Federal wildlife officials on Monday called climate change the biggest threat to the survival of the polar bear and warned that without decisive action to combat global warming, the bears would almost certainly disappear from much of the Arctic. “It cannot be overstated that the single most important action for the recovery of polar bears is to significantly reduce the present levels of global greenhouse gas emissions,” the officials wrote in a report released by the Fish and Wildlife Service. “The sooner global warming and sea-ice loss are stopped, the better the long-term prognosis for the species,” they added. The report, called a conservation management plan, is required under the Endangered Species Act and outlines what must be done for a species to recover and avoid extinction. The polar bear was listed as threatened under the act in 2008. Continue reading the main story Polar Bears’ Path to Decline Runs Through Alaskan Village DEC. 18, 2016 But the report’s message, coming less than two weeks before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office, may face a skeptical audience in a new administration that has expressed doubt about the science of climate change and disputed the dangers it poses. Mr. Trump has signaled his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement — an accord the wildlife agency lauded in its report as a positive step toward ensuring the continued existence of polar bears — and he has shown little interest in making emissions reduction a priority. Nor is the price tag that accompanies the recovery plan for the polar bear, about $13 million a year, likely to be greeted with enthusiasm by a Republican-dominated Congress that includes members with no great love for the Endangered Species Act.
$13 million per year to save polar bears? How many human could be saved with that money in terms of medicine and food? Seriously...who cares about polar bears? How will YOUR life be different without Polar bears?
How did the polar bears survive the last global warming period or the one before that? I suspect they will survive again.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/...-bears-you-mean-we-should-hibernate.html?_r=0 The new wave of hibernation research is of particular interest to scientists studying obesity, which has become epidemic in the United States over the last few decades. Obesity in humans is associated with resistance to insulin, a hormone that regulates glucose in the blood, and Type 2 diabetes. Bears also show insulin resistance, studies find, but do not develop diabetes in the classic sense. “Obese bears are healthier; in fact, they are more reproductively fit,” said Heiko T. Jansen, a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University who presented at the meetings. “They have all the advantages, which is so counterintuitive to human biology.” In research financed in part by the pharmaceutical company Amgen, Dr. Jansen and his colleagues found that bears’ handling of insulin appears to vary with the seasons, with resistance increasing during hibernation and sensitivity increasing in summer. Fat cells of hibernating bears treated with a blood serum from “summer” bears become more insulin sensitive, the researchers found. “There’s clearly something important in serum that’s important for multiple things,” Dr. Jansen said. He and other researchers said they hoped such studies would eventually lead to drugs to treat diabetes or cure obesity. But practical applications are still uncertain. And it may take some time for researchers to figure out how bears do naturally what people cannot. “We have to learn and relearn and relearn that nature has solved these problems,” Dr. Jansen said. “And it’s our job as primates to figure this out.”
It's so sad that there are people that think like you do. Almost all of them righties and Trumpers. Ignorant self-centered savages.
Polar bears have only been around for about 150,000 years. Neither they nor humans were around the last time the Arctic was ice free. Humans have never lived with CO2 levels as high as they are now. ********************************* 5.3 million years ago, there were dense spruce and pine forests in the far northern Arctic. Greenland had 30 percent less ice than today, and global seas were about 60 feet higher. 4 million years ago, there was about as much ice in the winter as currently exists in the summer, and summers were probably ice-free. This is an analog for what we may experience in the near future; estimates suggest global temperatures could rise four degrees Celsius higher than today in the next 85 years, about as hot as temperatures were back then. 2.6 million years ago, geologic uplift forced the closure of Arctic Ocean gateways, like the Bering Strait, and thermally isolated the region. That restricted the Arctic’s circulation, causing a build-up of fresh water and conditions favorable for major ice sheets to form. From that point, there was runaway cooling as ice sheets grew as far south as present-day St. Louis and New York City. The most current cycle of ice ages began, and human ancestors were forced to adapt. This started the transition that would result in homo sapiens. 200,000 years ago, modern humans emerged. 12,000 years ago, the most recent ice age ended, setting the stage for the beginning of human civilization. 250 years ago, coal was first used to power steam engines in England. 1 year ago, atmospheric carbon dioxide reaches 400 parts per million for the first time in at least 800,000 years, probably longer. It took 100,000 generations for human ancestors to transition to something resembling us. For each of those 100,000 generations, the planet was crowned with ice. Now, that ice will probably go away. That incredibly rapid rate of change—10 times faster than any change recorded over the past 65 million years—is extinction-worthy. The research will help improve models of a melting Arctic, so we can better understand the implications for those of us that’ll have to deal with them. Our ancestors didn’t see their version of climate change coming. Our descendants will. http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t...le_arctic_ice_modern_humans_didn_t_exist.html
Englighten me, oh wise one. Why is it ignorant to think about spending $13 million on hungry and sick humans before thinking about spending that money on polar bears?
I don't think polar bears have to much to worry about.... We do. The north atlantic ocean has lost so much heat we could be in serious trouble. http://notrickszone.com/#sthash.D2nyjYzf.dpbs