Photographer travels to Alaska to photograph polar bears in their natural habitat. What she finds shocks her.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Photographer Patty Waymire traveled to Alaska’s Barter Island from late September to early October with an express purpose: To take pictures of polar bears in their natural environment, surrounded by picturesque snow. 

But there was no snow to be found. 

“I was surprised when I arrived, to find there was no snow nor was the sea ice forming yet,” Waymire told The Huffington Post. “The locals told me that it was an unusually warm winter and that the snow would be late in arriving. It is one of the warmest winters on record.” 

So instead, she photographed the bears on patches of sand and dirt, or swimming in the Beaufort Sea.

I say this all of the time so pardon me for being redundant, but nobody living in Alaska has the luxury of denying the existence of global warming.

And to be fair it was not the scientists who were beating the drums about climate change up here, it was the native Alaskans.

They saw it before anybody, and they tried to tell people, but nobody seemed to want to listen until it was too late.

(P.S. You can visit the website for his wonderful photographer by clicking here.)

Climate change is causing polar bears to become long distance swimmers.

Courtesy of CBC News:

Scientists are concerned about the discovery that many polar bears in the Canadian Arctic are making marathon swims of several days in search of stable ice as the Beaufort Sea melts with climate change. 

Between 2007 and 2012, Canadian researchers tracked 58 adult female polar bears and 18 young bears of both genders in the Beaufort Sea and 59 adult females in the Hudson Bay region. (Adult males weren't tracked because they often remove their collars and their necks are typically too wide to keep their collars on.) 

They found the Hudson Bay bears rarely made long-distance swims. 

But in the Beaufort Sea, when there was less sea ice, most bears made at least one swim of 50 kilometres or more (a marathon is 42.2 kilometres) – 69 per cent did so in 2012, when sea ice coverage hit a record low. 

In fact, the researchers identified 115 long-distance swims in total during the study, 100 of them in the Beaufort Sea, with a median length of 92 kilometres or 3.4 days. On average, polar bears can swim at about two km/h. 

While swimming, the bears rarely rest, said Nicholas Pilfold, lead author of the study. 

"These bears are going for days without stopping."

You know it appears that somebody owes Charles Monnett an apology. 

Oh and fuck you Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin pimps that "Climate Hustle" film and suggests that polar bears do not really deserve our protection.

Courtesy of Nanookie of the North's Facebook page: 

In the Arctic, we know that the polar bear species thrives. (Wait, what?) In the 1960s, polar bear numbers were down, but then stabilized, and now in fact the population enjoys great healthy growth! (Not true.) It's time to retire the polar bear as a global warming mascot. 

On Monday May 2nd head to theatres to see "Climate Hustle" - a historic one-night movie event that will open America's eyes to the truth behind the global warming "consensus." Click http://www.climatehustlemovie.com/ to find theaters and preorder tickets. It's time to expose the climate hustle once and for all. 

"Anthropomorphism" is attributing human traits to objects and animals. Polar bears are majestic creatures, but there is nothing gentle & cuddly about them. They're created to be predators. Ferociously so. Just ask our cute, cuddly seal pups if "anthropomorphism" is your thing. 

(Yes and the same is true of lions, tigers, and killer whales. all of which according to Palin are not worthy of our protection.)

On Monday, May 2nd, join me in cinemas nationwide for a special one-night presentation of the groundbreaking film “Climate Hustle.” This informative (and even humorous!) film tears the cover off global warming hype, reveals the science that Al Gore and the UN don't want you to see, and profiles renowned scientists who have re-examined evidence and become cautious - even skeptical - of climate alarmism. Following the feature, audiences will be treated to an exclusive panel discussion moderated by Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, where I'm joined by respected climatologist Dr. David Legates, Marc Moreno, and a video appearance by Bill Nye the so-called "Science Guy.” (Oh my God! She is still on Bill Nye's ass!) Don't miss this special theatrical event on May 2nd. Visit www.ClimateHustle.com for information about tickets and locations. 

The people using the polar bear species to hustle us are the same bunch who want to stymie America's pursuit of responsible natural resource development. (Ah, so big oil is who is behind this Palin pole dancing. Not exactly a surprise.)


