The first animal I ever fell in love with was polar bears. When I was a kid, they were my favorite animals to see in zoos read books about. My bed was always covered in polar bear stuffed animals and I always wanted to watch shows about them. When I was younger, I saw them as (wrongfully) as cute and cuddly creatures and as I have gotten older, I see them as incredibly powerful and majestic animals very deserving of our respect. In July of 2020 scientists came out and said that at the rate we are currently going with climate change, polar bears are anticipated to be extinct by the end of the century. Scientists said that nearly all 19 of the subpopulations of polar bears would be wiped out because the “loss of sea ice would force the animals onto land and away from their food supplies for longer periods.” Loss of habitat is the number one reason why polar bears are becoming extinct and it’s all because of human-caused climate change.
The polar bear’s loss of habitat is being caused by greenhouse-gas emissions that are at “so-called businesses-as-usual levels.” Greenhouse gas emissions are caused specifically from human activity such as burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation. The Artic sea ice grows in the winter and melts and retreats in the spring and summertime, so as the Earth’s overall temperature warms, the ice extent in summer has declined by around 13 percent per decade. This is clearly evident now as some parts of the Artic that previously had ice year-round now have ice-free periods in the summer and other parts are now free of ice for a longer portion of the year than in the past. This ice is incredibly important for the existence of the polar bears. This is where they hunt the majority of their food, and a decrease in the amount of food they have decreases their populations significantly. Prolonged fasting leads to reduced nursing of cubs by mothers, which ultimately leads to “rapid declines in reproduction and survival.” Scientists have calculated the bears’ energy requirements in order to determine how long they can survive while fasting and they combined that calculation with the projections of ice-free days in 2100 and the results show that “the animals [who] would be forced to fast would eventually exceed the time they are capable of fasting,” so they animals would essentially starve. The only hope for these beautiful creatures is humans reducing their greenhouse-gas emissions.
Unfortunately, greenhouse-gas emissions do not look like they are slowing down at all in time for these bears, among other creatures, to survive. Polar bears have become a very powerful symbol for scientists and climate change activists to encourage people to change their habits and change laws surrounding greenhouse-gas emissions. Educating the masses on issues like this is the only hope these bears have. If enough people are passionate about saving these animals then hopefully it will spark change in the United States as well as countries across the globe.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/climate/polar-bear-extinction.html
I think this is a very pressing issue to discuss. As greenhouse gas emissions increase every day at an exponential rate these polar bears as you said are very likely to become extinct. I found your use of statistics helpful as well when you stated that the ice extent in summer has declined by 13% per decade which truly puts it all into perspective. Hopefully with posts like this people can fully understand the issue and induce change to save the polar bears.
Climate change and its effects on wildlife is so so important. I loved reading this post although the issues discussed in it are so heartbreaking. This needs to be talked about more! Great post.