Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of the bears may have drowned or starved during previous interglacial
periods (no humans were around to save them), they have survived over
at least two glacial cycles, in which the amplitude of environmental
change in the Arctic was quite large, indicating they have the ability to
adapt to and survive such changes. Earth's creatures are adaptable. If
seals are not available, the bears turn to other food sources. Some polar
bears in 2007 were seen swimming and eating fi sh in a river estuary
packed with char, a relative of salmon, that were migrating upstream.
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Panic about a possible total loss of the polar bear population due to
melting Arctic ice does not seem justifi ed based on existing knowledge.
Perhaps of more danger to polar bears (and other Arctic creatures as
well) are the pesticides from agricultural lands far to the south of the
bears' habitat. They are transported northward by rivers, ocean currents,
and air and are consumed by the bears. Scientists report that polar bears
have some of the highest concentrations of chemicals of any Arctic
mammals. The bears already exhibit immune, endocrine, and reproduc-
tive effects. In December 2009, the Center for Biologic Diversity fi led a
lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not con-
sidering the impact of Arctic pesticide pollution on the polar bear
population.
Charismatic Megafauna
Those concerned about global warming have
long used charismatic megafauna that invoke powerful emotional
responses in humans to raise awareness of potential ecological problems.
Among the many examples are the giant pandas (“teddy bears” from
our childhood), whales (lords of the seas), gorillas (they look like us),
penguins (cute little guys in tuxedos), and eagles (our national bird).
Penguins even got their own movie,
March of the Penguins
, in 2005.
Polar bears are cute as cubs and majestic as adults, and were featured
in Al Gore's fi lm
An Inconvenient Truth
in 2006. The use of these
“poster children” has been shown to increase fi nancial contributions
from concerned citizens. Warm and cuddly creatures open wallets as
well as hearts.
When it began compiling lists of threatened and endangered animals
and plants more than thirty-fi ve years ago, the U.S. government gave
itself the same mandate as Noah's ark: Save everything. But in practice,
the effort has often worked more like a velvet-rope nightclub: Glamour
rules.
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Pretty things are more desirable than ugly things. The furry, the
feathered, the famous, and the edible have dominated government
funding for protected species, to the point where one subpopulation of