Ready to trust real science? Ready to put an end to the climate hustle? Watch the movie May 2nd to help accomplish that. Thank you!

The source of the "real science" that Palin uses to back up her argument links to a blog run by Susan Crockford a self described "polar bear expert," despite the fact that she apparently has NEVER done any field research on polar bears.

In fact it appears that while Crockford claims she is an "adjunct professor" at University of Victoria, British Columbia, she in fact has "a non-remunerated appointment as an adjunct, a professional zooarcheologist associate."

That means her position is unpaid.

However back in 2012 she DID receive a monthly stipend of $750.00 from a climate change denying organization called the Heartland Institute.

According to the link I just provided Crockford's actual research experience was focused on the "domestication and breed development, evolutionary theory and the evolution and history of the domestic dog."

In other words she studied household pets, and that somehow gives her credibility as a "polar bear expert" and a climate change denying scientist. 

Of course, did anybody REALLY expect Sarah Palin to choose an ACTUAL climate scientist to back her up?

More on Sarah Palin's climate change denying gig in D.C.

Courtesy of Variety:  

Fathom Events and SpectiCast are giving a major push to the anti-global warming documentary “Climate Hustle,” with plans for showings at nearly 400 theaters on May 2. 

Variety has learned exclusively that former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is participating in the event. The screening of the documentary, produced by Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and Marc Morano’s ClimateDepot.com, will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Palin, with opening remarks by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. 

“I’m very passionate about this issue,” Palin told Variety. “We’ve been told by fearmongers that global warming is due to man’s activities and this presents strong arguments against that in a very relatable way.” 

Palin noted that, while governor in 2008, she sued the U.S. government over placing the polar bear on the threatened species list because of the rapid decline in Arctic sea ice. Palin pointed to the high population of polar bears in 2008 and dismissed climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice as “unreliable,” “uncertain” and “unproven,” but a federal judge backed the government scientists’ finding in 2011. 

“I wanted facts and real numbers,” Palin said. “The polar bear population is stable, if not growing and the designation would have stymied Alaska’s pursuit of developing its natural resources.”

Yes Sarah Palin is always "very passionate" about ignorance. (Alaska Dispatch reminds us that Palin accepted that climate change was real when she was Governor of Alaska.)

By the way speaking of "facts and real numbers" according to a study released in 2014 the polar bear population in the frozen sea north of Alaska has dropped 40% in ten years.

I just hope these people in Washington recognize that this idiot does NOT speak for the majority of Alaskans who not only recognize that man made climate change is real, but have been dealing with its disastrous effects for the last thirty plus years.

P.S. A lot of people, and news outlets, seem to be under the impression that Bill Nye is appearing on a panel and will debate Sarah Palin over climate change.

As much as I think people would pay big money to see that, that is not what is happening:

Variety reported that, according to a spokesperson for Nye, he was not invited to be on the panel. Instead, footage from an interview involving Nye will be shown.

Trust me none of the mental midgets participating in this farce would want to have Bill Nye there to  stick a pin in their climate change denying argument.

The new face of climate change. Update!

Courtesy of All That's Interesting: 

This devastating photo of an emaciated polar bear presents us with yet another ugly view of a climate-changed future. Just this August, wildlife photographer Kerstin Langenberger captured this heartbreaking image off the shores of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. 

The islands that compose the archipelago are home to one of the world’s largest populations of polar bears. But as rising temperatures melt sea ice, polar bears’ natural environment for seal hunting also diminishes, leaving the bears to hunt for less abundant food sources on land such as snow geese and caribou. Such a shift in diet disrupts the entire Arctic food chain — and can leave the bears quite hungry, as seen above. 

Said Dr. Ian Stirling, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta and a member of Scientific Advisory Council at Polar Bears International, in an interview, “[Polar bears are] kind of in the worst situation in an evolutionary sense. They’re large mammals and they’re very highly specialised to very specific ecological requirements. If the ecology changes, especially if it happens quickly, there’s just simply no time for the bears to even try and adapt. They can’t go out and swim in the open water and catch [seals] so they need that ice and that’s why the ice is critical.” 

