Polar bear needs ice

The polar bear has become a symbol for environmental campaigners the world over. And donning a polar bear suit, a rite of passage.

Since Greenpeace launched its Save The Arctic campaign in June, polar bears have been popping up all over the place. Outside the headquarters of Shell, atop the roofs of Shell petrol stations, or simply at local Greenpeace stalls. But what's it like inside the suit?

I stepped into the furry white atire, after a little persuasion, at a community festival in Tottenham Hale in July. It was my debut outing as the Arctic's dominant predator. Getting inside the polar bear suit is enough of a challenge in itself. I'd be impressed to see anyone do it without assistance.

The headpiece has an adjustible fitting, no different to that of a builders' hard hat. But the view from inside is worse than tunnel vision. A grill under the mouth is all you get to see through, hardly ideal and certainly not good enough to be catching any seals.

I wandered around fairly aimlessly, air-guitaring in front of a folk band, scaring a dog and demanding ice from an ice cream van vendor. Posing for photographs with children is the most common demand upon a Greenpeace polar bear, but even that is not without its hazard. Sometimes I didn't even know where the camera was.

Hopefully most people who met me would have made the connection between a big cuddly bear and the melting of the Arctic, but it's not an easy thing to explain from within the suit. So I stuck with other, more human volunteers, and tried to spread our message as much as we could.

After an hour or so, I began to yearn for some fresh air. But the life of a polar bear is never easy. And climate change is a problem that won't solve itself.

If you'd like to volunteer with Greenpeace, help campaign to #SaveTheArctic and perhaps dress up as a Polar Bear on a sunny day (Ice creams an extra) then please visit the Getactive webpages, find your nearest local group / network, contact the local coordinator, come along to the next local meeting and volunteer to come along to the next campaigning event.

We need your help so please get involved.