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HOW CLIMATE CHANGE MAY DOOM THE BEARS:
It’s bad news when Polar bears show up on land!
They live most of their life on the sea ice in the Arctic.
Seals are Polar bears' main food source, which in the past have been plentiful and reachable.
The seals feed on fish, which are abundant on the continental shelf that extends from the shore into the ocean. To eat the bears must be able to reach the seals.
When the Arctic ice shrinks, it becomes farther away from shore and the extending continental shelf where the seals feed. If the Polar bears are forced to swim 100 miles to hunt their prey on the continental shelf, they run the risk of not surviving the journey back to the sea ice.
Current research indicates that over the past 30 years the average temperature in the Arctic has increased at twice the rate of the world. Data collected from satellites and ships report the summer ice has shrunk by 15 to 20 percent in the last three decades; the size of Texas and Arizona combined.
Watch these shorts on YouTube for better understanding of the Polar bear’s dilemma:
Melting Arctic Sea ice:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMQ21p93JZc
Polar bears with ice melt:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_VtbPfe1bs
Arctic ice melt 1990 -2049:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=neXB1XzMu7Y
Watch 2007 Polar ice cap melt:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=onWoah881JQ
Polar bears’ lives threatened by shrinking arctic ice
Each summer and fall, the ice recedes farther and the bears must swim more than 100 miles of open water to reach food and land.
By Jackellyn Carcamo
Polar bears that we’ve grown up watching on the Discovery Channel are being found dead floating in the ocean. The Arctic sea ice that is the polar bears natural habitat is shrinking, placing them in danger. Although it seems as if the animals are in danger and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are having a hard time deciding whether to place them on the Endangered species list.
The FWS decision was due Jan. 9, 2008, after a year of thinking, but at the last minute they felt they needed yet another month to decide the fate of the bears.
The United States Geological Service conducted a study in September 2007 and it anticipated that the polar bear population could decline two-thirds by 2050. Right now it’s at roughly 25,000.
The melting Artic ice that’s causing this problem has its roots in global warming. Temperatures in the Arctic are rising much faster than (at twice the rate of) the global average.
NASA scientists predict the Artic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2013, and without it polar bears have no chance at surviving.
If polar bears are accepted and put under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), this could affect the government and the environment. Right now, polar bears’ main danger is climate change. Under the ESA, the FWS has to protect the animals and if the government chooses to add anything that might increase carbon dioxide emissions –which hurts the environment/atmosphere- the FWS can force them to stop because they are endangering the polar bears.
"It would be the first time that the Bush Administration would recognize that global warming had a significant and specific impact on a living being. This could have a wide-ranging effect on the energy and environmental policies of this country," says Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesperson for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
What exactly can we do to help polar bears (and our environment)? It all begins by making more “green” choices. Do the three R’s (reduce, reuse, and recycle), ride a bike instead of using cars (or take a bus), create a project to help the environment, and turn off your television or radio if you aren’t using it. You can even donate to organizations like the WWF or Polar Bears International, which have been formed to help the bears. Slowly we can help these "kings of the great white north" survive.
What do you think about endangered bears and global warming? Talk to us: outloud@outloud.com.