This story in today's WSJ... which comes days after the United States essentially said F-YOU to the rest of the world in the global warming talks. How nice...
Drowning Polar Bears and Global Warming
In what may be the latest evidence of global warming, polar bears are drowning, The Wall Street Journal reports. Scientists for the first time have documented multiple deaths of polar bears off Alaska, where they likely drowned after swimming long distances in the ocean amid the melting of the Arctic ice shelf. In a quarter-century of aerial surveys of the Alaskan coastline before 2004, researchers from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said they typically spotted a lone polar bear swimming in the ocean far from ice about once every two years. But in September 2004, when the polar ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska, researchers counted 10 polar bears swimming as far as 60 miles offshore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days after a fierce storm and found dead bears floating in the water. While the government researchers won't speculate on why a climate change is taking place in the Arctic, environmentalists unconnected to the survey say U.S. policies emphasizing oil and gas development are exacerbating global warming, which is accelerating the melting of the ice.
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