I have seen a lot of pictures of polar bears in my time, but I have NEVER seen anything like this.

We are several decades late in taking climate change seriously, and one can only hope that now when we are finally starting to respond in a significant manner that it is not too late for some of our fellow inhabitants.

But sadly I think that it might be.

Update: There are some claiming the picture is photoshopped, but it is not. 

Judge rules to protect Alaskan polar bears, choosing science over the objections of Sarah Palin.

From Think Progress:

In 2008, the U.S. government placed the polar bear on the threatened species list because of the rapid decline in Arctic sea ice, becoming “the first to be designated as threatened because of global warming.”

But in 2008, media mega-star Sarah Palin was still the governor of Alaska. Fearing that protecting the polar bear would “cripple oil and gas development” off Alaska’s coasts, Palin — a well-worn climate science denier — sued the government to remove the species from the list. Palin pointed to the high population of polar bears in 2008 and dismissed climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice as “unreliable,” “uncertain,” and “unproven.”

But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan backed the government scientists’ finding this week “that global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear.” In a 116-page opinion, Sullivan dismissed Palin and hunting groups’ arguments as “nothing more than competing views about policy and science” and ruled on the side of science:

"Notwithstanding a handful of references to uncertainty that appear in record documents, Joint Plaintiffs have failed to persuade this Court that FWS [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] implemented the ESA [Endangered Species Act] “haphazardly.” Accordingly, the Court concludes that FWS did not act arbitrarily in relying on and drawing reasonable conclusions from the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reports and climate models in making its listing determination for the polar bear."

Hard to believe that almost two years to the day that the batshit crazy loon quit her job, we are still cleaning up after the mess she left behind. Gee, I wonder how much THIS frivolous lawsuit cost my state?

I am very glad that at least judges can understand basic science, even if politicians subsidized by the oil companies cannot.

(By the way, this case is actually rather historic here at IM, as it is over Palin's response to the Federal governments decision to put the polar bears on the Endangered Species List that angered me enough to write my first post criticising her.  And I have not looked back since.)

Climate Scientists plan to speak out against skeptics.

From the LA Times:

Faced with rising political attacks, hundreds of climate scientists are joining a broad campaign to push back against congressional conservatives who have threatened prominent researchers with investigations and vowed to kill regulations to rein in man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

The still-evolving efforts reveal a shift among climate scientists, many of whom have traditionally stayed out of politics and avoided the news media. Many now say they are willing to go toe-to-toe with their critics, some of whom gained new power after the Republicans won control of the House in Tuesday's election.

On Monday, the American Geophysical Union, the country's largest association of climate scientists, plans to announce that 700 climate scientists have agreed to speak out as experts on questions about global warming and the role of man-made air pollution.

Well for God's sake it is about time! 

The only question is have they waited too long?

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the incoming head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has pledged to hold hearings on the "Politicization of Science," which will consist of a rehashing of the so-called ClimateGate "scandal." He's also called for greater oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency's coming regulations of greenhouse gases. With Issa in charge, the oversight committee will devote a good deal of time to hauling government and university climate scientists before Congress.

Last November's release of thousands of emails stolen from a web server at University of East Anglia in the UK only added fuel to the fire. The emails showed climate scientists on the defensive about attacks from climate deniers, and sometimes acting a bit catty. But selected portions of them were spun in the denialist world as evidence that climate change is actually a giant hoax perpetrated by evil scientists.

For the past year, the story has been blown up by deniers inside and outside of Congress, despite numerous investigations on the part of universities and independent commissions that found no evidence of wrongdoing or fraud. And nothing said in the emails could change the fact that thousands of studies have validated the fact that carbon emissions from human activity are causing the planet to warm. If climate change were a hoax, that would mean that more than 97 percent of scientists in the world who agree with the consensus are party to the conspiracy.

Issa says he just wants a "careful relook" at the science. But that's hardly the tack that he's likely to take, given that he's argued that it's "very clear that [climate scientists] played fast and loose with both the truth and our money." He also indicated that he plans to trot out the same climate deniers that the Republicans have relied on for years—most of whom aren't scientists at all and have been widely discredited. "I think science should always be filled with skeptics, and I want to make sure the skeptics are heard," Issa told The Hill in September.

