By Paulette Roberge
We were going to be different, jazz things up. Our group of five communicators who met two days prior was tasked with leading a discussion on climate change impacts at this month’s inaugural communicators’ camp, hosted by Polar Bears International in Churchill, Manitoba.
Our performance could have benefited from props, musical accompaniment and more rehearsal time but, here, I present you the Climate Change Impacts song, a hasty, back-of-the-envelope adaptation of Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s “Teach Your Children.”

2010 Communicator Camp Song-Vimeo HD upload from Polar Bears International on Vimeo.
(Apologies to CSNY).
You who are on the globe
Must have a code that you can
Live by
Beware the warming air
The rising sea, the melting sea ice
Teach your children well
That your father’s fears can slowly
Go by
And feed them on your dreams
The polar bears, the ones you’ll
Know by.
Don’t you ever lose your hope
With new action we’ll get by
So just look at the polar bears
And try
And know they’ll answer you
And you of tender years
Can know the fears that your elders
Grow by
Carbon footprints, carbon offsets
Mitigation, adaptation
Why?
Teach your parents well
Their children’s hope must quickly
Come by
Action, activism, education
Policy changes
You must always ask why
We will tell you without lie
The future challenge is great
And we can change the world.
WWF Canada communications specialist, Paulette Roberge, attended the inaugural Polar Bears International Communicators Leadership Workshop where participants explored the tundra, collaborated on blogs and brainstormed ways to spread the urgent message of climate change impacts on polar bear habitats. Read more blog posts from Paulette’s trip.