Saving the Arctic's 20,000 Polar Bears

Scientists say the world has only 20,000 polar bears. A movie called "To the Arctic" is part of an effort to save the animals and their home. MERYL STREEP: "Feasting on rich seal meat has made these the largest bears in the world. But now the Arctic is warming, and the sea ice is melting away." The film follows a polar bear mother and her two cubs. MERYL STREEP: "This is a cold stark world, but to polar bear mothers and cubs, it's paradise." Nature photographer Florian Schulz made a book about the Arctic. FLORIAN SCHULZ: "The polar bears won't be able to survive without the ice, and, right now, scientists are predicting that by 2040 or 2050, somewhere in between then, the sea ice in the summer will completely go away." The movie producers had difficulty working in below zero temperatures, and with animals afraid of humans. "Next year we're coming back with stronger cases." The movie and book are part of a larger project to protect polar bears and the Arctic, says Suzanne Apple of the World Wildlife Fund. SUZANNE APPLE: "This area that, that we are focused on called the last ice area in northern Canada, Greenland and Denmark is our research shows that this is the ice that will persist the longest, so we are hoping to protect and preserve that." I'm Steve Ember.