American Elephants

March 11, 2010, 7:55 am




Another word about the polar bears. by The Elephant's Child

Polar Bear Cub

Advances in DNA research point to a change in thinking about the evolution of the polar bear.

The stories revealed by ancient DNA are not all dismal.  Genetic study of polar bear fossils predicts a better fate for the endangered species.

Before 2007, it was thought that polar bears evolved from the brown bear fairly recently in the planet’s history.  But three years ago, a DNA study of polar bear fossils showed that the polar bear originated nearly 130,000 years ago.  That means the species survived the last interglacial period of global warming.

The discovery gives MacPhee hope about the polar bear’s fate in the coming decades.  “Its possible they will survive, even though they will suffer.” he said.

Well, yes, since it was much warmer during the last interglacial period, and far colder during the little ice age.  And, since polar bears are not endangered but multiplying nicely, in spite of all the environmental activist hype, we need not be too surprised that they have survived the less than one degree of warming that we have so far suffered in the current “global warming” panic.  Especially now that it has cooled.

The environmentalist hype about bears, usually accompanied by photographs of cute baby bears like the one above, has been intended to prevent drilling for oil in the arctic.  The designation of the bears as a “threatened” species is a bureaucratic misstep.  Environmentalist activists are determined to prevent the use of fossil fuels, and will go to extreme lengths to accomplish that.

Since this DNA confirmation that polar bears have survived climate both much warmer and much colder than the present misplaced panic has been available for three years, it might have affected the threatened designation, if the media had thought it worth mentioning.

November 22, 2008, 9:43 pm
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming, Religion, Uncategorized | Tags: ,


(h/t: Tom Nelson)












The bare facts about the bear business… by The Elephant's Child

Polar Bear

Are you confused by the whole global warming thing? Do your eyes glaze over and do you quickly turn the page at the very mention? You are not alone.

The Interior Department ruled today that the polar bear will be protected as a threatened species”. The polar bear population across the Arctic has doubled from an estimated 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960. But some scientists believe that sea ice, necessary to the bears, may diminish in future years because of global warming. This is an enormous threat to the American economy.

But there has been no global warming for the past 10 years, and there has been actual cooling for the last 5 years. What’s up with that?

“Threatened” is a term with specific meaning. It means their numbers are declining and the species is likely to become “endangered”. But if the numbers of bears are increasing, then why… Because the predictions of computer climate models said that in future years the sea ice may diminish. But…

But the predictive ability of the climate models is increasingly in question. Meteorologists will tell you that they can predict the weather with some degree of accuracy about 5 to 7 days out. Many scientists say that the climate models have no predictive ability whatsoever.

Well then, how effective is the Endangered Species Act? It’s very hard to tell. In some cases, an order to stop shooting the animal in question meant that the species increased. Many have been de-listed because it turned out that they weren’t threatened or endangered in the first place. Counting species accurately is exceedingly tricky. Do they only live here, or could they live just as well there? Is this a lone population or are there 20 more just over the next ridge? Faulty data is frequent.

The Endangered Species Act is, for many environmentalists, not a law to protect plant and animal species, but a back door means of preventing economic development of some chosen area. It is for others a mythical attachment to the idea of “a balance of nature”, which does not exist, for in nature there is only constant change.

The drive to list the polar bear as endangered is more about drilling for oil in the Arctic than it is about the bears. And the propaganda has been intense. We watched “The Golden Compass” recently, a movie made about a children’s book, a fantasy that includes ice-bears — essentially talking polar bears. To watch the movie, we had to endure a commercial from the WWF featuring a little girl pleading for other children to enlist their parents in the campaign to save the polar bear. Unbelievably crass.

So, it is back to the courts, for both sides have said they will sue.

This is a dreadfully dishonest way to deal with national conundrums. No matter how much the naive urban people dream of a world energized by the power of the sun and the wind and hydroelectric power, it’s not going to happen. At least not in the foreseeable future. And if you don’t like the price of gas, write to the Congressional Democrats — they have a lot to answer for.

In the meantime, no wonder your eyes glaze over…


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