5 Year review of Polar Bears Underway

​worldanimalnews.com/five-year-review-of-polar-bear-populations-is-underway-as-sea-ice-cover-this-year-is-the-second-lowest-on-record-putting-their-species-in-jeopardy/

The United States Fish & Wildlife Services announced this week that a 5 year review of polar bear populations was set to begin as sea ice cover was at the second lowest ever recorded. Polar bears are an Endangered Species which means that the USFWS must review populations periodically to determine whether current funding to protect them is adamant, among other things. The last review done on polar bears was in 2017 and melting sea ice continues to be of concern to environmentalists & conservationists.

There are anywhere between 22, 000 and 31, 000 polar bears remaining in the wild on our planet. As sea ice continues to melt, this number will surely decline. Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt and as it continues to melt, they will be forced to move in land in search of resources. This will put them at an even greater risk of human conflict as they move into communities to source food. Fragmentation will also take its toll as populations spread out in search of resources as their home melts away year after year. 

One of the biggest hurdles surrounding climate change is the politicization of it as an issue. It's become such a political issue that one cannot agree with climate change while being affiliated with parties on the right. The issue is laughed at, scoffed at, criticized, and torn apart in conversation. Any initiatives that focus on natural power like wind turbines or solar are picked apart and you can see that there is no interest in discussing why these initiatives are important for our planet. The climate will warm regardless, this is the cycle, but if we could stall or at the very least, stop accelerating it, animals like polar bears might have a fighting chance.

The debate over climate change is frustrating. Greenland's ice sheets are melting, these are facts. Arctic sea ice is disappearing, these are facts. Polar bears are dying off, these are facts. Regardless of whether you believe whole-heartedly in climate change, can we not agree that ice on our planet is disappearing? Why does it have to be political? If you knew that making a couple small changes might help stall the extinction of polar bears, wouldn't you be willing to do so? I think that's the frustrating part. Where's the empathy for the struggles our planet's species face?

This review of polar bears will likely bring to light the same perils they faced in the last review. Sea ice is disappearing & their numbers are declining. What will come of it? Honestly, it's hard to say, but polar bears don't have time for us to continue to go back and forth about what to do to protect them. Extinction doesn't wait for humans to make up their friggen minds. We must address the root cause of the continued melting of sea ice before polar bears go extinct.

HAPPY VEG