Global warming threatens polar bears

Global warming has placed the magnificent polar bear in grave danger – the real truth.

Ian Stirling is a biologist who studies polar bears. At times, he tranquilizes some of the bears so he can measure their growth. Among other tests, he feels along their spines to see how much fat they are carrying. He has noticed that over the last 15 years, the bears have become smaller and lighter. Sometimes they are so skinny that he can feel their ribs.

Polar bears live and hunt on the ice. They have huge claws to catch and tear apart seals, which provide them with a high-fat diet. Global warming is a big problem for the bears because it causes the sea ice to break up sooner than it should, so they can’t hunt seals and other marine mammals. With each degree that the earth warms up, the ice breaks up one week earlier. Presently the ice breaks up 10 to 14 days earlier than it did only 15 years ago.

Once the ice is gone, polar bears typically go hungry, living on the fat they consumed while feeding. The bears can lose over half of their body weight over the summer months.

Some people still believe that the notion of global warming is little more than media hype. Even those diehard disbelievers who are willing to concede that the globe might actually be warming up have difficulty drawing a connection between that and the plight of the polar bears.

They should consider this: after the recent eruption of Mount Pinatubo, volcanic ash which collected in the atmosphere over the arctic ice made temperatures drop significantly in that region. The result was the ice did not melt as fast and the polar bears were fatter.

All people need to take action now to combat global warming, as the forces that are causing the demise of the polar bear could be the same forces that could lead to our own extinction.

James Bilovus
Kativik School Board
Kuujjuaq