Meltdown: Arctic wildlife is on the brink of catastrophe

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Polar bears could be decades from extinction, a survey into global warming has found. Steve Connor reports on the crisis that threatens the polar ice-cap

Polar bears, the biggest land carnivores on Earth, face extinction this century if the Arctic continues to melt at its present rate, a study into global warming has found. The sea ice around the North Pole on which the bears depend for hunting is shrinking so swiftly it could disappear during the summer months by the end of the century, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ICIA) says.

Scientists in the study believe the survival of the estimated 22,000 polar bears in the region is hanging by a slender thread as they suffer the double whammy of chemical pollution and dwindling feeding territories. Polar bears traditionally hunt on floating sea ice for seals and other quarry. But the ice has retreated significantly during summer, so the carnivores are having to swim further from one floe to another in search of quarry.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=581579

[WindRavenX]

1. psssssssssh..global warming is a myth

Those goddamn liberal scientists :eyes:

[whirlygigspin]

3. it's a plot to destroy the family

those damn polar bears are just trying to destroy our traditional
family values.

Oh sorry, wrong post.

[hatrack]

26. Obviously you haven't heard about the GAY polar bears!

Not only are they gay, they want to get MARRIED!

But thanks to GM, Peabody Coal and the Cato Institute, this disgusting threat to the American family will not endure!!

[planetwarming]

34. Chemical Policies Also Creating Transgender Polar Bears

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2002/10/23619.shtml

In a separate study, female polar bears with both male and female sexual organs were discovered in 1997 on Norway's Svalbard archipelago, about 300 miles (500km) north of the Norwegian mainland. Researchers at the Norwegian Polar Institute now believe the deformity may be due to PCBs and other toxins.

Ms Smith said similar hermaphrodite bears had also been found on Greenland. Such instances have previously been put down to the effects of accumulated PCBs. Though they are not believed to have the same effect in humans, they are thought to be carcinogenic.

[newyawker99]

38. Hi planetwarming!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[KDLarsen]

2. QUICK - Let's bring in the oil rigs before its all gone!

.. you know they want to :eyes:

[jdj]

21. or maybe, with all that snow and ice out of the way, it'll be easier to

rape for oil, hence the reluctance to admit global warming.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

41. With all the snow and ice out of the way

All you have is a big SEA. The Antarctic, on the other hand...

[KingChicken]

4. The "faith-based" administration needs more evidence

I can't believe I heard this on NPR yesterday, a Bush Administration offical said they need more evidence that global warming is caused by humans, this coming from the people who required "water-cooler" rumors as a basis for going to war. HELLO! Mabey they will pray for the environment and everything will get better.

[lovuian]

5. Ya Global Warming is a Joke!!! And Bush didn't sign Kyoto

this is one more nail that is going to haunt the US!!!

[KDLarsen]

8. Which reminds me..

.. isn't Bush going to have one hell of a problem now that Kyoto actually goes into effect? I can't remember if it has passed all the way in Russia, but once it does, doesn't all UN members have to follow the treaty?

[tsuki]

13. Yes, Russia signed.

[Zorra]

6. Science schmience - the polar bears will be raptured - worry not my

sistren and brethren. For Bu$h shall insure that this generation is the last to inhabit the earth, and the great Bu$h hath decreed that corporations shall have dominion over the earth, and may destroy it as is their pleasure. But first, all good republicans shall be taken up into the sky with the polar bears.

So it is written.

[ilovenicepeople]

35. Can God cure stupidity????

[Demeter]

37. A Couple of Lightning Bolts, A Mysterious Plague

Global Warming....God's on the job all right, and he's taking no prisoners.

Anybody waiting around for Rapture is going to be waiting a long time. We are going to see Noah all over again.

Ark, anyone?

[The Zanti Regent]

7. Survival of the Fittest!

Hey if Polar Bears can't compete, they just fall by the wayside. After all, that's what Jesus wants!

[barb162]

9. I feel sorry for all of the species that will die from global warming

except for humans

[restorefreedom]

24. it is amazing...

how one so-called "evolved" species has caused this must devastation to the planet.

oh, that's right - global warming, aka "climate change" is just a myth.

damn, I keep forgetting that ..... ...

[heidiho]

10. No Snow and Ice - Easier to Drill

in the ANWAR. Don't you know - it's all part of God's plan for the Bushies.

[jpak]

11. Melting permafrost will raise hell with oil production up there

Structures will collapse, roads will turn to mire, unforseen hydrology problems everywhere.

But there won't be any polar bears to eat the Holy Oilmen!

Praise the Lord!!!!

[Delphinus]

12. Maybe not easier, Heidiho.

I happened to catch the Artic Impact study on C-Span 2 a few nights ago and a question was asked about exploiting the situation and trying to make it work to oil's benefit. The scientist, McCracken I believe, said it was a Catch-22 - they need the ice to be able to stabilize the drilling, but couldn't get to it while it was still ice (or something to that effect). Sorry, my brain has been fried since last Wednesday and my memory fails me more often than it used to. But, in all seriousness, it was a fascinating two hours and, even though I can't produce the findings here, I did learn a lot.

