Alaska Suing to Bounce Bears Off Threatened List

Mama grizzly, papa polar means threatened baby

(NEWSER) - Melting arctic sea ice isn’t just threatening polar bears’ lives—it’s threatening their gene pool. The loss of ice means more contact between polar bears and genetically-similar grizzlies, which means cross-breeding, scientists say. Hunters have shot at least two polar-grizzly crosses since 2006, the Independent reports. Other species appear to be mixing, too, including beluga whales and narwhals, as well as bowhead and right whales. More»

Canada: Aboriginal communities depend on bear hunt

(AP) - A US-backed proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear skins, teeth, and claws was defeated today at a UN wildlife meeting over concerns it would hurt indigenous economies and arguments that the practice doesn't pose a significant threat to the animals. The Americans argued that the sale of polar bears skins is compounding the loss of the animals' sea ice habitat due to climate change. Canada, along with Norway and Greenland, led the opposition. More»

She made sense while governor; now, not so much

(NEWSER) - Back when Sarah Palin was the governor of Alaska, she was pragmatic and forward-looking on climate change, Eugene Robinson writes, and not the shrill, nonsensical reactionary we now know. She toyed with “carbon-trading markets,” set up a high-level commission on climate change, and acknowledged that the problem affected the “lifestyles and livelihoods of all Alaskans.” What happened? She became the “iconic leader of a populist movement.” More»

...I just don't think humans are to blame for global warming

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin says Al Gore was wrong to call her a climate change “denier,” even though she doesn’t think humans are “primarily responsible” for global warming. Asked about a Palin op-ed that called for President Obama to boycott the Copenhagen climate change summit, Gore replied, “Deniers are persisting in an era of unreality. … It’s a principle in physics. It’s like gravity. It exists.” More»

'Climategate' piece slammed for dismissing science

(NEWSER) - The Washington Post's decision to run an op-ed piece by Sarah Palin on the "Climategate" emails is attracting almost as much derision as Palin's call for President Obama to boycott the Copenhagen conference, the Huffington Post notes. Here's an attitude roundup:

• Palin was "looking for a way to inject herself into this and found it," writes Marc Ambinder, who dissects the piece paragraph by paragraph in a highly critical "annotated" version at the Atlantic.