In a new documentary, CBS highlights the challenges facing Churchill. The documentary focuses in particular on the inhabitants of this town famous for its polar bears.
Broadcast on April 14, the documentary On the Edge: The People and Polar Bears of a Warming Arctic takes viewers to the heart of Churchill, the world-famous polar bear capital.
A documentary that has the advantage of putting people first. And that’s no easy task for a city eminently known for its polar ursids, which often sees its human problems relegated to the background.
And yet, these problems do exist. After all, global warming is disrupting the lives not only of polar bears, but of human beings too. Weather changes and disasters, food insecurity: the 870 or so inhabitants of Churchill have to cope with difficulties that are unfortunately increasingly inherent to Arctic regions and communities.
A vulnerable sub-population
Located on Hudson Bay, Churchill is a unique place where polar bears gather every year to await the formation of sea ice on which to hunt seals. Scientists and tourists flock to the town to observe these animals in their natural habitat. However, the accelerated melting of the ice due to global warming is upsetting this fragile balance.
This is what the first part of the documentary shows. Accompanied by professionals from Polar Bears International (PBI), the documentary team discovers the bears. An opportunity for the viewers to learn more about their habits and the challenges they face.
Western Hudson Bay polar bears are one of 19 subpopulations of polar bears in the Arctic. And it’s the most threatened. According to Polar Bears International, this polar bear population has halved since the 1980s, from 1 200 to around 600 individuals. This decline is linked to the reduced duration of the ice cover, which forces the bears to spend more time on land, away from their usual prey. This change in behavior affects their diet, reproduction and long-term survival.
A bearless polar bear town ?
If greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically curbed and warming continues at its current rate, Churchill’s polar bear subpopulation seems doomed to disappear. “Five years from now, I probably expect polar bears to be here. I’d be surprised if they were not”, remarks Dr. John Whiteman, chief researcher scientist at Polar Bears International. “Ten years from now, things really start to get fuzzy. And 20 to 30 years from now, certainly within my lifetime, unless things change, I expect to at some point not be able to come up here and see polar bears.”
Yet it’s hard to imagine Churchill without its bears. The plantigrade is everywhere: its black muzzle and imposing silhouette can be seen on buildings, vehicles and even the town flag. A physical presence that’s no match for the animal’s role in the local economy.
Tourism has developed around the polar bear, diversifying along the way with beluga whale watching in summer and aurora borealis safari in winter. In 2023, the tourism sector attracted almost 25,000 visitors, who spent some $88 million.
Faced with the threat to the polar bears and to one of the town’s economic lungs (the other being the income generated by the port), the people of Churchill have taken the initiative and are trying to act: firstly, on the tourism sector, by diversifying their offer and proposing activities around the northern lights and sled dogs, but also on the cause of the problem. “[Polar bears] numbers are going to dwindle and I think we need to really get a handle on it and start taking this seriously about changing our habits and who we are. Even in our family, we brought hybrid vehicles and we’re not burning as much emissions […]. We’ve gone to solar panel and electrical systems instead of running generators and burning gas,” says Dave Daley, a musher who runs his own sled dog company with his son Wyatt.
Local issues and vegetables
Hard hit by global warming, Churchill is now experiencing the unpredictability of the weather. Storms are becoming increasingly unpredictable and violent. Like the events of 2017, which deprived Churchill of its rail line, destroyed by flooding, and devastated the community.
“We have lost 20, 25 years of service. It knocked the community back that far,” says Mike Spence.
Mayor since 1995, this Churchill native sees his town facing ever-greater challenges. And like many Arctic communities, food insecurity is one of them.
At $13 for a packet of breakfast cereal, the cost of living is skyrocketing for a population supplied once a week by rail. So the town had to adapt and do the unthinkable: grow its own vegetables in the far north. “It’s a job I never thought I would have,” exclaims Jayden Chapman, as she cuts bunches of colorful chard stems. She works for Rocket Greens, a hydroponic food production project started in 2017, after the floods. “Basically, we started because we had no fresh products. Our train line went out, everything had to be flown in and you can imagine that got ridiculously expensive.” Expensive and practically moldy, with produce taking days to reach its destination.
The initiative, which operates on a subscription basis, has been well received by both individuals and local establishments and businesses. “It’s amazing to be able to compost,” enthuses a Churchill resident to whom Chapman brings a basket of fresh vegetables.
Yes, Churchill, a town in Canada’s far north where polar bears await the formation of pack ice, has a communal compost… which the plantigrades seem to appreciate. Paw prints criss-cross the building, reminding us that cohabitation here requires precautions, particularly when it comes to waste management. But that’s not all.
Waiting for the sea ice
As much as the polar bears, the people of Churchill watch the formation of sea ice with apprehension. “Going back in time, the bears would be out on the ice end of the first week of November. Next week would be the third week of November. No sign of ice, so you know it could cause a problem,” notes Mayor Mike Spence.
To protect its residents, the community has set up the Polar Bear Alert Program, with patrols operating 24/7. They respond to all calls from residents, using flares to scare off persistent bears.
Developing in a changing and increasingly unpredictable environment is the challenge that Churchill will face in the years and decades to come. “Churchill as a community is at a crossroad and they’re faced with some pretty tough choices,” observes Geoff York, Senior Director of Research and Policy at Polar Bears International. A regular visitor to the region, the scientist is on his 16th visit.
“Churchill’s been around for over 300 years and I don’t think it’s ever had a time when it wasn’t struggling,” says Parker Fitzpatrick. A buggy driver for 30 years, he seems to be telling us that the town has seen it all before. And that all hope is not lost. “I know [polar bears] are struggling but I would just rather be positive and just try and get the word out do whatever we can to help them out.”
Find out more at https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ontheedge/
To watch the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJC3UjCpjYg&t