Monday, February 05, 2007
URSINE UPSWING
H. Sterling Burnett counts polar bears:
Since the 1970s, while the world was warming, polar bear numbers increased dramatically from around 5,000 to as many as 25,000 today.
Historically, polar bears have thrived in temperatures even warmer than at present—during the medieval warm period 1,000 years ago and during the Holocene Climate Optimum between 5,000 and 9,000 years ago ...
Mitchell Taylor, a biologist with Nunavut Territorial government in Canada, pointed out in testimony to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that modest warming may be beneficial to bears since it creates better habitat for seals.
Looks like ice-melting Byron Bay motorists are off the hook.
UPDATE. Ann Althouse considers melty bear doom. Via Triticale.
UPDATE II. Thick pack ice, “the like of which has not been seen for decades”, may bring polar bears to a fearful Iceland.