Global warming is one of the most highly debated topics in today’s world. It is a topic that influences every part of the planet no matter how remote. The term global warming can be defined as an increase in the measure of the Earth’s temperature. This occurrence affects the temperature of near-surface air and oceans resulting in changes in the balance of the ecosystem. Scientists have discovered that global warming is causing drastic and potentially harmful changed in the Earth’s environment. Human activity is being blamed for these changes. Human activity releases carbon that traps heat in the atmosphere and depletes our ozone layer. This layer is the Earth’s only defense against the intense rays of the sun and with its depletion the Earth’s oceans are being heated by the once blocked rays of the sun. This results in increased temperatures and the disruption of the ecosystem, which is happening right now.

The greatest effect that global warming is having can be seen in the Artic. The Arctic can be described as a mass of floating ice near the North Pole. For centuries this mass of ice has been left undisturbed by any forms of climate change. Only recently has the ice shelf shown signs of melting into the ocean. The largest ice shelf in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Shelf, has remained intact for centuries until recently. Now the great ice shelf is cracked in half. Sadly this is just the beginning of the effects of global warming on the Earth (Gore, 2006). If the ice shelf continues to melt there will be a sharp increase in sea level. This increase in sea level will cause the ocean water to flood the coasts of continents destroying many popular coastal cities and ruining countless lives. Along with the changes in environment come changes in the species that thrive in that environment.

The Arctic region, particularly the Arctic Shelf, is home to one of the largest mammalian predators, the polar bear. The polar bear is a unique creature with unique habits. Their ways of communicating with each other are not seen anywhere else. Some of these behaviors include wagging their head back and forth to show anger or rolling in the snow to clean themselves. Their fur itself is unique. The white fur covers a black skin, which reflects the light from the Arctic, which is strong enough to cause sunburn. The white fur reflects the light as well, causing a few color effects. At sunrise and sunset the polar bear can look yellow-orange. In the fog they can appear blue (Kazlowski, 2008).

The polar bear species depend on the sea ice for food, breeding, and shelter. Warming ocean temperatures are causing the sea ice to literally melt beneath their paws (Kazlowski, 2008). In 1978, the Arctic Sea ice used to cover an area that was roughly the size of the United States. Currently it’s territory has shrunk to the roughly the size of Texas (Kister, 2005). Scientists speculate that this climate change could result in the polar bear becoming extinct in the Artic region.  The melting of the sea ice along with human pollution will result in warmer Arctic temperatures and less habitat for the polar bear population. This results in cannibalism, drowning, and eventual extinction.

Polar bears have been around only when the Earth was cool enough for ice to form. Fossil records date the species of polar bear back to around 250,000 years. Evidence proves that the species evolved from the grizzly bear. The grizzly bear preferred to stay on land, but polar bears chose to migrate towards the ocean in order to hunt seal (Kazlowski, 2008). Seal blubber is a main food source for the polar bear. These facts further decrease the chance that the polar bear could adapt to a warmer environment. Their inability to tolerate warm weather will cause them to become extinct. Also the decrease in sea ice will prevent them from successful hunts of seal. The only place polar bears will be able to exist in will be in zoos around the world.

In his book, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore states that 85% percent of glaciers appear to be receding into the ocean. He predicts that the Arctic ice cap will dissolve completely each year during the summer. Also the decline of sea ice results in the decline of algae, which is located at the bottom of the Arctic food chain. Without this species the Arctic food chain will collapse (Kister, 2005). The reason for this melting is because the water underneath the floating ice absorbs heat. The Artic ice shelf is thin, measuring no more then ten feet thick. It is also floating on the water surface, whereas Antarctica is a continent. The ice itself reflects the heat. If the water underneath the glacier rises in heat, then the glacier itself starts to melt. The area where a glacier once was becomes water. The water then absorbs heat from the sun and the process continues (Gore, 2006).

Sea ice is melting earlier in the spring and forming later in the fall and thus shortening the amount of time a polar bear has to store up energy. This lack of time results in poor body conditions that determine whether the bear will breed or whether it’s cubs will survive to adulthood (Kister, 2005). Prior to giving birth the polar bear mom digs a den in the ice for shelter for her and her babies. Without the ice the polar bear mom has no safe shelter to protect her and her cubs from the harsh winter environment. Unable to hunt for food or provide shelter for its offspring and itself the population of the polar bear will decline. This theory has led scientists to predict the extinction of the polar bear by the year 2100 (Kister, 2005). Although humans are working towards reversing the effects of global warming, many hypothesize that these changes will not be enough to reverse global warming in time.

