Ice, ice baby... going, going, gone

The yellow rubber ducky in your bathtub can be more useful than you think. NASA scientists are using ducks like this to track the movement (read recession) of glaciers in Greenland and Canada. Duck out of water? Thumbing through some old articles, I've been pondering the fate of the world's glaciers (see this link for facts and figures). For those who think the future is too far away to worry about, watching the BBC Planet Earth series is highly recommended. One of the final episodes compares footage of polar bears hunting in the Arctic - one set was taken 20 years ago, the other goes back just a few years. In the first, the bears are shown rearing up on their hind legs, lunging down and breaking the ice to hunt seals under the surface. In the more recent episode, the fragile ice gives away under the bears' paws. The marooned bear swims several kilometres and finally lands amid a pod of walruses. Exhausted, the bear is unable to hunt. In a scuffle with the walruses, it suffers mortal injuries and quietly lies down to die - weary and hungry. Heartbreaking, yes. But don't miss the larger picture: The melting of Arctic ice is a reality we cannot ignore simply because most of us live too far away to experience the ill-effects of global warming. At the poles, where a mad scientist seems to be running amok in Nature's laboratory, the evidence of global warming is clear and the shocking effects more palpable than anywhere else on the planet. Warm day, huh? Image copyright: United Nations Environment Programme DEWA/GRID-Europe

Polar bear faux pas gets rubber dodo for Palin

Sarah Palin, whom we love to hate for at least two things - Republican and pro-hunting - has now been condemned by our loosely united fraternity of eco-enthusiasts as a 'global warming denier.' Cute. Arizona's Centre for Biological Diversity has awarded Palin the Rubber Dodo award for insisting that the polar bear population is in fact growing across the Arctic. Hmph. Is idiocy a reserved criterion for Republican runners? Vote her out without a thought, O citizens of the Land of the Free. WTF are you waiting for?

Worldwatch has a comprehensive analysis of Palin's environmental credentials Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin, ecology, environment, dodo

First tigers, now polar bears

It's curious how people who are nothing but voracious consumers for the most part suddenly develop an interest in the environment. Better still, they become experts and spokespeople for ecological issues. Nearly everyone worth their page three partywear is "doing something about the environment" - mostly attending glitterati-infested soirees and taking home souvenirs made out of 'green' material that helps "regenerate forests" and "cut down carbon emissions". My, my... what a lot of pillow talk among the strangest bedfellows. In India, everyone is batting for the tiger. No matter what measures real experts like Dr. Ullas Karanth advocate, everyone from the Prime Minister's uncle to some nut generating bites for a TV channel is campaigning for tigers. Now, everyone of the aforesaid ilk who is doing his or her bit for the planet is obsessed with polar bears. As late as last month, many of these people couldn't tell a polar bear from a grizzly. So much that Ursus maritimus poses a big threat to Barack Obama if he runs for president. Since a lot of our new converts to conservation cannot be ignored, WWF has released Polar Bear Facts and Fallacies, a publication that attempts to lay bare (bad pun, I know) the facts about polar bears. Worth the download, and worth circulating while you read it.