http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/report-suggests-feeding-polar-bears-save-species
Summary: Polar bear experts feel polar bears are in a crisis with starvation. Because of global warming and climate change, obtaining food for themselves has grown to be a harder task than it used to be. Experts brainstormed ideas to try to help them. One of their more favorable ideas is to feed the polar bears. They have done this before with other species and think it could benefit the bears. Experts calculated the cost to be approximately one million dollars a month, and think it would be worth the cost if it helped them. This idea has caused debates because another side feels this idea would not work. The other side argues that polar bears are predators and need to hunt on their own. They also feel that if we did supply food to the bears it could possibly cause more harm to humans.
Opinion/Reflection: I think feeding the bears is not a good idea. Although I believe we are contributing to their suffering and we should help, this does not seem like a reasonable way. I understand I am not an expert in this subject, but it seems to me that it would be impossible to feed enough bears, daily, to make an impact on the starvation problem. Also, the price seems extreme to me. One million dollars a month seems like a lot, and to have to pay that money towards a cause that might fail seems unreasonable. What if in five years we realize feeding the bears is not helping, then all that money would have been wasted. I believe their is a more logical and less economically crippling way to help save the polar bear species.
Questions:
1- What are some negative effects of feeding the polar bears?
2- Why should humans feel responsible to help the polar bears?
3- What are some other ideas we could use to help the polar bears?
4- If we decided not to do anything to help the polar bears, what effect might this have on them?
Don't feed the (polar) bears:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2013/02/20/opinion/sutter-polar-bears/index.html?npt=NP1
This article I found on CNN and elaborated the decision as to why humans should not feed the polar bears for the species to survive. The article starts out by asking this question: If a polar bear no longer has ice to stand on and must have his "bear kibble" airlifted to the Arctic by helicopter, is he still a polar bear? Me personally, I believe that even if a polar bear must have his "bear kibble" airlifted to the Arctic by helicopter, he is still considered a "polar bear", except for the fact that humans will be feeding the polar bears. However, this does NOT mean that it's considered saving the species. The article listed in this comment clearly states that it would cost $32,000 per day to feed the "most accessible" bears, and wold get really expensive in the long run. The article also mentions the fact that if humans were the sole food for the polar bears, then they would not be considered "polar bears" to begin with. The most effective solution according to the article is to cut down carbon dioxide emissions, use less electricity, walk instead of driving, and live more efficiently. The article on CNN does mention a few tidbits that I believe are really important: Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that 2/3 of the polar bear population will vanish from existence by the year 2050, and they also mention a YouTube video published by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that makes the Arctic ice melt a lot more sense. The article overall, expands the point of why we humans cannot feed the polar bears because how would it help save the species? This article has more information than you think, and elaborates the point of point of the issue even more, as time passes by, and every minute of every second, the Arctic ice slowly melts into Arctic water, and the polar bear population very slowly starts to vanish from existence.
I chose George P. Cobb because he specializes in Environmental Science. He has a PhD. in Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. and a B.S. in Chemistry, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. I felt that if he commented back it would further improve our understanding of environmental Science
ReplyDeleteHi my name is Christopher Lee and I am in 9th grade at Hatboro Horsham High-school and in our Environmental Science class we were assigned to compose a blog and talk about Environmental Science. Since you are intelligent in the Environmental Science area it would be a great privilege for our class if you could give us your opinion on our blog. Thank you for your time and our class hopes you respond back!
The link to our blog will be down below.
http://greenisthenewblack11.blogspot.com/2013/02/report-suggests-feeding-polar-bears-to_19.html
Questions:
ReplyDelete1- What are some negative effects of feeding the polar bears?
It would be very expensive, polar bears are natural predators, and it could have negative effects on humans.
2- Why should humans feel responsible to help the polar bears?
Humans might be able to help them, so that makes them partially responsible. Also, some of the things we do to the world are making it harder for the bears to live, such as pollution, so we should fix the problem.
3- What are some other ideas we could use to help the polar bears?
We could enforce laws that protect polar bears and cut back on pollution.
4- If we decided not to do anything to help the polar bears, what effect might this have on them?
They could become extinct, which would effect many ecosystems and other species.