Select Verifiable Info Over Emotional Narratives To Shield Polar Bears – Watts Up With That?
Reposted by Dr. Susan Crockford’s Polar Bear Science
Posted on Mar 22, 2021 |
“Polar bears continue to be described as ‘canaries in the coal mine’ for the effects of man-made climate change, but the evidence shows they are far from being a highly sensitive species of indicator.” Susan Crockford, February 24, 2021
The evidence I address above – based on references to peer-reviewed literature – can be found in my numerous publications (Crockford 2015; 2017; 2019, 2020, 2021). My 2017 open access research report was downloaded more than 6,000 times, and while this is an online forum for legitimate scholarly criticism, none was offered. My comprehensive science book on polar bears, published just two years ago (see below), has a 4.7 / 5.0 star rating on Amazon, with 132 reviews so far.
For examples of recent blog post evidence showing polar bears thrive despite profound summer sea ice loss, check out this discussion of the many contradictions that exist for claims that sea ice retreat has affected polar bear health and survival , as well as this review of the evidence that less summer sea ice means more food for polar bears.
For those who haven’t seen it, I’ve copied under the preface to The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened. This book is an antidote to the emotional blackmail journalists, polar bear specialists, and elite influencers like David Attenborough are bringing to the public from all angles.
The polar bear is a powerful animal that evokes a contradicting mix of awe and fear. Its life on the sea ice, dictated by one of the harshest environments on earth, is unlike that of any other top predator. We are intrigued by the polar bear’s ability to live on its fat, but we often forget that such an existence is only possible because it is such a competent and formidable killer. Adorable polar bear cubs, with their virginal white coats and large dark eyes, evoke a different emotion when they are covered in bright red blood from a recent meal. Adored by those who view the Arctic from afar, those who live among these apex predators cannot afford this luxury of emotion: polar bears can kill people in the blink of an eye if the right situation arises.
In subarctic regions where domestic livestock can be kept, horses, sheep, pigs, and ducks have also fallen victim to the predatory skills of polar bears, but sled dogs, which are still an essential support animal in much of the arctic, are by far the most commonly taken human companions. Even well-fed polar bears, always looking for ways to replenish their fat reserves, destroy seasonal huts and wreak havoc in small, remote communities where people can only survive because they can store enough food for the long, dark winters.
This combination of hunting and catching behavior indicates the ingenuity and adaptability of the polar bear. Researchers have learned a great deal over the past two decades about the bears’ ability to thrive in the Arctic and to accept dramatic changes in this hostile environment – particularly changes in sea ice levels. Unfortunately, that understanding came too late to prevent the polar bear from being classified as a critically endangered species due to future climate changes.
This is the story of how the polar bear was viewed as critically endangered and its subsequent ups and downs as an icon of the global warming movement. This is also the story of why the catastrophic decline in polar bear numbers that we were promised in 2007 did not materialize. In part, it’s also the story of my role in bringing this failure to the attention of the public and the backlash against me that resulted from it.
It’s a story of scientific hubris and scientific failure, of researchers starting their careers with untested computer simulations and attempts to cover up inconvenient facts. Polar bear scientists were primarily responsible for making the polar bear the symbol of climate change and actively promoting the idea of a disastrous future due to man-made global warming. The failure of their predictions has resulted in a loss of public confidence that they fully deserve.
REFERENCES
Crockford, SJ 2015. The Arctic Fallacy: Sea Ice Stability and the Polar Bear. Global Warming Policy Foundation Briefing Paper 16. London. pdf here.
Crockford, SJ 2017. Testing the hypothesis that routine sea ice cover of 3-5 mkm2 leads to a decrease in the population size of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) by more than 30%. PeerJ Preprints January 19, 2017. Doi: 10.7287 / peerj.preprints.2737v1 Open Access. https://peerj.com/preprints/2737/
Crockford, SJ 2019. The polar bear disaster that never happened. Global Warming Policy Foundation, London. Available in paperback and e-book formats.
Crockford, SJ 2020. Polar Bear Condition Report 2019. Global Warming Policy Foundation Report 39, London. pdf here.
Crockford, SJ 2021. Polar Bear Condition Report 2020. Global Warming Policy Foundation Report 48, London. pdf here.
Like this:
Loading…
Comments are closed.