Polar Grass

Polar ice is a phrase that is familiar to us, but polar grass? Even the sound of it is wrong. Equally so, when we first saw this picture at The Climate Tribe, we gasped. Intuitively, we knew the greens behind the white fur of the polar bear were wrong. We expect to see these iconic bears in the sharp blues and silver glacial shades of the Arctic. This Polar Bear was out of his environment.

For the past year global temperatures have soared to record highs, more than 1.5º Celsius hotter than pre-industrial levels. These temperatures are a stark warning, not only for the vulnerable polar bears but for all of humanity.

This award-winning photograph was shortlisted in the Planet Category of the COP28 Photography Competition, a collaboration between The Climate Tribe and the Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Rashid al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA). The Climate Tribe has partnered with HIPA to leverage the power of photography to inspire global awareness of sustainability and advance climate action.