Maybe 100 Years Left For Polar Bears - WP

[hatrack]

"Global warming could cause polar bears to go extinct by the end of the century by eroding the sea ice that sustains them, according to the most comprehensive international assessment ever done of Arctic climate change.

The thinning of sea ice -- which is projected to shrink by at least half by the end of the century and could disappear altogether, according to some computer models -- could determine the fate of many other key Arctic species, said the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, the product of four years of work by more than 300 scientists.

EDIT

"The Arctic is really warming now," said Robert Corell, a senior fellow at the American Meteorological Society who chaired the assessment. "These areas provide a bellwether of what's coming to planet Earth." In Alaska, western Canada and eastern Russia, average winter temperatures have risen as much as four to seven degrees Fahrenheit within the past 50 years, according to the report and are projected to increase an additional seven to 13 degrees over the next century. Winter temperatures have risen faster than summer temperatures, according to Michael MacCracken, chief scientist for climate change programs at the Washington-based Climate Institute, because thin sea ice releases more energy from the ocean into the atmosphere.

The sea ice in Hudson Bay, Canada, now breaks up 2 1/2 weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago, said Canadian Wildlife Service research scientist Ian Stirling, and as a result female polar bears there weigh 55 pounds less than they did then. Assuming the current rate of ice shrinkage and accompanying weight loss in the Hudson Bay region, bears there could become so thin by 2012 they may no longer be able to reproduce, said Lara Hansen, chief scientist for the World Wildlife Fund."

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35233-2004Nov8.html

[jgardner]

1. This is so SAD! n/t

[OneBlueSky]

2. doesn't matter . . . with the Apocalypse coming and all . . .

there's no need to protect the environment, don'tcha know . . . after all, when Bush and his fanatical Christinoid base are lifted up and the rest of us left here to endure the hellfires of damnation, things like polar bears won't matter one little bit, now will they? . . .

I think I'll go puke now . . . :puke:

[Lori Price CLG]

3. OMG, that is horrible!!!!!

"Global warming could cause polar bears to go extinct by the end of the century by eroding the sea ice that sustains them, according to the most comprehensive international assessment ever done of Arctic climate change." :cry: :cry: :cry:

Lori

[JudyM]

4. Just yesterday the *s said they plan to disregard fossil fuel concerns

and reaffirmed intent to drill in the Arctic Natl Wildlife Refuge. Russia just signed the envr=ironmentally-protective Kyoto Protocol treaty, making it effective for all the many other countries that signed it. How pathetic that the US refuses to sign it. World leader my a**.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=969391&mesg_id=969391

If we don't revolt it'll all be gone.

[blindpig]

5. so what, nobody fucking cares

at least nobody but a handful of apparently deluded individuals such as myself. Our priorities so far removed from the manufactured consensus of Amerika as to be laughable in the mainstream media and the halls of power. We get lip service and window dressing at best, real effective change would disrupt the lifestyle and comfort of the sheeple(used to dislike the term but unless things change by 12/13 its in my lexicon)not to mention our master's power and position.

So say goodbye to God's Dogs, as the Sami call them, and to so much else beauty and wonder. And let's not forget the LBJs(little brown jobs), the multitude of plain, obscure and otherwise unnoticed species that we will exterminate without a thought.

A pox on us all, and double that for those who piss down the throats of their progeny by their sloth and inertia.