--HELEN KELLER

Far from the Arctic, in cities, on highways, and in factories, humans are mounting an attack that polar bears are powerless to resist. Greenhouse gases spewed into the atmosphere are warming the land and oceans, and warming oceans means melting ice. Because it is the Arctic ice that has defined the bears' habitat, that ice's disappearance will result in the disappearance of the bears themselves. For this reason, they have become the poster animal for global warming.

On his way to the North Pole in 1994, Richard Ellis shot 15 rolls of film of a polar bear following his icebreaker. Since then, he has studied polar bears in Spitzbergen, Russia, Alaska, and Nunavut. Employing his own experience as well as detailed research, he will be giving a presentation at the New England Chapter of the Explorers Club entitled "On Thin Ice: The Polar Bear and Global Warming."

Richard Ellis is one of America's leading marine conservationists. He is also recognized as one one of the foremost painters of marine subjects in the world. His numerous books include Men and Whales, Imagining Atlantis, The Search for the Giant Squid, The Empty Ocean, Monsters of the Deep, Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn, and -- most recently -- Tuna: A Love Story. He is a member of the Explorers Club and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History.

Yours in exploration,

Greg