[demokatgurrl]

20. And the Bushies have already taken notice of that.

Look out ANWR. Assholes.

[neohippie]

14. stupid scientests and their silly science

everybody knows that golobal warning is just a myth! i stand behind our president. the only warming i get is the funny feeling that comes just after he asks me to pull his finger

[restorefreedom]

15. didn't you get the memo?

Global warming is a myth ....

[jdj]

22. and "Climate Change" is the preferred name of the myth

it's the kinder, gentler, lie.

[Flaxbee]

16. It's time for magic now... without the US on board,

there's no way to stop this (and it's probably not even possible if the US were to cut emissions by 90%).

This is one of the things I can not bear to be witness to... mass extinctions caused by human stupidity and greed.

[Sabriel]

17. Yes, but now Russia will finally have that polar shipping route

Did you see that on the Daily Show? I couldn't believe it! The ice cap is collapsing, "but it'll be good for Russian shipping???!!!!" I swear, these people could put a positive spin on nuclear war.

[Nihil]

18. Hmmm

> I swear, these people could put a positive spin on nuclear war.

"I'll start with the good news: there appears to be a solution to the
over-population problem ..."

[democracy eh]

19. direct link to reports

http://www.amap.no/acia/index.html

the executive summary is a quick read

this does not just affect the poor little Inuit and their polar bears. climate change is happening in the arctic twice as fast as anywhere else. In addition warming in the arctic has a significant impact on the rest of the planet and actually exponentially increasing the impacts world wide:
- loss of sea ice = less light reflecting white surface therefore greater heat absorption and warming
- same thing for loss of land snow cover
- melting permafrost releases trapped CO2 frozen in the tundra
- melting glaciers change the salinity of the ocean

FUCK YOU BUSH (and non caring humanity)
you piss off mother nature and she WILL go medieval on your ass (or paleolithic)

[bunkerbuster1]

23. I'd make an obligatory "Right to Arm Bears" remark

except there's really nothing funny about any of this.

[blindpig]

25. looks like shrub has a legacy in the making

not that it can be stopped, it might be mitigated.History will hate us. If there's anyone to write it.

[whatelseisnew]

27. I lived in an Alaskan village in the '70s...

...here are a few changes that have occured since then:

Fish are smaller. I used to catch King Salmon with 50 lb line and their tails would drag on the ground when I held them by the gills next to my chest. Doesn't happen like that anymore. The Kings aren't thriving there now.

More dead fish wash onshore.

Warmer winters with less snow, more & longer mud seasons and warmer summers.

More wolves, and in packs, not the occassional 1-3 you used to see. From what I hear the reason is that the carribou migration patterns have changed because of the pipeline and wolves have become more desparate and moved into new territory.

[Lorien]

28. I see a lot of flippant remarks here

The global warming situation is truly spinning out of control. Despite what RW "scientists" say, the people I know personally who are studying climate change in the Antarctic say that it is DIRECTLY linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Climate change is a far greater threat to us all-in THIS lifetime-than war, terrorism, or peak oil. If you are under 50, you should be very, very concerned, and should encourage your reps. to make an issue of this.

[Tyler Durden]

30. This is what humans do when faced with deadly catastrophe....

...it's called "Whistling in the Dark."

I think we all feel this is a disaster on an unprecidented scale; it's just that until the millions in this country who believe so make the commitment to throw their shoes in the machine (Sabot=Shoe, hence: SABOTAGE), then nothing will happen until the water is lapping at Bush's feet, and then he'll run to DENVER.

This is not a seditious statement, neither does it advocate direct actions which interfere with government, industry or money. All rights reserved. Please don't kill me.

[Mother Jones]

29. Between this and the evidence on global warming, Isn't it comforting

to know that bushwacked is going to roll over the Senate with his plan to open up ANWR to drilling? (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)

The data on global warming continues to flood in, while bushy ignores it for the sake of his unquenchable thirst for oil vs doing the right thing in investing in renewables!

ARGHHHHHH!!!!!! It's criminal! :mad:

[struggle4progress]

31. Are we obligated to stand by idly, with stupefied looks on our ...

... faces, as greedy morons and apocalyptic ideologues destroy our planet?

[G_j]

32. kick

[Massachusetts]

33. Permafrost

The tundra is melting. Yes thats true along with countless and various other goodies happening worldwide. Mother nature WILL have the final say not man.

[newyawker99]

39. Hi Massachusetts!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[obreaslan]

36. THis is nothing more than rediculous Scientific "THEORY"...

Science is nothing mor than theory, jotted down by people who make wild claims that are designed to deny our freedom of industry. These are unsubstantiated rumors that man to attract your attention away from the real problem that will destroy the Earth. That problem is...

MEM KISSING MEN! Eeeeewwwww! That's icky!

Solution to global warming: Read the Bible. You'll find your answers there. :freak:

[KamaAina]

40. Shouldn't the right be supporting polar bears?

I mean, they ARE white, y'know...