Guy who often flies up the coast for a cheeseburger helps award $100,000 to second guy who suggests that CO2 might kill all polar bears by 2100; second guy to use part of that money to buy private fossil-fueled vehicle to drive regularly 10 miles each way to grocery store

Climate change drives researcher | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Clutching his remote control, Steven C. Amstrup watches the news of killer tornadoes, destructive hurricanes, hot and cold temperature extremes -- and wishes he could put words into the mouths of those reporters and weather forecasters.

"They should add on the end of every one of these stories . . . 'these sorts of events will continue to increase in number and severity as the world continues to warm,' " Amstrup said from his home in Kettle Falls, Wash.

...The $100,000 award, presented by the Indianapolis Zoo every other year and funded by the Lilly Foundation, is given to the nation's top scientists and researchers who advance the cause of animal conservation...Instead, his passion has shifted to educating people -- from average Joes to trained weather forecasters to even some scientists -- about the threat of global warming and how best to change the perception of the problem.

..."If we don't mitigate greenhouse gas rise, all the polar bears will ultimately disappear," he said. "We will no longer be polar bear researchers. We'll be polar bear historians."

...It was one of the many things he would learn and then use to predict in 2007 that two-thirds of the world's polar bears could disappear by midcentury, and all of them by the end of the century, if behaviors are not changed and greenhouse gas emissions not lowered.

..."We will certainly be donating some of the money to causes we think are important, but we also desperately need a more economical car," said Amstrup, who lives in the town of 1,600 with his wife, Virginia.

"When we lived in Anchorage, we had a pickup truck, but we mostly rode our bike to work because we lived downtown. But here in this rural area, in order to get to any place, we have to drive. It's 10 miles to the grocery store.

Indianapolis Prize Honorary Co-Chairs

Harrison Ford

Marvin Hamlisch

Flashback: Harrison Ford Flies Jet To Buy Cheese Burger!

[Ford] I often fly up the coast for a cheeseburger.