Endangered Nanooks

The state of Alaska is now officially opposed to the listing of polar bears as an endangered species. The state Senate recently passed a resolution 12-5 stating its opposition to the listing, and the state House of Representatives passed a similar resolution 30-9 last week. Gov. Sarah Palin's administration is openly against the listing.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife is considering listing the bears because of the dangers they face as a result of climate change. Polar bears hunt, travel, mate and occasionally give birth on sea ice in the Arctic. But as temperatures rise, the ice melts, and increasingly the bears' lifestyles have shifted, in sometimes fatal circumstances. The U.S. Minerals Management Service documented four drowned bears in 2004 that died because of a 160-mile gap that developed between the ice and land.

But in the Legislature, the simple idea that a dying animal should be protected has become controversial, as most mainstream scientists say the ice is melting because of climate change.

"The application for this listing is based on the unfounded, unproven scientific hypothesis that climate change is caused by human activity, in the form of increased release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," said Rep. John Harris, R-Valdez, in a statement.

Harris went on to say that "scientists do not have a clue as to how to mitigate these changes, if we could stop or reverse global warming."

It's nice to know we have leaders out there who can make such blunt statements these days. It only goes to show that some people prefer not to do their homework. For example, it is hardly an "unproven scientific hypothesis" when around 600 scientists from 40 countries agree in a report released in February that there's at least a 90 percent chance that the warming observed since 1950 has primarily been due to a buildup of emissions in the atmosphere.

And while scientists do no know how to reverse global warming, that's a red herring in this argument -- we're supposed to be looking for ways to save polar bears before climate change, whether it be manmade or not, slowly wipes them out. The report in February, which was from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also noted that "average Arctic temperatures increased at almost twice the global average rate in the past 100 years."

Scientists know what future polar bears face under these conditions. According to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a report which UAF researchers contributed to, "Polar bears are unlikely to survive as a species if there is an almost complete loss of summer sea-ice cover, which is projected to occur before the end of this century by some climate models."

If your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't wait until the thing has burned down to find a way to help. Polar bears are losing their homes, and while they may be able to adapt on their own, the best way to assure they do not die out is to follow the science and grant them endangered species status. Alaska is on the wrong side of this debate.