It’s not the white fluffy look-alike our kids snuggle or the cartoon image drinking Coca-Cola or “fat loungers who draw crowds at zoos” or animated replicas who speak to our children with the press of a paw before they go to bed, no it’s the real thing, the Arctic Polar Bear could be the first species to be listed as threatened with extinction due to Global Warming.

The real bears’ existence in the wild is not so idyllic: they’ve been caught by photographers appearing “scrawny, dragging themselves onto ice floes looking like bones covered in sodden white rugs. There are reports of “struggling bears swimming wearily in open water.”

The endangered classification for Polar Bears could come within weeks and when it does people who think human activity in the natural world doesn’t have consequences, will definitely get their bubble burst, to include industries lobbying Congress to weaken environmental laws and congressmen who take their contributions, Republican and Democrat.

According to the Los Angeles Times opposing forces representing the oil and gas industry, manufacturing and property-rights advocates have begun threatening counter-suits over the potential listing.

But, “Federal government scientists have presented increasingly compelling evidence that the top predator at the top of the world is doomed if the Polar Regions get warmer and sea ice continues to melt as forecast.”

“Two-thirds of the population of Polar Bears could be gone by mid-century if current trends continue, experts say. Bears are beholden to sea ice, where they perch so they can pounce on unsuspecting seals, their primary food.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-polar3feb03,1,6484917.story?ctrack=6&cset=true

The Polar Bear is the poster child for what will become a first in a long line of creature Poster Children who will need our help. It’s not just the Polar Bear who’s showing signs of human overindulgences; there’s a long list of abuses since the Industrial Revolution, that scientists believe contributed to a artificially, man-made warming, an enhanced Greenhouse Effect.

CNN’s environmental News Network did a story on how wolves are impacted by climate changes setting off a environmental chain reaction. When “wolves respond to climate change, they limit the productivity of moose, which then limits productivity of fir trees.”

http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9911/05/wolf.climate.enn/index.html

Discover Magazine’s article “Collapse of a Food Chain” reports “California coastal waters that contain zooplankton, a microscopic fish that feeds anchovies, mackerel, and sardines, which in turn feeds sea birds, whales and dolphins has diminished 80% since 1951.

“The seabird populations have declined or even crashed.” And the “reason is that the surface waters of the Pacific off California have gotten slightly warmer.”

There are several scenarios: short or long term cycles researchers believe could be the culprit, but the decline in sea life could be an effect of man-made global warming. If it is a natural cycle, then sooner or later it will reverse itself, like all other cycles. If it is man- caused, it will only get worse. And if the rate of change continues as it has, it will be a disaster ecologically.”

http://discovermagazine.com/1995/jul/collapseofafoodc541/?searchterm=Global%20warming%20and%20sea%20life

Is the flux scientists observe a fluke, a passing phase, natural cycles or irreversible changes attributable to human activity, the result an unsustainable life style that has stressed the planet and its resources?

It would seem the Polar Bear’s struggle to survive… may just be the tip of the iceberg. What are the candidates going to do about it?

Hillary Clinton

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/hillary-clinton/#energy

Barak Obama

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/barack-obama/#energy

John McCain

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/john-mccain/#energy

Mitt Romney

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/mitt-romney/#energy

Mike Huckabee

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/mike-huckabee/#energy