Scientists Predict Global Warming Kills 2/3rds of Polar Bear Populations by 2050

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Scientists Predict Global Warming Kills 2/3rds of Polar Bear Populations by 2050

President’s “Sink-or-swim” Voluntary Global Warming Approach Won’t Work, Says Chairman Markey

WASHINGTON (September 7, 2007) – A new study by the United States Geological Service indicates that global warming would cause two thirds of the global polar bear populations to disappear by the middle of the century, and no polar bears would exist in Alaska by 2050.

The scientists are reporting their findings in response to a request from the Department of Interior, which is currently considering a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council and others to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming. The scientists used the mid-level projections from the recent climate reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to reach their findings.

The scientists said the heat-trapping pollution already in the atmosphere would significantly affect the polar bear population, but action taken in the next few decades would give the remaining polar bears the potential to continue to survive as a species. In the study, they split the polar bear populations into over 20 distinct populations by region, predicting that 19 would be gone by mid-century, with only 3 populations surviving global warming.

Below is the statement of Edward J. Markey, Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming:

“This is becoming a tragic metaphor for the administration's voluntary approach to global warming -- instead of meeting the challenge, the Bush administration is happy to float along, waiting to see if the planet, and polar bears, will sink or swim.

“Now that the President has said global warming is a serious problem, he must follow it with action by granting these bears a place on the endangered species list. And then he must recognize that global warming affects our favorite species—human beings—and support legislation that cuts global warming pollution to save all of us.

“I encourage my colleagues to work hard this fall to enact legislation that would cut global warming pollution by 80 percent or more by the middle of this century. This new study is yet another piece of scientific evidence that the very existence of our planet is what is at stake.”

# # #

Return to Press Releases »

del.icio.us   Digg this   Reddit   Stumbleupon