Putting Polar Bears In the Public Eye Chante Wolf Mina performs her Polar Bear vs. Sarha Palin show at the Bedlam Theatre. Polar Bear Power For the last 4 years, I have been working on Polar Bear Art Projects, trying to put polar bears, and the growing climate change, into the public eye. My students have made paper mache polar bears and penguins and floated them on freezing ponds. We have studied and drawn all kinds of arctic creatures. I’ve manned giant polar bear puppets and rolled melting bears made out of ice in the May Day Parade. I’ve performed theatrical skits as a polar bear. I’ve built two polar bear Artcars and a polar bear floatilla. During the Republican National Convention 2008, I dressed as a polar bear for 5 days in a row, talking about Sarah Palin’s views on Polar Bears and how I felt about them. I was interviewed extensively. Here’s what I said: Sarah Palin doesn’t believe in Global Warming. She sued to get Polar Bears taken off the endangered species list. She wants to drill in ANWAR. And she’s scary ‘cuz she’s got a gun….and she’s somewhere around here (YIKES!) Max Haynes Making the leap into Arts On Ice. Every Winter, the Ice Shanty Project appears on Medicine Lake to celebrate the arts and the cold. Recent meditations on driving my art cars have transformed me again. The war in Iraq is being fought over oil, and I hate supporting the war in any way, even filling up at the gas pump. I also learned that our polar ice caps are melting so rapidly that the beloved POLAR BEAR will become extinct within 50 years.* Dan Macchiarini So I made a commitment to DRIVE LESS, BIKE MORE, & WALK MORE. I started by biking one day a week to work instead of driving. I have been practicing this for 3 months and now I find myself craving bike rides and creating ART BIKES. In my fair city of Minneapolis, with its Greenways and bike paths, bicycling can be a lifestyle itself. “Be the change you want to see!” – Gandhi