Of course now that the American people, in their vast ignorance, have put the corporate whores back in power, it means that the energy companies are back in the drivers seat and they can keep fighting to bring in those truckloads of money while actively destroying the planet that we all share.

And sad to say, but our very own write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski will undoubtedly be standing right along with them while they push forward policies that result in the melting of the permafrost that supports Native Alaska villages all over our state, and reduces the sea ice that sustains many of our magnificent Arctic inhabitants.

Brilliant Nissan Leaf commercial.

Now THAT is how you convince people to buy an electric car!

When you see more of something, doesn't THAT mean that their numbers are increasing? Not when it comes to Polar Bears!

In Nunavut, polar bears are wandering into towns, chasing children, poaching food from caches, and generally putting pressure on the people who call Northern Canada home. The increased instance of human-bear interactions, people in this region claim, is a sure sign that the polar bear population is increasing.

However, research suggests that a decreasing habitat is forcing stressed bears into territory they once left for humans.

Biologists working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska, have looked at 27 years of data from the U.S. Government Minerals Management Services. The trend that seems to emerge is that a decreasing habitat is related to an increase in polar bear sightings.

Between 1979 and 1987, 138 bears were spotted in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska. This number increased dramatically, however, to 271 sightings between 1988 and 1996, and finally 468 sightings between 1997 and 2005. Moreover, the data shows that between 1979 and 1987, 12% of sightings were associated with no-ice conditions but between 1997 and 2005 90% of sightings were associated with no ice. (Read more by clicking the title.)

Polar bears are NOT the kind of animal that want to hang around with people. Unless those people are stranded on an ice floe. Only then may the bears temporarily change their policy.

If villagers are seeing an increase in polar bears it is clearly not because the bears are looking for some company. It is because they are starving, and their traditional method for finding food is failing them.

And yes that is the fault of human beings.

Binky the bear is rolling over in his grave as Alaskan politicians favor oil development over protecting Polar Bears.

The state of Alaska is bolstering efforts to overturn the listing of the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Attorney General Dan Sullivan announced Wednesday he has filed a supplement to the state's earlier lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C. In it, the state claims the U.S. Department of Interior did not respond to the state's concerns in a timely manner before polar bears were listed last year.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin and the state filed an initial lawsuit in August 2008, fearing a listing would cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, which provide prime habitat for the only polar bears under U.S. jurisdiction.

Gov. Sean Parnell, who succeeded Palin upon her resignation last summer, joined Sullivan at a news conference in which they said the Endangered Species Act was being used as a way to shut down resource development along Alaska's northern coast. Parnell said he does not intend to let that happen.

I think it is time for Alaskans to let our Governor and our Attorney General know that MOST Alaskans love polar bears and would desperately like to protect them.

What? You want to know how I know that?

Because I used to go to the Alaska Zoo during the years that Binky the Polar Bear was the most famous resident there. That's how!

Binky was the MOST popular attraction at the Alaska Zoo for almost twenty years. People came from far and wide to get a look at this magnificent animal.

There were Binky stuffed animals , Binky coloring books, Binky children's books, you name it and there was a Binky version of it.

At first Binky was only famous in Alaska, but in 1994 after an Australian tourist got too close to Binky's cage, he gained international fame.

I know what you are thinking, "Holy crap that bear almost ate that poor woman!" And my response to that is, "No kidding dumbass, he is a freaking POLAR BEAR! That is why there are all of those giant metal bars around him!"
However my point is that before Binky started collecting the shoes of Australian tourists, he was already an icon here in Anchorage. And do you know why?

Because Alaskans love their wildlife, and they especially love their polar bears. And why not? They are gorgeous, they are powerful, they are independent, and seeing one up close was absolutely breathtaking.

Governor Parnell and AG Sullivan seem to only be motivated by the desire for profit and the knee jerk desire to protect the big oil companies that line the pockets of the GOP up here in Alaska.

This party, and these companies, simply cannot be bothered with demonstrating compassion for a species that is losing its natural habitat at an alarming rate. Oh no, that may somewhat reduce the obscene amount of money they make off of oil production! We can't have that!

