Copenhagen Has Gone and the Polar Bears May be Next
01/06/2010
Photo by Alun Anderson
With the Copenhagen conference over and efforts to combat climate change having run out of steam, my thoughts turn to a female polar bear that I ran into on the Arctic ice just 800 miles from the North Pole. I was on a ship travelling around Svalbard to research a book on the Arctic (After the Ice: Life, death and geopolitics in the new Arctic Harper-Smithsonian December 2009). The bear was far off in the distance but the moment she spotted the ship, she made a straight line for it across the ice, springing between nearby floes and paddling across wider gaps. When she arrived, she didn’t hesitate and confidently tried to climb on board. Luckily for us, she found the side of the ship a little high for her, even when she stretched right up on her hind-legs, so after playfully nibbling the bow and scratching the paintwork for a while, she switched tactics. She lay down on a nearby ice floe, gave a long-theatrical yawn, tucked her paws under her chin and fell asleep. That is to say, she closed her eyes and looked as though she were asleep, but there was something slightly suspicious about her cocked ears.
A polar bear that yawns and then....
Photo by Alun Anderson
appears to fall asleep on the ice nearby may not be as inncent as she seems.
Photo by Alun Anderson
Patient “still hunting” at the edge of a floe is the polar bear’s number one technique for catching seals. A bear may sit or stand like this for an hour or more, utterly still but alert, until the instant a seal surfaces. Then there is a flurry of bloody action. Knowing this, I resisted the temptation to see if I could climb down onto the ice to take a close-up photograph, beautiful though she was. Eventually, she grew bored with us, stood up, and strolled off far out to sea.
For me this was a magical encounter. The bear was truly in her element, the top predator of the Arctic: hunting a large ship suggests a swagger you won’t see in any other large mammal. That confidence comes in part from the high level of protection that the Norwegian government gives polar bears in this area. Although they were once shot for fun by tourists, the locals now joke that, “you are better off shooting a man than a bear: the authorities will investigate you less thoroughly.”
Thus the coming tragedy is all the more poignant. The Arctic’s 20-25,000 polar bears should really be doing very well now. But they cannot survive without ice to hunt seals from, and the summer sea is vanishing at frightening speed. Despite the protection they have, only a few polar bears will be left by the century’s end, living among the Canadian islands where the ice will linger longest. If the latest predictions that the Arctic summer ice will go between 2013 and 2050 (with 2030 the consensus of many scientists) prove true, then the bears will go very much earlier.
For the bears and the life of the entire Arctic ecosystem and the people who live in the Arctic, the slow progress at Copenhagen was unforgivable. It may just be possible to keep negotiating for a few more years and still act in time to stop the planet warming past the “dangerous” 2C limit (depending on which climate model you believe). But we have always known that the Arctic is where climate change will be felt first and most strongly (think over 7C warming by the century’s end); only very urgent, strong action would have given some of the ice a chance.
It is often said that the great unsolved scientific mystery of climate change is human psychology. Urgent, united action results only from the most immediate threats. If those threats come even a few years in the future, procrastination and squabbling are preferred. For my self-confident female bear, delay is lethal and delay is what we have got. She lives in a part of the Arctic where ice will go early. Thanks to our actions, thousands of miles to the south, her grandcubs will likely be the very last polar bears to be seen there.
Comments
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good job sir,..!! It was very useful for me. Keep sharing such ideas in the future as well. This was actually what I was looking for, and I am glad to came here! Thanks for sharing the such information with us.Thanks for the nice blog.
I love polar bears and it
I love polar bears and it would be a shame to see them die off because of the climate. Hopefull something will go in favor of the polar bear. Boxing Bag
Thanks for posting this. i
Thanks for posting this. i really enjoyed reading this.
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Thank you for this nice
Thank you for this nice picture
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Took me time to read all the
Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It's always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained!
There is no way that we can
There is no way that we can let this happen. The polar bear is such a great animal that needs to be on this earth. We have to make some changes to save them in the future.
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Great article, thanks for
Great article, thanks for sharing this post.
