The latest evidence of global warming: Polar bears are drowning.

[BurtWorm]

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB113452435089621905-vnekw47PQGtDyf3iv5XEN71_o5I_20061214.html


Is Global Warming Killing the Polar Bears?
By JIM CARLTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 14, 2005; Page B1

...

Scientists for the first time have documented multiple deaths of polar bears off Alaska, where they likely drowned after swimming long distances in the ocean amid the melting of the Arctic ice shelf. The bears spend most of their time hunting and raising their young on ice floes.

In a quarter-century of aerial surveys of the Alaskan coastline before 2004, researchers from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said they typically spotted a lone polar bear swimming in the ocean far from ice about once every two years. Polar-bear drownings were so rare that they have never been documented in the surveys.

But in September 2004, when the polar ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska, researchers counted 10 polar bears swimming as far as 60 miles offshore. Polar bears can swim long distances but have evolved to mainly swim between sheets of ice, scientists say.

The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days after a fierce storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. "Extrapolation of survey data suggests that on the order of 40 bears may have been swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough seas caused by high winds," the researchers say in a report set to be released today.

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[texpatriot2004]

1. sad, sad, sad nm

[Karenina]

8. They think so too...

[mod mom]

9. My daughter thinks Santa should stop working on the presents+ save the

polar bears. If only it was that easy :(

[CrispyQ]

2. When the only thing left on this planet is the

scourge called 'humanity' & the few species we see fit to 'share' our habitat with, do you think anyone will mourn the loss of diversity?

:cry: :banghead:

[Warpy]

3. The distances must be the problem

because polar bears are great swimmers, almost at home in the water as much as seals are. It's really amazing to see something that huge swimming and playing in deep water.

I'm also wondering if hunger might be to blame.

[Double T]

4. Wind Turbines and Hydrogen Powered Viehcles..........

And somebody damn well better hurry up the production before the Statue of Liberty is in ankle deep water. Humankind better start thinking about the other creatures LIVING on this planet and STOP being so damn selfish and self serving.

[kay1864]

5. Wind turbines maybe...

but hydrogen vehicles are 10-15 years away. And from what I've read, the capital required will be such that neither the auto industry nor the service station industry will want to invest in the manufacturing and infrastructure required.

Biodiesel/vegetable oil cars, OTOH, require relatively small changes in manufacturing and infrastructure.

[MissMarple]

6. Oh God. Don't tell HeyHey.

That is just too sad. No wonder the Inuit want to sue us.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. So sad

:cry:

[BlueLady]

10. Polar-bear drownings...have never been documented

That's the key phrase right there. Just because we're noticing it now doesn't mean that it has increased. Without data from the past, there's no way to tell; all we can say is that it is happening now.

That said, it's still very sad, even though top-level predators like polar bears have to die off occasionally so that there is enough food for the rest of them. Since they mainly eat seals, perhaps we need to check the seal population to find out what's going on there... besides clubbing of their young for fur-lined trinkets, of course. :mad: Canada needs to stop doing that.

[Robert Cooper]

12. Since when do seal hunts in Nfld affect polar bears in -Alaska- ???

We -know- Bush has been pumping his 'we don't know what's going on' theories about global warming, but that's no reason to buy into them.

You seemed to have overlooked the following:

"But in September 2004, when the polar ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska, researchers counted 10 polar bears swimming as far as 60 miles offshore. Polar bears can swim long distances but have evolved to mainly swim between sheets of ice, scientists say."

There used to be -ice- where the bears are swimming now. There isn't any ice there anymore. It's another -100- miles further north.

P. Bears are good swimmers, but they're not whales. They're not made for such long-distance swims.

Fortunately with our archipelago of northern islands, the bears have a better chance north of Canada, but that's only a matter of time.

Look to your coal-fired generators, lowered emissions standards. America is causing 25% of the CO2 emitted by industrialized nations.

And you need -more- gas to burn to keep the prices lower ?!!!

Global warming is cooking the planet. Warmer summers mean more air conditioners. More air conditioners mean more electricity demand. More electircity demand means more coal-fired generators. More coal-fired generators means more CO2, which means more global warming.

It's a vicious feedback loop, and only clean power production and usage is going to reverse it.

How many have switched to fluorescent bulbs? We've done our whole house and have reduced our usage of electricity for lighting by 75% +/- The people who owned this house before us had electric baseboards throughout. We never use them.

Don't blame our poorest people for providing for their families through hunting. If you want to stop the seal hunt, look to those who are buying the furs. No market, no hunt aside for meat and pelts for personal use. Americans need to stop buying furs.

And bear in mind the hunt is no different to providing veal and calf-skin gloves, except instead of nice private slaughter houses out there you have to trek onto the ice over the ocean and find them and kill them yourself.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi BlueLady!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tjwash]

11. The whole global warming / greenhouse issue is complicated to...

...say the very least. Ironically, the worst thing we could do, even it it were technologically possible, would be to instantly switch to hydrogen powered cars and supply all of our electrical needs through non green house emitting means. It needs to be done in stages, and very slowly.

It would take an entire library full of meteorological textbooks to show you everything, but in a nutshell, mankind emits a of a lot of green house gasses, such as carbon dioxide. Plants and algae live on carbon dioxide. They grow and thrive, because there's plenty of the stuff that they subsist on around. Already, this effect is clearly seen in oceans, where algae and plankton are more abundant than ever. But now, say that all of a sudden, we switch to other, cleaner fuels. Because there are so many algae and plants; the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere will drop. But all those extra plants and algae will still be there, sucking up all carbon dioxide they can get. In a short period of time, they will suck almost all carbon dioxide out of the Earth's atmosphere. Then we have the opposite problem, there is nothing left to hold the warmth in, and we get an ice age.

Like I said, theoretically it's complicated as hell, and weaning ourselves off of CO2 producing fuels needs to be done in stages.