You know what I think? I think that Governor Parnell does not understand just how much Alaskans love and honor the polar bears that share our beautiful state. Perhaps he needs to hear that. You can totally tell him by clicking here. And while you are at it, perhaps AG Sullivan needs to hear from you as well.

Clearly we do not have to convince the Obama administration as they are ready to put aside 200,541 square miles on the coast of Alaska as critical habitat for polar bears.

So the question is simple. Do we continue to drill for, and burn fossil fuels, while destroying critical polar ice and the bears that call it home? Or do we demonstrate that we have learned from our past mistakes and are ready to start respecting the creatures that share this planet with us, and to working to ensure their survival?

Like father like daughter, Murkowski shows her true colors.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) may attempt to handcuff U.S. EPA's ability to regulate stationary sources of greenhouse gases with an amendment to the agency's annual spending bill.

Murkowski, ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, may introduce an amendment to the fiscal 2010 Interior and environment appropriations bill that would allow EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions only from mobile sources, and prohibit the agency from regulating heat-trapping emissions from stationary sources like power plants and industrial facilities.

Environmentalists assailed the amendment, saying it would basically instruct EPA to ignore the law.

"This amendment suggests that if global warming pollution comes from a power plant, it is safe, but if it comes from a car, it is harmful," said David Moulton, director of climate policy and conservation funding at the Wilderness Society. "That is a preposterous distinction that cannot be supported in either law or fact."

Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch called the amendment "an outrageous assault on EPA's ability to interpret the Supreme Court decision."

I have often stayed somewhat neutral when it comes to Lisa "Daddy's little girl" Murkowsi, and even felt a little relief when I became convinced that Palin would not steal her Senate seat out from under her.

However being better than Palin is hardly the definition of being good. And it is now very clear that Murkowski will sell out the people of Alaska in favor of profits for the oil companies, just like dear old dad.

Attempting to prevent the EPA from following the law to protect rapidly melting sea ice is especially egregious considering the great harm we are witnessing right here in Alaska, not to mention the impact it is having in other parts of the northern hemisphere.

The facts are that climate change is real and it is way past time for Republicans to stop worrying about protecting their major campaign contributors and to start worrying more about their constituents and the state they claim to serve.

And if Senator Murkowski is too steeped in old fashioned political tradition to see that, then perhaps it is time to really make Alaskan history and have TWO Democratic Senators in Washington.

(H/T to Wit's End for the polar bear link.)

The biggest danger to the Beluga whales of Cook Inlet is not predation, or lack of food. No it is Governor Lipsticked Pitbull herself, Sarah Palin.

Palin's old-school approach to wildlife management is legendary. Despite her incongruous penchant for sporting a polar bear pin, the governor's antipathy for federal protections for the polar bear has led her administration to sue the federal government over the bear's threatened status. Palin's gruesome policy of supporting aerial hunting of wolves is so infamous that Defenders of Wildlife has launched an entire "Eye on Palin" campaign, starring actress Ashley Judd. The site has prompted the governor to denounce the venerable environmental organization as an "extreme fringe group." Now, new federal protections to protect the belugas of Cook Inlet are Palin's latest target.

(One can almost imagine Palin's own little Alaskan animal checklist. "Let's see fight to keep Polar Bears off of the Endangered Species List, check. Increase predator control by allowing both wolves and bears to be shot from airplanes, check. Now sue to keep Beluga Whales off of the Endangered Species List as well, double check.)

On Jan. 14, 2009, the Alaska governor announced that the state had filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the federal government for protecting the whales, arguing that Alaska is already doing enough for the whales in the Inlet. Palin's chief of staff published an Op-Ed in the Anchorage Daily News on Jan. 28 titled "Protection Requirements for Cook Inlet Belugas Are Silly."

While there are five stocks of beluga whales in waters near Alaska, the ones in Cook Inlet are isolated and genetically distinct from their cousins. That population has declined dramatically since the 1980s, from over 1,000 to about 375 now. More than 300 whales perished in one four-year stretch (1994 to 1998) alone, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Marine mammal biologists and conservationists were hopeful that sharply limiting subsistence hunting of the whales by native Alaskans would see the whales bounce back. But despite only five whales being killed by hunting since 1999, when new regulations went into effect, the whales have not rebounded.