Nice way of explaining this subject, this line of content is very interesting.
Keep up the good work !
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polar bears need a specific
polar bears need a specific climate to survive and the melting of the arctic is making survival difficult for them. Also, global warming affects the polar bears' food sources such as other animals. When polar bears have less food, it is harder for them to survive. Irena from payday loans
Thanks for the update. This
Thanks for the update. This is a great blog post.
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Finally! A relevant, intelligent post about a theme that so much good judgment is missing. Many thanks for sharing this inventive and intelligent commentary with the world.
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There is no way that we can
There is no way that we can let this happen. The polar bear is such a great animal that needs to be on this earth. We have to make some changes to save them in the future.
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I just love Polar bears. We
I just love Polar bears. We have to do something so we do not lose them. They are too important to us. We need to push this more.
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Humans are not the only ones
Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in Copenhagen – some of our favourite species are also taking the fall for our CO2 emissions.
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I dont know what you mean with this article. Its not in english. But im sure someone else will think its useful personal loans
That reminds me of the
That reminds me of the documentary I saw on National Geographic, it was about Polar Bear and Arctic. They filmed a full year with polar bear and compared the situation there with previous years and the last couple of years...the polar bears have to survive without food for many many days and even months and they have a very small part of ice left during summers where they live. So I think the situation is much worse than we can ever imagine and this trend will keep on growing, and will make lives of other species in other parts of the world worse as well. Climate change is now quickly proving it's existence and forcing world leaders and scientists to think very hard and come up with a solution now before it gets too late.
I do agree Alun that we often go after immediate threats but if we don't prepare for climate change right now, we perhaps won't get a chance to prepare ourselves later on because nature may not give us second chance then.
@Kathline
I think it's in our human nature that we don't want to listen to the truth because it can be heavily shocking and that is why I think many scientists don't want those to participate who will bring shocking findings on the table. That is why we haven't yet achieved any real solution on fighting this problem. We've to keep our minds open and listen to both sides.
Regards
Michelle
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I hope this animals will
I hope this animals will survive,the bear was desper,that shows that is time for the "big guys" to take some serious deseations..
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The story of polar bear is a
The story of polar bear is a symbolic of the imminent danger that the climate change is set to bring in the nature and making it inhospitable for the life on earth. There is no doubt that with the Copenhagen conference, the efforts to combat climate change seem to have run out of steam, but we should not stop there. We have to rise and move on with our movement till we achieve the goal, as we have to survive and live. Thanks for the information.the diet solution program review
Well, I hope the polar bear
Well, I hope the polar bear will not vanish from this planet and I guess it is our obligation to do this!!
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How much evidence do you need?
Kathline,
I am not sure what your point of "science" is - that a polar bear can survive in a zoo in the south. Not sure what that proofs?
Lets face it - the real problem with global warming is much much bigger then the survival of the polar bear. The great white bear is rather the flag ship that people associate with. When entire ecosystems disappears, as is predicted for corral reefs, or the food web will be heavily impacted, it will affect millions of species. Our extinction rate today is already 100-1000 times higher then then ever before modern man.
Get your science from magazines like Science - http://www.sciencemag.org/ - it is not an agenda, but peer reviewed work.
You will realize that Global Warming is very real!
How much evidence do you need?
Kathline,
I am not sure what your point of "science" is - that a polar bear can survive in a zoo in the south. Not sure what that proofs?
Lets face it - the real problem with global warming is much much bigger then the survival of the polar bear. The great white bear is rather the flag ship that people associate with. When entire ecosystems disappears, as is predicted for corral reefs, or the food web will be heavily impacted, it will affect millions of species. Our extinction rate today is already 100-1000 times higher then then ever before modern man.
Get your science from magazines like Science - http://www.sciencemag.org/ - it is not an agenda, but peer reviewed work.
You will realize that Global Warming is very real!
tell the truth please
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5664069/...
This is exactly what is so annoying about this whole climate change global warming agenda. It is agenda not science and when people have honest questions based on real data collection they are not allowed to participate in the debate.