Fox news thinks it's too controversial for the San Diego Zoo to talk about the rapid loss of polar bear habitat due to receding polar ice because "some people don't believe" that climate change has anything to do with people. These creatures are pretty much doomed--there's no way to reverse what is already happening rapidly enough to maintain the population, and it's very likely I will see polar bears extinct in the wild in my lifetime--but hey, let's not be ALARMISTS.
If there is a problem with two causes, one of which we have absolutely no control over and the other which we, the human race, control, wouldn't it be wiser to just give it a go, try to make that positive impact, and err on the side of safety? If it turns out we're wrong, what have we lost? Some investments, yes, but those investments have positive side-effects: more independence from the global oil market, a healthier environment, new jobs in new industries. How is that a bad idea? And, really, there are still people that don't believe that human industries have negative environmental effects? Who are these people? And what the fuck?
I love the part where the interviewer tries to make the case that since the bears can live in San Diego, then rising temperatures shouldn't be such a big problem, right? Oh, so, so wrong: I thought your problem was that you didn't think global climate was changing, sir, but this seems to indicate that you kinda secretly maybe acknowledge that things really are going wonky, weather-wise, but you'd rather just not do anything about it, doesn't it? Oh, yes, polar bears can adapt to heat, if you can just completely rewire their instincts (to seek out high-fat meals of seal and walrus to build up heat-retaining blubber, to hunt on ice, to completely change their historic ranges--which adds additional problems, because people live in the places where the bears would move to) and provide them with air-conditioned houses which they may retreat to when the heat gets too much for them. Yes, terribly practical. Much more reasonable than, I dunno, selling your fucking Range Rover and cutting back on the beef.
Oh, Iorek Bjyrnison, you miserable, gorgeous bear. Come whack some sense into these people.
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