Polar Bears and Global Warming

Most people know that polar bears are now officially an endangered species. They were put on the list by the Interior Department in 2008 during the Bush Administration. Indeed, the danger to polar bears was one of the big signs that the Al Gore crowd pointed to as proof of global warming. The polar ice was receding and the polar bears were drowning, or so they said.

Now the news comes that the seminal scientific paper that supposedly established the high mortality of the polar bear population is -- how should I put it -- possibly flawed. In fact, the news comes out that the paper was based upon two scientists seeing three or four dead polar bears floating in the Bering Sea. The bears were seen from a helicopter that was 1500 feet in the air. No attempt was made to determine the bears' cause of death. Nothing was done to tie the dead bears to the loss of ice floes in the sea. Figures for dead bear sightings during the previous 15 years were obtained by asking around in the pilot community in the area. In other words, a big chunk of global warming theology and the naming of polar bears as an endangered species seems to be based upon nothing.

The authors of the paper in question work for the federal government. Right now, the Interior department is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the paper and its validity. The strident environmentalist community is up in arms about what they call a political attack on scientists. The key here, however, is that the Department of the Interior is part of the Obama Administration. This investigation is an Obama investigation, not one done by House Republicans. This is an investigation done by an administration that says it is highly supportive of environmentalism. In short, this investigation is a major sign that there is a big problem with the initial paper.

It will be interesting to hear what comes of this investigation. If it turns out that the paper is flawed in major ways, I hope that the government acts to remove the bears from the endangered species list. Science should deal in truth, not politics. It would be refreshing to see the Interior Department treat things accordingly.