Even the Bush administration took note of the Cook Inlet belugas' decline, after being pressured by environmental groups. In October 2008, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced the listing of the Cook Inlet population of beluga whales as a full-fledged endangered species. Yes, the Bush administration, infamous for its disdain for science when it came to protecting endangered critters, saw fit to offer protections to the belugas living in Cook Inlet. But not the Palin administration.

"It's hard to imagine that anyone could be more anti-environmental than Bush, but Palin is Exhibit A," says Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Here we had the most anti-environmental administration in U.S. history, and Palin still feels compelled to sue over one of the few environmentally positive things to come out of that administration."

(Wow! Essentially Sarah Palin is "more Bush then Bush". Doesn't THAT make the hairs on the back of your neck stick straight up?)

That's what's got the Palin administration's goat. "The fear is that the Endangered Species Act listing of the beluga will lead to regulation of essentially unfettered industrial activity in Cook Inlet," explains Cummings. Today in Cook Inlet, the oil industry is still allowed to dump its toxic waste into areas with fisheries. That seemingly outrageous practice is grandfathered into law because the industry's activities predated the Clean Water Act of 1972. "Cook Inlet remains in this kind of 1950s regulatory backwater," says Bob Shavelson, executive director of Cook Inlet Keeper, a nonprofit advocacy group working to protect the watershed.

So let's be clear, Palin wants to keep the Belugas off of the Endangered Species List so that the oil companies can continue to dump toxic waste into the Cook Inlet where local salmon can ingest it before they are caught by Anchorage fisherman and then fed to their trusting families. Is this yet another example of Sarah Palin putting the "needs of Alaskans first"?

Is it too much to hope that Sarah Palin gets chased by a wolf into the Cook Inlet where she is carried by a Beluga Whale and delivered to the ravenous jaws of a Polar Bear who then devours her, lipstick and all? Yeah I guess that would be asking a little too much.

There is at least one man in Barrow who does not think that global warming is killing the polar bears fast enough.

If you click the title you will learn that there are more scary things in Alaska then just Sarah Palin and hypothermia.

The picture above is just to whet your appetite. The rest of the photos will freak you out.

Well they freaked me out anyhow.

Road trip!

If the most dire climate predictions come to pass, the Arctic ice cap will melt entirely, and polar bears could face extinction.

So why not pack a few off to Antarctica, where the sea ice will never run out?
It may seem like a preposterous question. But polar bears are just the tip of the "assisted colonization" iceberg. Other possibilities: moving African big game to the American Great Plains, or airlifting endangered species from one mountaintop to another as climate zones shrink.

"It's a showdown. The impacts of climate change on animals have become apparent. And it's time to decide whether we're going to do something," said Notre Dame ecologist Jessica Hellmann, co-author of an influential 2007 Conservation Biology paper. "Reducing CO2 is vital, but we might have to step in and intervene."

Once dismissed as wrongheaded and dangerous, assisted colonization -- rescuing vanishing species by moving them someplace new -- is now being discussed by serious conservationists. And no wonder: Caught between climate change and human pressure, species are going extinct 100 times faster than at any point in human history.

And some scientists say that figure is too conservative. The real extinction rate, they say, is a full 1,000 times higher than normal. The last time such annihilation took place was during the time of the dinosaurs. And though many conservationists say that saving species by transplanting them is foolish, others say there's no choice.

I cannot believe that this is what we have come to in such a short amount to time. From "Stop worrying there is nothing wrong with the climate" to "Let's start loading the North Pole animals onto the ark two by two before the ice melts and the flood comes".

I have no idea if this idea is even remotely viable but if it works at least those Gary Larson comics will finally make sense. Polar bears and penguins together at last. Who da thunk it?

Global warming is destroying the polar bear habitat, so how can drilling in their environment hurt them anymore?

Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Bush administration's decision to let oil companies unintentionally harass or harm polar bears and walruses off the northwestern Alaska coast.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage claims that federal officials violated laws designed to protect the animals and their sensitive habitat in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea.

