As global warming changes the planet's climate system, polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate. Habitat for polar bears is literally melting out from under them. The last two years were the worst ever recorded for sea ice loss, and if current trends continue, the Arctic will be ice free in summer by 2040. Polar bears live solely in the Arctic and won't survive without sea ice.
Scientists now believe the Polar Bear could be extinct by 2050 if we do not stop global warming. Many other species will follow.
To save the polar bear, we have to act now. Responding to a successful lawsuit filed by Greenpeace and other organizations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now considering listing the polar bear as a threatened species. They have asked for public comments and, naturally, they need to hear from us.
Time is running out. There's still a long way to go before the polar bear is officially listed as threatened, and then the government must take action to protect them. The stakes couldn't be higher. Please continue fighting with us as we work to save the polar bears, the Arctic environment, and our planet's climate system!
Peace!
it is sad but true that our children will probably never be able to see a live polar bear.
There is a petition to place the Polar Bear on the Threatened Species List and while I believe it should be on the Endangered Species List, this is a beginning. Please help save them by going to the following link and signing the petition. Comments may be posted until October 22nd, 2007. Signatures only will still be accepted after that date. So do us all a favor and save a Polar Bear!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/225344285/tf_link
Jeannie McIver
Where is the link to this information? I want to read it.
I read from the BBC that it's more like 100 years, not 43.
And won't they evolve to better handle this?
The BBC reported:
"Climate change is threatening polar bears with starvation by shortening their hunting season, according to a study by scientists from the Canadian Wildlife Service.[69]"
"September 7, 2007, the New York Times reported on the year-long United States Geological Survey report which, in part, stated the floating Arctic ice cap will continue its rapid shrinkage over the next 50 years, consequently wiping out much of the polar bears’ habitat. The bears would disappear from Alaska, but would continue to exist in the Arctic archipelago of Canada and areas off the northern Greenland coast.[70] "
So they won't be extinct, they'll be endangered. At least according to this and they'll make a comeback, same old story. Man freaks out, trys to save animal. Animal either adapts, dies or wasn't in as big of trouble as perpetrated. Not that I'm saying that this isn't bad for Polar bears, but it won't make them extinct.
while extinction is very plausible....
a lack of hunting season coupled with loss of habitat will eventually lead to starvationn and inbreeding....which are the two major factors that will most likely lead to their extinctin over anything else.....
i simply want the government to put them on the "threatened" list.....the threatened list doesn't mean that they are extinct...it means that they are...um...you know, threatened. they have a POSSIBILITY of BECOMING extinct. thats all
Evolution takes 1,000s of generations, not 40-100 years....there is no way they could evolve fast enough..and besides, what would they evolve into..fish? With the ice caps gone, they won't have anything but water up there and even if they could turn into fish in 100 years, they certainly wouldn't be polar bears anymore...they'd be polar fish...
Love ya,
Carrot
Evolution takes 1,000s of generations, not 40-100 years....
Ok, I know you're talking polar bears here, and this statement is completely accurate for them. However, I wanted to point out that 40 years IS thousands of generations (millions, billions, probably more) of bacteria, because they divide every 30 minutes or so.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!