Blog Action Day - Global Warming And The Decimation Of Arctic's Polar Bears.

Taking a break from my usual posts about books, writing and the literary world, today's post celebrates Blog Action Day, a day where thousands of bloggers around the world come together and write about a common theme - our environment.

With global warming and environmental issues increasingly affecting our lives throughout the world coupled with the inertia and apparent lack of governmental efforts in tackling what is probably the greatest single issue facing humanity in recent years and in years to come, Blog Action Day is an ideal way for citizens around the world to come together, raise awareness of common issues and have their voices and opinions heard. The following is my contribution on the plight of the polar bears and the impact of global warming on their habitats, an article that i had submitted to an article directory recently.

Global Warming And The Decimation Of Arctic's Polar Bears.
Even under moderate projections for shrinking sea ice caused by global warming, leading scientists have warned that two-thirds of the world's polar bears will disappear by 2050. Current polar bear population is estimated to be about 22,000.

By mid-century, due to global warming, the bears will be largely relegated to the Arctic archipelago of Canada and spots off the northern Greenland coast where sea ice persists even in warm summers. This shrinking of their habitat will reduce the polar bear population drastically and eventually result in their total disappearance from the Arctic continent.

An analysis by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that sea ice coverage of the Arctic Ocean will decline by more than 40 per cent before the summer of 2050. "Sea ice conditions would have to be substantially better than even the most conservative computer simulations of warming and it's effects on sea ice," a spokesman said.

Alarmingly, the analysis also concluded that the decimation of the polar bears is largely unavoidable, at least for decades, no matter what the level of greenhouse gases emissions is. In other words, even in the unlikely event that all the major economies agree to rapid and drastic reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, the floating Arctic ice cap will continue to shrink at a rapid pace for the next 50 years, wiping out much of the polar bears' habitat.

In the United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering listing the bears as a threatened and endangered species. While this will have no impact on the rapid shrinking of the polar bears' habitats, it will prevent further decimation of the bears through hunting and poaching.

With domino-like effects down the line, it is worth emphasizing that the decimation of Arctic's polar bears, due to the rapid shrinking of their habitats, applies also to the other denizens of the Arctic continent like sea lions and walruses and the impact on the food chain due to the vast shrinking in numbers of the top predator in the Arctic, will result in massive imbalances in the ecosystem.

*Sources :
-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
-United States Fish and Wildlife Service

*Related Articles :
-Read all about indiscriminate dumping and it's impact on our ocean's marine life at The Right Blue.
-How To Make Your Home Environmental Friendly.