My son wants to know if we can save the Polar Bears....

[hang a left]

He is going to do a report on Polar Bears and he asked me this question. I know everyone is all riled up over ** and yoonitary presidentin' but if you wouldn't mind...

THanks

[uppityperson]

1. I don't know.

Can humans save anything?

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Yes. We just have to try.

I'll do what I can.

[Jonathan50]

3. Probably in zoos

Whether they will survive in the wild or not is an open question.

My personal opinion is that global warming is unstoppable and will lead to an ice free arctic ocean in the summer eventually. I suspect that may be the end of the polar bears in the wild, but who really knows for sure?

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/

[Beaverhausen]

4. yes we can

http://www.kintera.org/site/c.itJVJ9MQIuE/b.2577489/k.5ADE/US_Polar_Bear_March_2007.htm?sid=113014508&msource=DR070304001&auid=2469504&kntaw18871=15D0289871C242BD9756D822F0F05759

[InvisibleTouch]

5. Only if we really get serious about it, as a global society.

The polar bear scene in "An Inconvenient Truth," brief and animated as it was, somehow horrified me to the core - and it seems to have struck the same cord with a lot of people, like ripples spreading outward in a pond. Since then, I've seen lots of environmental organizations tackling the problem. I get e-mails all the time, asking for signatures, donations, etc. One group is running a television ad right now; another is working on legal protections for the species. I consider it a good start, but it needs to snowball (no pun intended) and keep building momentum.

Of course the polar bear is a symbol as well as a real-live species in trouble. It's easier to focus on "saving the bears" than a more abstract "save the arctic ecosystem." Obviously, in order to save the bears, we have to save the whole ecosystem, and that helps all the other species too, but the movement needs an emotional focal point. The polar bears are "charismatic megafauna" that will hopefully prompt more and more people to care about the problem and do something about it.

It's not too late, IMO, but only if we get it together and take some drastic measures. The public consensus has to be in favor of conservation, and that will take getting the message out, as loudly and as often as possible.

[Bluebear]

6. www.polarbearSOS.org

"Tell the Bush Administration to protect polar bears and their critical habitat!"
www.polarbearSOS.org