Life Jackets Are Not Polar Bear Gear This Year
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 09:01PM 
Last May global warming alarmists were very concerned about the fate of the polar bear. Melting Arctic Sea ice due to man-made global warming was highlighted in numerous newspaper and magazine articles as the reason that polar bears would soon become an extinct species.
It was thought that melting Arctic icebergs would result in starving polar bears. Drowning would lead to the polar bears' demise since they would have to swim further and further to find food. In fact, during all this environmental hype, the United States Interior Department designated the polar bear as threatened with extinction, making it the first creature added to the endangered species list primarily because of man-made global warming.
That designation under the Endangered Species Act required the agency to identify critical habitat to be protected and to form a strategy to assist the bear population's recovery. The result was that oil drilling around natural polar bear habitat became off limits.
Several months later, in an attempt to increase awareness of the future plight of the Polar Bear, a company called ADDI Concepts would advertise a life jacket to save the polar bear. As part of the promotion, an image of a cuddly polar bear wearing a man-made life jacket style vest awaiting rescue on a lonely piece of Arctic ice surrounded by water was created. The picture was sure to make anyone feel guilty about the effect of man-made global warming on the natural environment.
So, seven months later, what has happened to that rapidly melting sea ice in the Arctic and does the polar bear still need last spring's endangered species U.S. government bailout? Have polar bears survived amid all the melting Arctic Sea ice?
You may already have guessed the answer to these questions since there has not been any dire environmental news stories about melting Arctic sea ice or dramatic rescues of drowning polar bears. The truth is that if there is no media hype then it must be bad news for the proponents of man-made global warming.
The fact is that the rate of increase in global sea ice from September 2008 to January 2009 has been remarkable. The ice increase is the fastest rate of change on record, and it means that sea ice has increased to levels not seen in the last twenty nine years. This data is being reported by the University of Illinois's Arctic Climate Research Center, and is derived from satellite observations of the Northern and Southern hemisphere polar regions.
Much colder temperatures and weaker wind patterns in the Arctic have lead to the dramatic increase in sea ice this year. As a result, the endangered polar bear species is doing very well and its population is growing to historic highs.
However, because of their threatened species status from the United States Government, no drilling for oil or gas will be allowed near the polar bear in the future despite the fact that the polar bear population is growing and not in decline. Overlooked in all the environmental concern for the polar bear, is the future of the Arctic seal, due to an increasing extent of Arctic Sea Ice.
Indeed, if this cooling trend continues, a rapidly increasing and hungry polar bear population, will mean that the seal may soon become scarce as a polar bear meal. As a result, the Arctic Seal may eventually become the first endangered species due to global cooling.
Certainly, it all becomes pretty confusing in the political world of global climate change. Still, one thing is known for sure; extreme Arctic cold and increasing sea ice mean that life saving jackets will not be polar bear gear this year.
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