Posted by Jamie in Climate Change, Endangered Animals | 0 Comments
Global warming threatening polar bears
Scientists initially argued about the origins of global warming, whether it is caused by technological and industrial development or through natural phenomenon. But now academics, scientific societies, and various governments have agreed that the phenomenon of climate change is caused largely by greenhouse gas emissions. Evidence of the greenhouse effect is already evident today — polar melting, tsunamis, heat waves, and flooding are in the front pages of every newspaper.
Global warming can cause severe ecological changes in the form of:
1) Extreme weather conditions due to the increase of greenhouse gases causing climatic changes in the upper atmosphere. This would cause an increase in violent and destructive storms in areas where greenhouse gases are most predominant.
2) Increased evaporation rate causing erosion and desertification in several areas in the world, while causing severe destabilization of climates in other areas.
3) Glacier retreats which is the cause of landslides, flash floods, and lake overflows. This in turn results to severe loss of life and property.
4) Potential increase in environmental positive feedback effects which would cause further intensification of global warming.
Climatic change affects Arctic life forms, especially the polar bears, due to glacial melting. The ice is melting at an astonishing 9% per decade. Some ice caps have been around for thousands of years, and have only begun to melt in recent times. This melting of the arctic causes displacement of the polar bear population into more temperate areas, where survival is more difficult for them. There are already reports of polar bears being seen wandering around beaches and near whale kill sites. According to a recent study, polar bears may be extinct in the next century due to the rapid decrease of arctic landmasses.
This is a cause of worry for biologists and environmentalists because of the role of polar bears play in the food chain. They are primarily the top predators of the arctic region, feeding largely on seals. A decrease in polar bear population would lead to overpopulation of seals. Seals feed on fish, and their increase in number would lead to decrease of fish population. Since fish eat algae, a decrease in fish population would amplify algae production which would in turn increase oxidation in the water, ultimately affecting water biosphere.
As long as we remain to ignore the telltale signs of global warming and carry on with our lifestyle without thought of our carbon emissions, we will continue to see seemingly small climatic changes which will turn disastrous if not acted upon. To act now is crucial to our survival and the most important gift that we could give to future generations.
Quoting from Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”: “Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, ‘What were our parents thinking? Why didn’t they wake up when they had a chance?’ We have to hear that question from them, now.”
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