January 29, 2008
lame duck meets endangered species?
I didn't hear the State of the Union speech, last night... but hearing about it, on newsradio, reminded me that the closest I've ever gotten to Bush43 is this masked actor doing a little agitprop at the inauguration in 2000.
From the photo, you might guess that the skit is about saving the polar bear from the ravages of oil & gas exploration in the Arctic. Yeah, well, one of the big issues, at the time, was whether to allow drilling in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge).
I don't think it's happened, yet, but about a week-and-a-half ago, there was a hearing on Capitol Hill about the plight of the polar bear... whether they could survive their habitat melting away... that is to say, the ice bergs and ice floes they depend on to hunt seals and whatnot have been melting due to global warming.
A Washington Post editorial noted:
"A September report from the U.S. Geological Survey revealed that a melting of Arctic ice caused by global warming would wipe out two-thirds of the world's polar bear population, estimated at 20,000 to 25,000, and all of Alaska's estimated 4,700 polar bears, by 2050."
This USGS report has been challenged by some experts and academicians. Other researchers agree that the polar bear population is shrinking. There's a good discussion of this controversy in Macleans magazine.
The article also gives the Inuit point of view, that the polar bears they track and hunt are not declining in number.
Whatever the case may be, it's important to realize that there are many polar bears in Canada, and it's not just a U.S. concern. (There're probably many in Russia, too.)
Polar bears of the world, unite!!
In related news... the AP reported on January 28, 2008:
"Conservation groups on Monday sued a federal agency over an offshore petroleum lease sale in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast, claiming the government has not disclosed documents that could show harmful effects to polar bears and other marine mammals."
Posted by raacluse at January 29, 2008 11:08 PM