8 ms·

I feel terrible for the polar bears. I wonder if there is any possibility that they wont go extinct.

lostlogin 6y ago
I like that a ship appearing in their shrinking world while they are nearby is them “harassing” the expedition.
feralimal 6y ago
But numbers are increasing! https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/03/05/study-polar-bear-numbers-reach-new-highs-population-increases-to-the-highest-levels-in-decades/ https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/03/05/study-polar-bear-num... So, don't worry!
- deanCommie 6y ago
  Shame on you: * https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/climate-depot/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/climate-depot/ > ClimateDepot.com is the website of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) employee Marc Morano, a conservative global warming denier who previously served as environmental communications director for a vocal political denier of climate change, Republican Sen. James Inhofe.
  - feralimal 6y ago
    I know nothing about climate depot. But I think the studies it is citing are valid, no?
  - nickff 6y ago
    I think the parent poster was being sarcastic; either way, you're engaging in an ad hominiem attack. Wouldn't it be better to point out that it is normal for animal populations to fluctuate, or that this is likely a transient phenomenon? Perhaps you could find a study or two to buttress your view? Your comment is more likely to alienate people than to convince them, though perhaps your objective is to improve your status among like-minded people, rather than to engage with an outgroup.
    - pbourke 6y ago
      There is no point in engaging with outgroups that operate in bad faith. We are at the point in the climate crisis in which “shame on you” is an appropriate response to climate deniers and bad faith actors.
      - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
        Perhaps we are. But don't do it on HN.
        deanCommie 6y ago
        If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
- BelleOfTheBall 6y ago
  Does that really matter if they lose their habitat? No matter how many of them there are, without a place where they can thrive, the bears will just die off.
deanCommie 6y ago
I remain optimistic that the human race will figure things out before we completely decimate all ocean life and before we make half of the planet inhospitable. However, I am certain the powers that be will not take any action until MAJOR death waves in the western world such as the destruction of a major picturesque city from a freak weather event. Before that, I expect we will lose: * Polar bears * Wild Tuna * Wild Salmon * Arctic sea ice * Greenland ice shelf The last 2 will cause a substantial sea level rise, and decimate places like Bangladesh causing tens of millions of climate refugees that we will be dealing for the next century. The western world will just shrug and build seawalls kind of like you see on The Expanse: * https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TnhgVnv-iVM/XfQ660L31xI/AAAAAAAAMyU/efdINH2zGiwPT79ZyoxCOZcAK2vvw0qRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/seawalls.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TnhgVnv-iVM/XfQ660L31xI/AAAAAAAAM... * https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/f05ais/i_love_the_subtler_details_about_the_universe_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/f05ais/i_love_t...
- fnord123 6y ago
  If I understand your position correctly, you are optimistic that the human race will figure things out once a huge number of [poor] people are killed?
  - monsieurbanana 6y ago
    That's a very uncharitable view of his comment.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee_Works https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee_Works
- MrDresden 6y ago
  As someone who has direct connections into a part of the research community looking at the sustainability of fishing in the north Atlantic in regards to the real and ongoing acidification of the ocean as well as the policy making over the last few decades I would say that your optimism is misplaced. There is really nothing being done at the scale needed to avert catastrophic collapse of the ocean food chains.
bamboozled 6y ago
You should probably also feel bad for every living create on earth including for yourself. Their extinction is likely a sign ours might not be so far behind. Edit: Go for the down vote, but the uncomfortable truth is that we're not likely to colonize Mars in 50 years or live underground, we need the biosphere just like these creatures. No level of denial will alter this fact.
- kortilla 6y ago
  At our current rate humans won’t face extinction for thousands of years. We don’t need a biosphere to live in a 5C warmer planet. What will happen is likely massive unrest and famine due to crop shortages leading to a significant population decline. But we can lose 80% of the population and barely be set back 1-2 centuries.
  - anaganisk 6y ago
    Its mother Nature b we're talking about, no level of optimism can predict what can go wrong.
    - kortilla 6y ago
      But humans can currently live in vastly different climates on the earth already. Unless something happens way outside of the worst case climate change models, we’re just not looking at anything near an extinction level event for humans. The big island of Hawaii alone has enough population to not suffer genetic inbreeding problems and it’s mountains mean it can handle multiple meters of sea level rise. The entire rest of the planet could be dead and they would be enough to avoid extinction. If we’re going to start ignoring climate science to scream about human extinction, then we’ve moved into the same corner of the deniers. Let’s stick with what we know, which is catastrophe and mass migrations; but that’s leagues away from extinction.
      - jounker 6y ago
        The worst case scenario is the oceans shift to a eutrophic ecosystem https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802792/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802792/

I like that a ship appearing in their shrinking world while they are nearby is them “harassing” the expedition.