"These regulations set the parameters for how oil exploration will be done in the next five years," said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the suit along with Pacific Environment. "The Chukchi Sea is critical habitat for those animals. For them to survive in the face of global warming, we simply cannot allow oil development there."

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to grant legal protection to seven oil companies in the Chukchi over the next five years should they accidentally harm "small numbers" of polar bears or Pacific walruses while drilling or during other exploratory activities. The agency is named as a defendant in the suit, along with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials said oil and gas exploration will have a negligible effect on the bear and walrus populations. Global warming is most likely to cause the animals' numbers to dwindle, the agency said.

So essentially what the government is telling us is that since these animals are doomed anyhow then how much more harm can it do to allow oil companies to continue to invade their environment?

What the oil companies and this administration continue to ignore however is that drilling for new oil right now is going to do nothing to bring prices down or get more oil available in time to impact our domestic supply for at least fifteen to twenty years. And then it will probably only bring the price down about two pennies per gallon of gas. That is not the solution that this country is looking for.

It is time to leave the polar bears alone and look for viable energy sources that do not destroy our environment or kill our endangered creatures.

Even though they are now a protected species George Bush gives permission to injure them in pursuit of oil.

Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.

The Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations this week providing legal protection to seven oil companies planning to search for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea off the northwestern coast of Alaska if "small numbers" of polar bears or Pacific walruses are incidentally harmed by their activities over the next five years.

Environmentalists said the new regulations give oil companies a blank check to harass the polar bear.

About 2,000 of the 25,000 polar bears in the Arctic live in and around the Chukchi Sea, where the government in February auctioned off oil leases to ConocoPhillips Co., Shell Oil Co. and five other companies for $2.6 billion. Over objections from environmentalists and members of Congress, the sale occurred before the bear was classified as threatened in May.

Polar bears are naturally curious creatures and sensitive to changes in their environment. Vibrations, noises, unusual scents and the presence of industrial equipment can disrupt their quest for prey and their efforts to raise their young in snow dens.

So in the eyes of the Bush administration, the oil companies, and the Republicans it is perfectly reasonable to cause harm to these magnificent creatures in the desperate search for an energy source which we as a country want to move away from.

I am ashamed of my states support of this plan and their attempts to argue against the plan to put these regal animals on the endangered species list.

The future of our countries energy needs is not buried in the ice of Chukchi sea, it is in developing an inexpensive, plentiful, and environmentally safe alternative that we can utilize without the guilt of damaging our planet and its inhabitants.

Palin administration lied about scientific disagreement among scientists about danger to Polar Bears.

A newly released e-mail from last fall shows that the state's own biologists were at odds with the Palin administration, which has consistently opposed any new federal protections for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act.

The state's in-house dispute seems to refute later statements by Gov. Sarah Palin that a "comprehensive review" of the federal science by state wildlife officials found no reason to support an endangered-species listing for the northern bears. The governor invoked the state's own scientific work both in a cover letter to the state's official polar bear comments, and in an opinion piece published in the New York Times.

Steiner spent five months trying to get information about how the state reached its position, saying he suspected biologists were overruled for political considerations. He said last week it's ridiculous for the state to promote a conference on polar bear science while refusing to release its own experts' scientific opinions on the issue.

"Even the petroleum-loving Bush administration couldn't find a way around the science on this issue," Steiner said. "This perpetual denial of environmental harm posture is what gives Alaska a very bad image nationally and globally."

Ignoring or refuting scientific information that conflicts with the reality that you want to be true?

Whose administration does that sound like?

In this changing political climate it is ignorant for the Republicans to assume that they can continue to lie to people about scientific controversies in order to continue in a direction that is harmful to the planet and to the creatures that call it home. And that also includes human beings. If you think we are not going to be affected by these climate changes then you must not be reading the newspapers lately.

I am tired of politicians who vilify scientists and dumb down the population in order to inflict their bad policies on this state and our country.

I will no longer give Sarah Palin a free pass. She has shown she is not a different kind of Republican, but one that simply camouflages her indifference to science and our ecological needs with deceptive talk and political manipulations.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin finally shows her true colors, deep dark Republican RED!

