Kim Saraceno
Since the 1980s, Arctic sea ice has been retreating very rapidly due principally to global warming. Polar regions are amongst the most affected by climate change in the world. In part, this is because ice has higher reflectivity compared to the ocean or the land, which has the effect of increasing the absorption of the sun's heat and eventually of warming the Polar regions. Polar bears, who only live in the Arctic, have been affected by climate change as it especially influences the way they hunt and breed within their habitat that is continuously retreating. It is predicted that polar bears could become extinct in the next century or so primarily because of the consequences of global warming in the Arctic. However, climate change is not the only reason polar bears are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Additional factors are also responsible for their vulnerability such as pollutants in the air, oil exploitattion, hunting, and amongst many others.
Image source: Flickr
Since the 1980s, Arctic sea ice has been retreating very rapidly due principally to global warming. Polar regions are amongst the most affected by climate change in the world. In part, this is because ice has higher reflectivity compared to the ocean or the land, which has the effect of increasing the absorption of the sun's heat and eventually of warming the Polar regions. Polar bears, who only live in the Arctic, have been affected by climate change as it especially influences the way they hunt and breed within their habitat that is continuously retreating. It is predicted that polar bears could become extinct in the next century or so primarily because of the consequences of global warming in the Arctic. However, climate change is not the only reason polar bears are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Additional factors are also responsible for their vulnerability such as pollutants in the air, oil exploitattion, hunting, and amongst many others.
They are like balls of white fluff, shockingly soft fur, the
colour of the snow and snowy sky, frame impossibly black eyes that reflect
one's own face back at them. For hundreds of years, the men of Canada's
Northeast coast have brought their hakapiks and gaffs and clubs down through
the fragile skull between these eyes, sending gushes of familiar red squirting
into the frigid wind. Steam rises from their young, undeveloped muscles as
their skin is cut; a careful slice below the flipper, avoiding penetrate of the
large sac holding their guts, down and around the abdomen and up to the other
end. The flippers are removed, collected from each seal (a maximum of 12 per
man) to be taken home for Mom to make the obligatory stew or to be sold
privately. The pelt is removed as efficiently as possible and piled with the
others. Steam rises from their young, undeveloped muscles as their carcass are
left behind at the scene. Nature will take care of the thousands upon thousands
of skinless corpses.
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