But numbers are increasing! https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/03/05/study-polar-bear-numbers-reach-new-highs-population-increases-to-the-highest-levels-in-decades/ https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/03/05/study-polar-bear-num... So, don't worry!

deanCommie 6y ago
Shame on you: * https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/climate-depot/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/climate-depot/ > ClimateDepot.com is the website of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) employee Marc Morano, a conservative global warming denier who previously served as environmental communications director for a vocal political denier of climate change, Republican Sen. James Inhofe.
- feralimal 6y ago
  I know nothing about climate depot. But I think the studies it is citing are valid, no?
- nickff 6y ago
  I think the parent poster was being sarcastic; either way, you're engaging in an ad hominiem attack. Wouldn't it be better to point out that it is normal for animal populations to fluctuate, or that this is likely a transient phenomenon? Perhaps you could find a study or two to buttress your view? Your comment is more likely to alienate people than to convince them, though perhaps your objective is to improve your status among like-minded people, rather than to engage with an outgroup.
  - pbourke 6y ago
    There is no point in engaging with outgroups that operate in bad faith. We are at the point in the climate crisis in which “shame on you” is an appropriate response to climate deniers and bad faith actors.
    - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
      Perhaps we are. But don't do it on HN.
      - deanCommie 6y ago
        If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
BelleOfTheBall 6y ago
Does that really matter if they lose their habitat? No matter how many of them there are, without a place where they can thrive, the bears will just die off.

deanCommie 6y ago

I remain optimistic that the human race will figure things out before we completely decimate all ocean life and before we make half of the planet inhospitable. However, I am certain the powers that be will not take any action until MAJOR death waves in the western world such as the destruction of a major picturesque city from a freak weather event. Before that, I expect we will lose: * Polar bears * Wild Tuna * Wild Salmon * Arctic sea ice * Greenland ice shelf The last 2 will cause a substantial sea level rise, and decimate places like Bangladesh causing tens of millions of climate refugees that we will be dealing for the next century. The western world will just shrug and build seawalls kind of like you see on The Expanse: * https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TnhgVnv-iVM/XfQ660L31xI/AAAAAAAAMyU/efdINH2zGiwPT79ZyoxCOZcAK2vvw0qRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/seawalls.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TnhgVnv-iVM/XfQ660L31xI/AAAAAAAAM... * https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/f05ais/i_love_the_subtler_details_about_the_universe_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/f05ais/i_love_t...

fnord123 6y ago
If I understand your position correctly, you are optimistic that the human race will figure things out once a huge number of [poor] people are killed?
- monsieurbanana 6y ago
  That's a very uncharitable view of his comment.
082349872349872 6y ago
Compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee_Works https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee_Works
MrDresden 6y ago
As someone who has direct connections into a part of the research community looking at the sustainability of fishing in the north Atlantic in regards to the real and ongoing acidification of the ocean as well as the policy making over the last few decades I would say that your optimism is misplaced. There is really nothing being done at the scale needed to avert catastrophic collapse of the ocean food chains.

bamboozled 6y ago

You should probably also feel bad for every living create on earth including for yourself. Their extinction is likely a sign ours might not be so far behind. Edit: Go for the down vote, but the uncomfortable truth is that we're not likely to colonize Mars in 50 years or live underground, we need the biosphere just like these creatures. No level of denial will alter this fact.

kortilla 6y ago
At our current rate humans won’t face extinction for thousands of years. We don’t need a biosphere to live in a 5C warmer planet. What will happen is likely massive unrest and famine due to crop shortages leading to a significant population decline. But we can lose 80% of the population and barely be set back 1-2 centuries.
- anaganisk 6y ago
  Its mother Nature b we're talking about, no level of optimism can predict what can go wrong.
  - kortilla 6y ago
    But humans can currently live in vastly different climates on the earth already. Unless something happens way outside of the worst case climate change models, we’re just not looking at anything near an extinction level event for humans. The big island of Hawaii alone has enough population to not suffer genetic inbreeding problems and it’s mountains mean it can handle multiple meters of sea level rise. The entire rest of the planet could be dead and they would be enough to avoid extinction. If we’re going to start ignoring climate science to scream about human extinction, then we’ve moved into the same corner of the deniers. Let’s stick with what we know, which is catastrophe and mass migrations; but that’s leagues away from extinction.
    - jounker 6y ago
      The worst case scenario is the oceans shift to a eutrophic ecosystem https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802792/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802792/