The state of Alaska will sue the U.S. government to stop the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, arguing the designation will slow development in the state, Gov. Sarah Palin said on Wednesday.

Palin said the state will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington challenging U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's decision to grant Endangered Species Act protections to the polar bear.

The Republican governor has argued that the ice-dependent polar bear, the first mammal granted Endangered Species Act listing because of global warming, does not need additional protections.

"We believe that the listing was unwarranted and that it's unprecedented to list a currently healthy population based on uncertain climate models," said Alaska Assistant Attorney General Steven Daugherty.

The Bush administration and the Republicans have been defying the legitimacy of the scientific findings on Climate Change in a desperate attempt to continue drilling for oil and sending carbon emissions into the atmosphere until they have completely devastated this planet. Who cares about the future when there is money to be made today?

I had thought, and hoped, that Governor Palin was cut from a different cloth then most Republicans and would recognize that our greedy pillaging of this planet was short sighted and ultimately disastrous. But I gave her too much credit.

In the end she is an acolyte of the oil companies and will do their bidding even to the very destruction of the creatures that reside in her beautiful state.

Alaska has so much more to offer then just oil and gas, we have other resources at our disposal which do not require punching gigantic holes in our tundra and upsetting the delicate ecological balance that we are currently watching crumble before our very eyes.

Palin may be a slight improvement over the usual Republican assholes that have traded our resources for political favors and lobbyist paid junkets to exotic resorts, but even her kicky hairstyles and attractive features cannot long hide the criminal arrogance that defines the Republican politicians in this state.

Alaska's Republican politicians weigh in on the Polar bear being placed on the endangered critter's list.

Well this ought to be good.

First let's hear from Senator Ted Stevens:
"This is the California extreme environmentalists who've decided to use the polar bear as an example of global warming. They're gonna say this is global warming. It has nothing to do with global warming. This is a concept called climate change. It is a concept of a process that's been going on for years....This species is not endangered."

Well that was informative and...crazy. Now let's hear from Congressman Don Young:
“This polar bear decision represents an assault on sound science and common sense.”

That is Don Young for you. Succinct and totally incorrect. How about our newest Senator Lisa Murkowski? Let's see what she has to say:
“I can’t express how extremely disappointed I am that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has chosen to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. I believe it is grossly premature, even with qualifications, to recommend this action based on highly variable climate change models and projected impacts of loss of summer sea ice on a currently healthy population."

Well somebody has been drinking the Republican Kool-aid right from the pitcher.

So that only leaves our new Republican Governor Sarah Palin. Let's see how crazy and uneducated her response is:
“We offer the substantial expertise of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to assist in the protection of polar bears, and in minimizing negative impacts on the people of Alaska and on important activities elsewhere in the country,” she said.

“Alaskans take our public trust responsibilities for our resources very seriously, and we welcome the opportunity to work with the federal agencies to address the conservation needs of these magnificent animals,” Governor Palin said. "We will continue to take the steps necessary to ensure that polar bears continue to thrive for generations to come.”

WTF?

Either this lady is not your usual Republican or she is a tricky little bitch. Either way I am keeping my eye on her.

It does not hurt that she is so damn cute either.

Polar bears finally make it to the endangered species list. ANWR is now locked up and the key has been thrown away!

The department, in deciding to list the bear as threatened, will cite studies by its own scientists that the decline of Arctic sea ice off Alaska and Canada could result in two-thirds of the polar bears disappearing by mid-century, said federal officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

This is the first time that the Endangered Species Act has been used to protect a species threatened by the impacts of global warming. There has been concern within the business community that such action could have far-reaching impact and could be used to regulate carbon dioxide.

"The science is absolutely clear that polar bear needs protection under the Endangered Species Act," said Andrew Wetzler, director of the endangered species program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Perhaps Alaska can use the 2 million dollars their legislature secured to hire scientists to refute the idea that polar bears are endangered by global warming to buy themselves a conscience.

I think that in this time of devastating droughts, killer cyclones, and an increasingly fragile ecosystem, putting making money ahead of saving our planet seems not simply short sighted but criminally negligent.

I, for one, am ashamed of my state. We both know, and can do, much better.