The word comes from the Obama Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, no less, and some enironmentalists heads are exploding right about now. This pretty well slams the door on the polar bears threatened by global warming meme. Now we know why there was a flurry of questionable press releases this past week like these:
Polar bears no longer on ‘thin ice’: researchers say polar bears could face brighter future: “a combination of greenhouse gas mitigation and control of adverse human activities in the Arctic can lead to a more promising future for polar bear populations and their sea ice habitat“
Polar bears: On thin ice? Extinction can be averted, scientists say
Cutting greenhouse gases now is the key
Polar bears still on thin ice, but cutting greenhouse gases now can avert extinction
From Politico: The Obama administration is sticking with a George W. Bush-era decision to deny polar bears endangered species status.
In a court filing Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service defended the previous administration’s decision to give the polar bear the less-protective “threatened” species designation, a move that will frustrate environmentalists who hoped for stronger protections under the Endangered Species Act.
FWS Director Rowan Gould said the 2008 “threatened” listing was made “following careful analysis of the best scientific information, as required by the ESA.”
At the time, the service determined the bears weren’t danger of extinction, so did not warrant the “endangered” status. The bears were listed as “threatened” because they face serious threats from projected decline in its sea ice habitat due to global warming would result in them likely being in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future.
FWS is “confident it was and is the appropriate status,” Gould said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46733.html#ixzz18v3D5N4y
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http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/theres-a-mini-ice-age-coming-says-man-who-beats-weather-experts-20101221-1945a.html
According to Piers Corbyn, the forthcoming climate and weather is likely to be right up their street!
I would like to propose that “Homo Sapiens” be declared an endangered specis because they are threatened with extinction by the AGW myth.
Silly me, I thought all the polly berras fell out of the sky and splattered on the streets of New York.
To celebrate this good news, I hereby declare December 23rd of each year as “Hug a Polar Bear Day.”
Hi there, does that mean the WWF can stop their adverts with the sad looking polar bears and telling me to hand over my DD details to save them?
If this becomes mainstream I’m gonna have a good laugh at the faces of the advocates of agw.
WOW! A hint of sanity coming from Washington????
“greenhouse gas mitigation” ?
What are these guys smoking ? (and where can I get some ?)
Roger:
They must be smoking CO2…
I had to explain to my five year old son that polar bears can swim, are not endangered and are doing just fine after he saw one of the wwe`s propaganda adverts on a children`s channel. These people ought to be ashamed showing that trash on kids tv show`s.
How did it go, wasn’t Miami Vice the TV show with “ice ice ice” theme — Oops different ice you say?
Polar bears are a recent addition to planet earth, having been brown bears up until about 220,000 years ago. I guess the brown bears took notice at all the tasty seals that were living on the Arctic ice pack and they began migrating north. Since the Arctic beaches had become a thing of days gone by (hey what did you think tundra is?). They also quickly figured out that white was the preferred color when stealing seals for dinner. Smart move. At least this is what the guys and gals who research polar bears has to say. And the bears biggest fears, becoming rugs, like what happened in the 1970s with excess hunting. Bring a food source, and something will evolve to eat it :).
So everything that is, hasn’t always been, key point of things to remember :). I blame plate tectonics for closing off the Isthmus of Panama to ocean recirculation currents for the polar bear creation and subsequent migrations — chicken egg argument here.
And 220,000 years, compared to earth’s 4.5 billion life span so far, sneeze in time. So were polar bears never entitled to live in the Arctic and snack on ‘our seals’, and occasionally people? Did they have the proper government registration, over-site and regulations to just ‘move in’ and take over? Well because that is what they did, took over.
And if you think cuddly applies to a polar bear, then I submit you have very little, up close face time with real live wild bears 600-1000 pounds, their four inch claws, legs the size of telephone poles and gnarly superior attitude. At our Ft Churchill Aurora Borealis research site, you did not go outside without the guy with the big rifle clearing the way.
Hey it happened to the Saber Tooth Tigers, where I bet they had one too many human entrees.
Seriously, I believe the only, truely, endagered species on Earth are sensible and rational, thinking humans. Ther rest are just sheep/lemmings!
On the surface it seems that Polar Bears are merely endangered and yet they still have to be ‘saved’ by cutting greenhouse gas emissions! The fact that they are multiplying means it is probably better to provide them with contraceptives rather than build electric cars [which have no range] or use wind power [which is the most expensive way to keep warm/cold [depending on your eco scientific/religious rules] in order to lower a gas which is neither poisonous or pollutant. Madness rules. Contraceptives are so much cheaper too. The Greens can fit them on whenever they like. Happy Christmas all.
Oh well, at least they maintain “threatened” status, allowing “scientists” the excuse to continue
harrassingstudying them.Meanwhile, the eco-loons like WWF etc. will continue to use Polar bears as their poster species for their favorite, most lucrative bogeyman of all time, human-produced climate.
