.. Let's not even start on the potential probabilities of being able to actually develop a jacket for polar bears..
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Unique Gift Ideas:
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