Polar Bears Are Thriving- Activists Abandon Ice Floes

Images of distressed polar bears clinging to ice floes or in far-flung Arctic landscapes have become instantly recognizable as emblems for the climate crisis. However, over the last decade, scientists, campaigners and news desks have begun to drift away from these visuals, questioning if they really paint a realistic image of climate change.

For decades distressed polar bears on distant ice caps were an emblem for climate change—until experts began to doubt the effectiveness of these visuals. ⁽¹⁾

Over the past 20 years, climate activists have elevated various stories of climate catastrophe, then quietly dropped them without apology when the opposing evidence became overwhelming.

The only constant is the scare tactics, says Bjorn Lomborg. ⁽²⁾

The Washington Post warned in 2004 that the species could face extinction and the World Wildlife Fund’s chief scientist claimed some polar bear populations would be unable to reproduce by 2012.

Then in the 2010s, campaigners stopped talking about them. After years of misrepresentation, it finally became impossible to ignore the mountain of evidence showing that the global polar bear population has increased substantially. ⁽²⁾

Recent survey results suggest the global polar bear population is at least 32,000, although the estimate has a wide range of potential error. ⁽³⁾

The assessment that polar bears are currently thriving is not based solely on estimates of a slight increase in global population size but on the published data gathered from studies on the bears physical and reproductive health.

Let’s look at various locations:

Barents and Churchill Sea

There is irrefutable evidence from Barents and Churchill Sea subpopulations, among others, that polar bears are fat and reproducing well despite marked declines in summer sea ice over the last two decades. ⁽⁴⁾

These facts negate the premise that polar bears require abundant summer sea ice to flourish, and that creates a problem for polar bear specialists who continue to make that claim.

Western Hudson Bay

Sea ice in Western Hudson Bay, where Churchill is located has not been declining more and more with rising CO2 emissions according to data published by polar bear specialists. ⁽⁵⁾

Svalbard Sea Ice

Like clockwork, before the end of winter (March 30) every year, the Svalbard sea ice pack ice returns in time in spring for ringed and bearded seals to give birth and for the polar bears to gorge themselves on the fat newborns. In 2023 there was even ice as far south as Bear Island by March 15. This has happened several times in the last 10 years. (6) Polar bear specialist Jon Aars is quoted as saying that Svalbard bears are ’unexpectedly’ thriving

Russian Far East

Walrus and polar bear populations in the Russian Far East continue to thrive, despite some researchers insisting that polar bears face a dire future without human interference. Chukchi polar bears, regardless of the fact they are thriving, are still tagged with a status of threatened based entirely on computer models that predict a dire outcome 30 years from now. ⁽⁷⁾

Davis Strait

As assessment of the health of Davis Strait polar bears by 35 Inuit bear experts revealed thar virtually all polar bears were healthy and populations have been growing over the past decades, so much so that public safety has become an increasing concern. Mainstream media has ignored this information. ⁽⁸⁾

Southeast Greenland

A genetically distinct and isolated population of polar bears have been documented living in southeast Greenland. Scientists who studied and tracked the bears determined that they survive despite having limited access to sea ice—something that is critical for polar bears—and instead use the fresh water ice supplied by Greenland’s ice sheet. ⁽⁹⁾

Summary

It really is getting tiresome that so much is falsely blamed on climate change. The most blatantly wrong example is the supposed pending demise of polar bears that, activists claim, will soon occur due to human caused climate change. The information included in this report clearly refutes this. ⁽¹⁰⁾

References

1. Frankie Adkins, “Why polar bears are no longer the poster image of climate change”, bbc.com, November 13, 2023
2. Bjorn Lomborg, “Polar bears, dead coral and other climate fictions,” principia-scientific.org, August 14, 2024
3. Susan Crockford, “The state of the polar bear 2021,” The Global Warming Policy Foundation, Note 29, 2023
4. Susan Crockford, “New field study observations prove polar bears are thriving,” principia-scientific.org, February 27, 2023
5. Susan Crockford. “BBC falsely claim that Churchill is getting too warm for polar bears,” polarbearscience.com, December 20, 2022
6. Susan Crockford, “Svalbard sea ice back for seal births and polar bear feeding bonanza,” principia-scientific.org, March 17,2023
7. Susan Crockford, “US researchers tell WaPo: walruses and polar bears still thriving,” principia-scientific.org, April 23, 2023
8. Susan Crockford, “Public safety concerns over increasing Davis Strait polar bear population,” principia-scientific.org, August 30, 2022
9. Ashley Strickland, “Newly documented polar bear population lives in a surprising place,” cnn.com, June 17, 2022
10. Tom Harris and Mary Jean Harris, “Polar bears an extraordinary success story,” Canada Free Press, July 14, 2023