The polar bear attack that was all over the news last summer is now an ebook.
![melt-down_terror-at-the-top-of-the-world_nov-12-2014-press-release-book-cover[1]](https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/melt-down_terror-at-the-top-of-the-world_nov-12-2014-press-release-book-cover1.jpg?quality=83)
Dr. Susan Crockford writes:
The Maine lawyer who was mauled by a bear while on a hiking trip to Labrador (and lived to tell the tale) has allowed his story to be co-opted by an activist journalist to promote fears of sea ice decline, polar bear extinction, and man-made global warming.
The press release issued yesterday by the news group that published the book and employs author Sabrina Shankman (InsideClimateNews), described it this way:
“A riveting new e-book about the battle between man, beast and Nature in a warming world. Called Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World, the e-book tells the story of the hikers’ harrowing encounter with a polar bear; of the plight of the polar bear in general, facing starvation and extinction as the sea ice melts and its habitat disappears; and of the Arctic meltdown, the leading edge of man-made climate change.”
I have little doubt the man mauled by the bear was indeed terrified and that his companions were as well. However, that horror is exploited shamelessly in this book as a means to promote anxiety over the future survival of polar bears and instill panic over a prophesied Arctic “meltdown.”
Read the rest here: http://polarbearscience.com/2014/11/13/meltdown-terror-at-the-top-of-the-world-new-book-exploits-polar-bear-attack-to-sell-fear-of-sea-ice-decline/
My cousin was killed by a Grizzly bear 2 months ago. While weather did play a small role (fewer berries this year), the facts are that bears are dangerous. The more humans go into their territory, the more chance there is of attackes. This is especialy true now that grizzly and polar bear are not hunted. Hunting plays an important roll, helping to insure that bears (and other wild animals) remain weary of humans. Obviously, hunting needs to be done in a sustainable maner. However, compleatly stopping a hunt is not good for bears or humans.
Sorry to hear that. Makes me think my first comment was a bit callous.
My thoughts are with you.
An environmental activist camping out in actual wilderness, not in the safety of the streets of San Francisco, but in actual isolation where man becomes the prey.
But the intelligence factor seems to be a bit on the short side … sounds like everyone was snoozing … no one staying awake to guard their fellow humans … oh wait, environmental activism at work … brains not needed.
Solution to global warming concerns … those most worried ought to go check on the state of polar bears on a one-on-one basis … will really solve the problem of worries of global warming.
The romantic view of nature being friendly if you just get in harmony with it is one of those urban fantasies. I have seen my cat eat enough, birds, mice, moles, and baby rabbits to understand that nature is ruthless. There is an inherent harmony in nature, everything works together in incredible and often beautiful ways, but in it’s violence from tornadoes to predators including polar bears, nature takes and gives no quarter.
Killer Rabbits
“This I know: Mother Nature is a maniac.”
–Epigraph to You Sane Men
True in nature the rules are simply ,eat it , f**k it or run away from it , otherwise you take no notice of it.
People, whenever you buy cola, remember that Coca Cola support this nonsense. We’ve been buying Pepsi for three years now instead (it’s better, actually). Please no one tell me that they support any such silliness!
When I first saw that Coca Cola was giving $3 million to Greenpeace for its polar bear campaigns I swore off Coke immediately – and I now drink a lot of Pesi.
–errr… that’s Pepsi!
Waiting for NPR to do a broadcast segment about this proof of danger to the bears…
The bear attacked a lawyer so what’s the problem? There would have been a beware of the bear sign but the bears heard you can be sued for that. Ironic isn’t it?
What’s that old joke?
What do you call 50 lawyers on the bottom of the bay?
A good start.
The IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG), the supposedly impeccable source for polar bear science recently the confessed to having fabricated polar bear population figures for years to, in their words, ‘satisfy public demand’ – presumably from reporters looking for alarmist stories.
http://polarbearscience.com/2014/05/30/iucn-polar-bear-specialist-group-says-its-global-population-estimate-was-a-qualified-guess/
Be fair , all those scare stories did bring them a shed load of cash too, so its not just reports they needed to feed but their own quest for funding.
“Gary Pearse: I wonder if any of the bear experts were like the bear consultant in hollywood who went up to Alaska with his girlfriend to sing and read poetry up close to the grizzlies. He and his girlfriend got eaten and park rangers then had to kill two very innocent bears.”
I do feel sorry for the girlfriend, but Tim Treadwell did not tread well. He was, in fact, a misanthropic nutter with a death wish matched only by his hatred of humanity. Mark Steyn, of Mann Libel Suit fame, did his typically hilarious job lampooning the idiot by pointing out how Treadwell was an advisor on the Disney animated film Brother Bear, which is a story about man trapped inside a bear, much like Mister Treadwell, except he was just passing through.
If you are interested in reading about global warming “Meltdown,” a better depiction of the situation can be found in this one:
“Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media”
by Patrick J. Michaels
http://store.cato.org/books/meltdown-predictable-distortion-global-warming-scientists-politicians-media-hardback
-Chip
The only interesting thing about this book is the question are the authors delusional, or willfully lying.
In both cases they are selling a book to make a buck, thats why any author sells a book. But if not dishonest are they so delusional that if they were on trial they would be deemed incompetent to stand trial?
Actually they are probably probably worse, they are blatantly dishonest for a cause. Nothing worse than a liar on a mission for God, Nature, or whatever.
Just another example of noble cause corruption. Too numerous to count.
Shank-man.
How appropriate.