It’s a nice thorn in their sides though, and ramps up the level of cognitive dissonance to a delicious degree.
Now that we have now been assured that GW actually causes colder winters (don’t know how we missed that) – shouldn’t Eco warriors now start campaigning hard to halt CO2 reductions in order to save those Polar Bears?
You know it makes sense.
Isn’t it obvious that the US F&WS has been infiltrated by agents of the Global Denier Conspiracy?
Mark Nutley says:
December 23, 2010 at 3:51 am
I had to do the same with my 9year old. I advice anyone with children to make sure their kids don’t get sucked into this daft religion called AGW. I teach my kids to have morals, respect, and everytime they come home from school I make sure they haven’t been brainwashed.
This has nothing to do with GW, but is an ongoing effort of the Center for Biological Diversity (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/story/index.html) to use a critter that the general public thinks cute to shut down petroleum development on the arctic’s North Slope. They were a major driver in the recent designation there for 187,000 square miles of “critical habitat” in Arctic sea ice and coastal areas. They live through a blanket of law suits and are the plaintiff on many of the lawsuits that deal with all types of critters. Noblin is their AK person and you’ll note that she only has advocate credentials. She Op Ed’s for the Anchorage Daily news which most of us AK folks view as distinctly biased.
Rebecca Noblin, Alaska Director, Staff Attorney, is based in Anchorage, Alaska, where she focuses on protecting marine species from oil and gas development and global warming. Before joining the Center, Rebecca worked under a fellowship from Harvard, which she used to fight Arctic oil and gas development as part of Pacific Environment’s Alaska program. Rebecca holds a bachelor’s in English from the University of Texas and a law degree from Harvard Law School. She served as a clerk to the Honorable Robert L. Eastaugh on the Alaska Supreme Court.
Contact: Anchorage, AK, 907.274.1110, rnoblin@biologicaldiversity.org
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/staff/#rnoblin
Endangered listing needed to save Alaska polar bears
By REBECCA NOBLIN
Published: December 14th, 2010 07:42 PM
Last Modified: December 14th, 2010 07:43 PM
Alaska’s polar bears are getting an important boost from President Barack Obama’s Interior Department with the recent designation of more than 187,000 square miles of “critical habitat” in Arctic sea ice and coastal areas. This habitat protection under the Endangered Species Act is good news for the polar bear — studies have shown that species with designated critical habitat are nearly twice as likely to recover as those without. But we have a long way to go before we can count the polar bear as being on the road to recovery. (Complete article:
http://www.adn.com/2010/12/14/1604473/endangered-listing-needed-to-save.html)
Art Schaefer
Sterling, AK
I am fed up of telling people that polar nears are not, nor ever have been, endangered. They were added to the ‘threatened species’ list, because to be classed as endangered, their numbers must be in serious decline.
The fact is, their numbers are not in serious decline, but if some future event should happen to negatively impact their numbers, then they could be threatened with extinction.
Hence their inclusion on the threatened species list for entirely spurious and political reasons.
Whew, I was just about to sell my shares in Coca Cola!
This is a small victory for true “conservationists” everywhere. By attempting to fraudulently list the polar bears as “endangered”, the Neo-Environmentalists were/are watering down the true meaning of the term “endangered”. What good is it to call something “endangered” when everything else is already labeled the same?
Look at the amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth that took place when the American bald eagle was taken off the endangered species list, after the incredibly successful rebound that they made. If a resounding species comeback success story like that takes years and years of court and Congressional battles to get the designation downgraded to merely “threatened” or a “species of special concern”, imagine what it would take to get the polar bears de-listed/downgraded when their population explodes in the (possibly) upcoming New Ice Age?
For once, I can actually say “Good job, Obama Administration.” (Yes, that was a avian porcine species you just saw fly past your window.
Is it too much to wish that Climate Scientists are put on the endangered species list?
Perhaps they could be made obsolete by i-phone app that ties up all the devices resources calculating an infinite number of disaster scenarios based on little or no input.
Not only are polar bears not endangered, they are not threatened either. This is all just political nonsense and has nothing to do with scientific fact, just like climate junk-science.
Three guesses as to what helped the Polar Bear population rebound? NOT HUNTING THEM!!!
No piece of legislature or designation other than ones stating only Inuit type natives (I’m sure there is a better term) can hunt Polar Bears has done anything to help the Polar Bears recover.
Now that I’m off my rant, Merry to all!
Doh, the end was suppose to be:
Merry “Fill in your favorite celebration” to all!
Why aren’t we protecting the seals…..
…..from the polly bears!
Just don’t eat too much liver of the polar bear – or you could get Hypervitaminosis A.
The liver of certain animals — including the polar bear, seal, walrus, and husky — is unsafe to eat because it is extraordinarily high in vitamin A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_A