« 2010 was the warmest on record, both in the air and in the sea. | Main | Hydrofracking natural gas could lead to radioactive poisoning. »

Justin Gillis over at the NY Times Green Blog has been writing about the rapidly changing weather patterns in the Arctic due to Climate Change, and he recently profiled the dwindling prospects for Arctic Polar Bears:

A new study offers an ominous forecast for one flagship Arctic species, the polar bear. Bears in some parts of the far north are under increasing stress because of climate change. These bears do most of their feeding during the winter as they venture onto the sea ice to catch seals. But with the ongoing decline of that ice in recent decades, life has gotten harder for many of the bears.

Andrew Derocher of the University of Alberta, a co-author of the new paper, told me recently by e-mail: "It is likely that the long ice-free period of 2010 affected cubs born in both 2009 and 2010 and may have negative effects on females that were pregnant and gave birth to cubs in December."

His colleague Ian Stirling, also at the University of Alberta, told me that the climate changes under way in the Arctic have so much momentum that even an immediate shift in global policy on emissions would likely come too late for this particular bear population. "I don't think things look good for the bears of Hudson Bay in the next 20-30 years, even if we are able to stop anthropogenic warming, which presently appears very unlikely," he wrote via e-mail.

The following video, which is extremely difficult to watch, documents the condition of one mother bear and her two cubs:

A Warming Climate Takes its Toll on the Polar Bears of Hudson Bay. from Daniel J. Cox on Vimeo.

For more information, go to polarbearsinternational.org.

Also, please visit Daniel Cox's website, Natural Exposures.

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.