Another study has shown that for the first time polar bears have been drowning in the Arctic Ocean alarming numbers (Gore, 2006). Although polar bear drowning incidents have been reported in the past the amount has been substantially small. To swim polar bears use their front paws as paddles and their back ends to steer (Kazlowski, 2008). An article from the New York Times, Polar Bears at Sea (2008), reported seeing polar bears swimming miles away from any land or ice, thus drowning due to exhaustion. Any ice patch or land that they try to swim to is too far away for them to get there without overexerting their body. In September 2004 the drowning of four polar bears occurred in an area where sea ice receded one hundred and sixty miles (Kazlowski, 2008). Without their hunting grounds they will starve themselves, resulting in less energy for long swims. Their bodies become grotesque and become nothing but a thin fragile skeleton of a majestic animal.

A study has found that the current offspring of the polar bear is smaller and less likely to survive to adulthood then before 1990. The reason for this has been traced to the lack of sea ice (Kazlowski, 2008). Polar bears have been suffering a fifteen percent decrease in amount of offspring produced in the past twenty-five years (Kister, 2005). One of the reasons for this is that polar bears, starved from lack of hunting grounds, decide to eat their own kind. In January 2004, a group of scientists were flying over an island north of Prudhoe Bay. Amidst the white powder of snow they spotted a trail of blood leading to a shocking discovery. A polar bear had dragged a female from her den, killed her, and fed on the carcass. There is no doubt that a polar bear was the one who killed her because no other species in the Arctic can bring down a polar bear, let alone eat one. In the spring of that same year they discovered a set of tracks leading from another polar bear den to a dead female polar bear. Three days after that discovery a large male polar bear was seen eating a young cub. This cannibalistic evidence has global warming to blame. The lack of sea ice results in less hunting grounds. Food becomes scarce when areas of the polar bears territory melt away into the ocean. Unable to hunt the seal the polar bear turns on its own kind. Females will also reabsorb the fetus in the event of starvation. Without adequate food female polar bears will not give birth to their offspring (Kazlowski, 2008).

Another event that will lead to the extinction of the polar bear is one that can perhaps be reversed quicker then global warming. Humans not only produce carbon into the atmosphere, but they also pollute the land with their garbage. According to Chad Kister’s book, Arctic Melting (2006), pollutants can travel over a thousand miles in all directions just from one landfill. The pollutants reach areas of water where fish and many other creatures call this home. The pollutants accumulate in fish such as the Arctic cod, a favorite food for seals. The seals eat the fish and absorb the toxins into their body. The polar bears then absorb the toxins after feasting on the seal. One may think that the toxins would not have that big of an impact on the polar bear. However, being at the top of the food chain the polar bear gets the most toxins out of any species in the Arctic. Evidence has shown high concentrations of PCB’s in the milk of polar bear mothers. The higher the amount of toxins found in the mother’s milk the higher the rate of mortality among her offspring (Kister, 2005). The mortality rate of young cubs will result in the loss of generations of polar bears. Also, polar bears are directly feeding from the landfills. Unable to hunt their preferred prey, the ringed seal, the polar bear is forced to sift through garbage dumps and human habitations in order to survive (Kazlowski, 2008). So the toxins don’t even have to come from the seal, the polar bear can get them from eating human garbage. This also increases their chance of being killed by humans who out of fear for their lives would shoot them.

A public hearing was held at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. on whether or not to list the polar bear species as threatened. At the hearing individuals arrived wearing life preserver vests and polar bear caps. Many of them carried in stuffed polar bear toys. One individual, Mark Owen, came forth in a full polar bear costume and shared his view on the topic, stating that “Honestly a polar bear can’t travel to Washington D.C. The major concern is largely the environmental effects with the habitat. I think that’s the big reason why they’re looking at the polar bear as an endangered species”. Another individual, U.S. Representative Jay Inslee of Washington, is concerned with what the effects of the Arctic melting will have on humans, stating that “as the bear goes, so do we go” (Fehlinger, 2008).

Together, the results support that warmer temperatures are melting the ice in the Arctic shelf resulting in polar bear starvation and drowning and that pollution is also responsible for the decrease in the population of the species. The following events will lead to the eventually extinction of the polar bear from the Arctic Circle. Some changes are being done to help save the Arctic and the species that call it home, but it may already be too late. The scientific community has stated that the proof that the polar bear population is declining due to global warming is irrefutable (Kazlowski, 2008). Furthermore, there is strong evidence that global warming is effects the Arctic at the most rapid pace. The window of opportunity for reversal is no more then two to three decades. After that any solution would be useless to stop the effects of global warming (Kazlowski, 2008).

References

Fehlinger, Katie (Producer). (2008). Headline earth  [Television Broadcast].
             State College: AccuWeather, Inc.
Gore, A. (2006).  An inconvenient truth. New York, NY: Rodale.
Kazlowski, S. (2008). The last polar bear: facing the truth of a warming world.   
             Seattle, WA: Braided River.
Kister, C. (2005). Arctic melting. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.
Revkin, A. C. (2008, August 22). Polar bears at sea. New York Times.