Melting Ice Caps
Caption: This guy has lost a huge percentage of his habitat as the Arctic ice cap has been melting over the past decade. It’s not an argument; it’s an atrocity–and as the photo suggests, he’s rightfully quite angry about it.
The fewer words on the pic itself, the better.
But then Craig how do you respond to the person who says, “who cares.” Further, presented with the evidence of mass extinctions the same response is intimated. Even when convinced of climate change, the response is “we are not responsible,” or as the oil companies seem to argue in their back rooms, “we can’t do anything about it anyway.”
It seems we have created a social environment where the acquisition of wealth is considered the highest good and the limit of forsight is “the next quarter.”
There seem to be some who are critical of the efforts of Amory Lovins. But one thing that seems fundamental to his perspective is that renewable energy, conservation and environmental awareness can be cost effective.
Society in general and business in particular have learned to compartmentalize. Sea ice is melting, but that does not affect my business they say. To see the connection some education is required, but the initive is taken away by the stubborn adherence to a world view that holds only wealth as its prize.
You ask: How do I respond to the person who says, “who cares?” I don’t. I’m not going to be able to grow a conscience in someone with argumentation.
There will always be people who don’t care about the world around them–and you’re right, we live in a world where we’re programmed to believe that the only goal of any importance is wealth.
Having said that, there are over 200K groups on the planet whose purpose is environmental and social justice. That’s a lot of horsepower, which is growing every day.
All we can do it try. And btw, I never resent the work; I really enjoy doing this.
Craig,
The issue of Arctic Ice and Polar Bears populations is not as simplistic as some believe.
Dr Susan Crockford of the University of Victoria in British Columbia who has spent the last twenty years reported:
“On almost every measure, things are looking good for polar bears.
Scientific studies undertaken over twenty years by a widely diverse group of scientists have found finding Polar Bears to remain well distributed throughout their range and adapting well to changes in sea ice” .
Dr Crawford added, “Health indicators are good and the Bears are benefiting from access to more abundant prey. It really is time for the doom and gloom about Polar Bears to stop.Polar bears are still a conservation success story. With a global population almost certainly greater than 25,000, we can say for sure that there are more polar bears now than 40 years ago”.
On the other hand WWF UK Polar Programme manager Rod Downie creates a more dismal viewpoint.
Mr Downie states ““Polar bears are at a crossroads, and climate change and loss of Arctic summer sea ice is the biggest threat to their future.By 2040, scientists predict that no sea ice will remain off Northeast Canada and Northern Greenland when all other large areas of summer sea ice are gone”.
Rod Downie is a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper and Huffington Post.
So who to believe ?
Rod Downie cites his credentials as a person who has traveled with numerous scientific expeditions to the Arctic and as a professional climate change advocate can be relied upon for an accurate appraisal of the plight of the Polar Bear.
Having met Rod, I believe him to be sincere and earnest in his beliefs.
But it must also be stated that Rod is not a scientist. He accompanied those expeditions as an expert in logistical support and organization.
On the other hand, Dr Susan Crockford is a highly qualified scientist and academic of international reputation. Dr Crawford is an evolutionary biologist and the internationally recognized expert on polar bear evolution. She has been working for 35 years in archaeozoology, paleozoology and forensic zoology and
is a Professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Dr Crawford has published : Rhythms of Life: Thyroid Hormone and the Origin of Species.
Well, I guess it depends on what you want to believe. The subject of Arctic Sea Ice is an ongoing scientific debate and the subject of further research. Claiming by the year 2040 the arctic cap will have dissolved along with self ice, is considered among serious scientists as unsupportable alarmist hyperbole. This claim appears to have originated from the most dubious of sources.
Most studies are based on a very short period beginning in 1979, and while some studies reveal that decline of Arctic Ice level when studied over a longer time frame reveals wide fluctuations.
Naturally, contributions from human activity can’t be discounted, but nor can the regions natural resilience be dismissed. There are factors as yet not fully understood that run counter to expectations and need further investigation.
As an aside, I have always wondered about the difficulty a perplexed polar bear would have in describing the Titanic disaster to his wife.
“I was just sitting minding my own business when a huge lump of floating iron smashed into my iceberg !”
” Don’t look at me like that! ”
” No, I haven’t been eating fermented berries again ! Yeah, yeah, I know iron doesn’t float, I know it’s hard to believe,…….