Ursus Maritimus, The polar bear

Polar bear – the largest land predator on Earth... and one of the first standing to lose its natural habitat to climate change.

We’re living in times of change. We always seem too. Some changes are man-caused struggles for control and power, like the wars that scar our history too often; others are natural disasters caused by the Mother Nature herself. Change is important for human race. After all, it’s the greatest change of all – the Progress – that got us where we are now, that gave us our comfortable lifestyles and ability to do more than hunt for food most of our lives. Yet, as any change, the progress had its price. It’s not for me to decide whether we’ve paid too much. Is the loss of thousands of species too much? Is the loss of virgin forests, clean rivers and lakes, unspoilt natural resources too much? Could have the progress been achieved for a lower fee, if only we cared more, showed more respect for the planet that bore us? I’m afraid it could have cost less. I’m afraid history has already proven that there is always somebody who wouldn’t let simple moral concerns stand between them and what they ultimately want. Whatever the price.

As I’ve mentioned last week global warming is the big crisis of our generation. It’s a debate, an argument. And as in any argument there are sides that stand to benefit when their version of events is accepted. Because of this possibility of gain, the question I want to raise in my book, The Gardener, the question I originally wanted to discuss in this blog, was of a possibility of a “man-made” disaster. A possibility of somebody using the global warming scare to their own benefit, triggering global disaster to further their own cause. But I’m afraid a question like this might prove to be too controversial, might spur too much negativity and is probably better left to the realm of fictional writing.

Instead, I’d like to talk about animals that started this chain of thought, the majestic creatures of the North that are currently the most vulnerable to both climate change and the effects of never-ceasing pollution that seem to be the main product of the most abundant species on Earth – Humans.

We, as the species, are already responsible for a huge amount of damage to both our planet and to other animals that we share it with. We often give “Lack of Knowledge, Lack of Education” as the excuse for our ancestors. Well, we can’t use this excuse ourselves. Human race now possesses enormous amounts of knowledge, experience, skills. We have the gift of scientific foresight that our ancestors never had. So the question I want to ask today is, “How can we use this foresight, how can we use this body of knowledge to save polar bears from extinction?”


POLAR BEARS – Links

• Polar Bears on Wikipedia
• Polar Bears on BBC Nature
• Polar Bears on WWF
• Polar Bears International
• Polar Bears SOS
• Polar Bear Central
• Adopt a Polar Bear
  

PS: My big thanks to Roger and Lucy who raised the topic of polar bears and disappearing animal species in our previous discussion.