good morning (except not)

my local paper ran this picture with the newest global warming story this morning. it is making me actually sick to my stomach to look at. are these bears stuck? waiting to starve or drown? if they could swim to safety, they would have done that already, right? somebody please tell me a happy ending because this picture is making me really, really sad.

Comments

[Deb]

The happiest ending I can give you is that people are finally facing the impact of global warming and taking it seriously instead of passing it off as environmentalist overreaction.

I wish I could say something happier, but the reality of the situation prevents that. I did a quick googling to see what I could find. A group that is working for the bears:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildplaces/bs/updates/polarbears.cfm

I'm not sure about WWL, and how effective they are. I generally don't trust national and international organizations because so much goes to their overhead and fundraising, but if I find a local group, maybe one with a boat and tranqs that has more direct ways of saving individuals, I'll let you know.

The other thing is that you have to wonder how far from the coast the picture was taken, since it looks like it was taken from a boat. Chances are...not too far. We'll keep that in mind and let ourselves hope.

[Vivacious Vegan]

This picture made me cry. It is a tragedy of epic proportions.

[Flower]

This kind of stuff makes me feel so very helpless. So, so sad.

[Amanda]

That's heartbreaking. I hate seeing pictures like that. I know it's real, I know it's there, but seeing it just... makes it seem more horribly real. I don't understand how people can say global warming isn't real.

[girl least likely to]

VV, Flower, & Amanda--i hear you. i'm teary right along with you. it sucks.

Deb--thank you! you gave me a few glimmers of hope. and thanks for the link to WWF; i agree with you that i prefer the little local groups, but it's nice to know that there's something at least! please do keep me posted if you learn about new groups. :)

[Gary Loewenthal]

This image leaves me raw in the pit of my stomach, and I think the residual sadness will last a long time, maybe forever. It really personalizes the tragedy of global warming.

The WWF is pro-hunting, pro-vivisection, pro-meat, but I understand sometimes you have to make those uncomfortable coalitions by necessity when there are no other groups.

[Christopher Jones]

The good news is that Polar Bears can swim up to a hundred miles at one time so even if these bears were stranded there is a chance that they could reach another ice float.

[girl least likely to]

thank you, christopher! that is a good factoid to hang onto.

in other news, i have an update about the photo. i was looking through this week's "animal tracks" on msnbc.com (a weekly slideshow of animal pictures) and this photo was featured! they titled the picture "land ahoy!" which i found unusually chipper. it annoyed me. in any event, the caption says, "two polar bears perch on a chunk of ice in the arctic, off northern alaska." so... that makes it sound like maybe they weren't TOO far away from land? i hope, i hope, i hope.

regardless, this is a genuine problem, and there are polar bears all over the place facing drowning and starvation. these two sweeties are a terribly sad reminder of all the rest.

[bazu]

I'm commenting on this late, but both my husband and I are sitting here shaking our heads and feeling sad for the poor bears. This stuff is unbearable. Ooops- no pun intended.