Seeing Polar Bears

Most polar bear info is filtered through an activist lens. Here are some alternative views.

“what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.”

C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia series)

Activists tell us that polar bears are threatened by climate change. Their scary stories are repeated non-stop by journalists.

But the activist has a particular relationship to the world. She doesn’t lean low and inhale deeply of the rose. She fixates on the insect chomping on the margins of the leaf – on mildew, rust, blackspot, and blight.

A rosebush in all its glory doesn’t make an activist’s spirit soar. What she sees, instead, is a flashing neon sign: DANGER, RISK, DANGER.

Here are some alternative, non-activist perspectives on what’s going on with polar bears:

• Ten Good Reasons Not to Worry About Polar Bears – a new, 12-page report, with an intro by Matt Ridley
• Polar Bear Science – Susan Crockford’s blog
• Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye – Zac Unger’s new book
• [David] Attenborough should check his facts on polar bears – Christopher Booker in the UK Telegraph
• Polar bears don’t need us to save them – Margaret Wente in Canada’s Globe and Mail