Failure™ Magazine

On Thin Ice

The changing world of the polar bear.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Science & Technology

Is the polar bear doomed?
Yes, in my opinion, the polar bear is doomed. The environment in which they live is doomed. The Arctic ice is decreasing dramatically, and the reason it is getting smaller is painfully obvious. As the ice melts, more sunlight hits the water, whereas there used to be ice reflecting sunlight back into the atmosphere. As more sunlight hits more water, the water gets warmer. As the water gets warmer, it melts more ice. As more ice melts, there’s less of it to reflect sunlight.

How much time do polar bears have left?
We’re not going to be polar bear-less in 100 years, which is roughly the figure that is given for the complete disappearance of the polar ice caps. For one thing, the land that surrounds the Arctic Ocean is still going to have ice on it, and if it has ice on it, there will still be places for seals to breed and seals for polar bears to eat. But given the nature of polar bear breeding habits—they wander around looking for other bears—if there aren’t many left, it’s going to be really difficult for them to breed.

Is there anything we can do to save the polar bear?
Nope, there is nothing anyone can do to stop the melting of the polar ice. Copenhagen turned out to be a categorical failure. They came to no conclusions and nothing was done. Basically they decided to have another meeting, to talk about when they might have another meeting, to decide when to have another meeting.

What is the lesson of our experience with polar bears?
It’s a painful one, because we are losing the polar bear and everyone loves polar bears. The lesson is to learn from this experience and to pay attention, because if we can eliminate the most powerful predator in the Arctic, then nothing is safe from human carelessness.

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