Here is that e-book: “The climate change that is thawing the Arctic is upon us all, wherever we may be.” Complete nonsence: there is no climate change in the Arctic. The Arctic is warming, true, but that is because North Atlantic currents are carrying warm Gulf stream water into the Arctic Ocean. It wasn’t a’ways so because this Arctic warming started suddenly at the turn of the twentieth century. Prior to that there was nothing there except for slow, linear cooling for the last 2000 years. All this is documented in my book “What Warming?” and in the article I published in E&E(22)(8):1069-1083(2011). The initial warming at the beginning of the century was interrupted by thirty years of cooling in mid-century. Warming returned in 1970 and still continues if somewhat slower than before. The reason it started so suddenly was a rearrangement of the North Atlantic current system at the turn of the century that started to carry warm water from the Gulf Stream directly into the Arctic Ocean. The presence of warm water reaching Svalbard was verified by direct measurement of water temperature in 2010. Temperature at that point was higher than it had been for the previous two thousand years. It is pretty obvious that the “experts” she consulted are entirely ignorant of of Arctic history for the last two millennia.
Yes but Arctic ice is returning now and has been for about 3years.
What the #%&! were they doing hiking unarmed in Polar Bear country? In Svalbard hiking without a high-powered rifle is strictly prohibited. Not that this is necessarily enough, as some english students proved last year, by going to sleep without a guard dog, with a non-functioning fence and without posting a guard. Sounds familiar eh?
Kind of reminds me of the Ship of Fools – you know – they wouldn’t find ice because it was summer, data be danged…
There are very few things that I fear on this earth. Bears are one of them. Going into “their” environment/home unprepared and unarmed is just a invite to join the Darwin award winners club. Bears are very much opportunists, and will always take the easiest meal first when hungry. It is sad to see such ignorance that directly leads to harm. Even worse, embellishing someones harm for ones own false agenda.
Regards Ed
I was just looking up whether it was a myth that polar bears like toothpaste. Apparently its true. Its also true that
“In the US, you are 25 times more likely to be killed by a snake, 180 times more likely to die from a bee-sting and 90,000 times more likely to be shot, stabbed or beaten to death by a fellow human, than to die at the paws of a bear.” http://qi.com/infocloud/bears
I was wondering if there was 90 000 times more people buying drugs off of a dodgy dealer in Detroit than people who hike in the Yukon.
Well, I’m not exactly afraid of bears, but I have a great deal of respect for them. But they really aren’t particularly dangerous if you behave sensibly. Only two kinds of animals on this planet I’m really afraid of: humans and malaria trypanosomes. If yoiu check the statistics those are the only ones that are really dangerous, fatalities caused by all other species are negligible in comparison.
Remember, folks: The people who take a single polar bear attack and put out a book citing it as proof of human-induced climate change are pro-science.
My question is, how do we get more lawyers to go hiking in Labrador?
On second though, if we feed the bears, they may get too lazy to fend for themselves. That’s too bad. Since lawyers are never in danger of extinction, they could provide an endless food supply when ice is low. 🙂
What are they going to do in Antacrtica. Rampaging evil penguins? Holy Smokes Batman!
Some interesting stuff from 1967. It’s good to know we now have more polar bears. As for the Arctic sea ice what the heck are these fools talking about. Sheeeesh!
Interesting, Jimbo. Thanks for posting that.
Susan
It’s no better in Africa:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/06/starved-polar-bear-record-sea-ice-melt
The Polar bear who died because of climate change?
I maybe being a bit naive, but is it not better to have a small population of predators, when the food supply is scarce?
Eamon.
Eamon,
The food supply is not scarce and bears are not starving, except for the few old and young ones who die every year of natural causes.
That “bear that died of climate change” was an old bear who was in good condition a few months before his carcass was found. He should not have been onshore during the height of the feeding season – something was amiss.
See my post here: http://polarbearscience.com/2013/08/11/ian-stirlings-howler-update-contradicted-by-scientific-data/
Susan Crockford, PolarBearScience
Thanks Susan. I’m more than a bit suspicious when I see photos and claims of this sort. I think the eagerness to jump to the conclusion, despite any thorough investigation, is very revealing.
Many thanks again for all your great work.
Regards Eamon.
P.S. I love Polar Beaars.
More proof that Sierra Club Lawyers are so full of it that even Polar Bears consider them indigestible.
I laughed when this was first reported, as I suspect each of these lovely people was throwing their comrades to the “wolves”, as they were obviously lost in the wilderness they claim to be saving.
That the bear dragged this sack of protein out of its tent and then rejected it, tells me even more ..
Even a peak predator, scavenger of the north cannot swallow what these clowns offer.
Maybe the next club outing will be to Africa where even the Hyena’s will refuse their offerings.
Sounds like they were using a Non-lethal electric fence.
“An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from discomfort to death. Most electric fences are used today for agricultural fencing and other forms of animal control, although it is frequently used to enhance the security of sensitive areas, such as military installations, prisons, and other security sensitive places; places exist where lethal voltages are used.”
They work quite well; they use them to protect sled dog teams from bears among other uses. However, there are a few things to watch out for, as ensuring you have a good ground and the machine is turned on and working, with enough battery power. They do not mentioning doing having done that. Animals learn once they get a shock to stay away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_fence
I wonder if this person had food in his tent or had cooked in that tent. That is a no-no in bear country.
It seems odd that these people–polar bear food–didn’t have a rifle capable of stopping a polar bear when they were hiking in an area polar bears are hunting for polar bear food. Perhaps they were of the best defense is to be defenseless persuasion.