Well, Kempthorne did it. Polar Bears are now listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened. Is there any validity to this listing or is it just more political garbage being pushed onto us by the “we hate ourselves and our technically based society” tree huggers. Since the 1970s, while the earth was supposedly warming, the number of Polar Bears increased from about 5,000 to about 22,000. Anyone who knows anything about world history knows that the Little Climatic Optimum saw temperatures a few degrees warmer than we have today and that during the Climatic Optimum the temperature was about 10 degrees warmer and by golly, we still have Polar Bears.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, Polar Bears exist as 20 distinct population groups. Two populations, 16.4 percent of all bears, live in areas where the temperature is falling and their population is decreasing. Wasn’t cold supposed to be good for them? Two populations, 13.6 percent of all bears, live in areas where the temperature is increasing locally and the number of bears there is increasing. Ten populations, 45.4 percent of all bears, live in stable population groups. The status of 6 populations is unknown at present.

Kempthorne stated that sea ice in the Artic is receding, affecting the ability of the bears to hunt seals. Oh? First of all Russian sea ice records, which span 125 years, show that the sea ice extent and thickness goes in cycles. NASA satellite data shows that last winter the sea ice in the Artic covered 772,000 more square miles than the average coverage of the prior three years! The same data source shows that the expanding ice coverage was from 4 to 8 inches thicker than previously.

Dr. Phil Chapman (former MIT physicist, Apollo 14 Mission Scientist) wrote in the Australian on 23 April: “Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature of the earth has remained steady or declined during the past decade ...... and now the global temperature is failing precipitously.” Global temperatures peaked in 1998, and cooling began in 2002. Recognizing that climate was what you expected and weather was what you got, this past winter was viciously cold world wide with record cold in places like Florida, Mexico, and Greece, snow in Jerusalem and in Damascus, it snowed in Bagdad for the first time in modem history, and snow fell in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 40 years. Brutal cold weather hit China hard.

The earth’s temperature goes up and down in cycles, at times plunging dramatically. If the next few years continue the trend of the past decade, will Polar Bears be taken off the threatened listing? If not, why not? Is candidacy for inclusion under endangered species act protection now to be dependent on minor natural ups and downs in the earth’s temperature? Since there is a lot of published data showing cyclic sunspot activity is part of what controls our short-term climate, should the Endangered Species Act be administered by astronomers? As a matter of fact, this would make more sense than politicians ignoring facts and thereby screwing up the works.

AccuWeather’s senior forecaster, Joe Bastardi recently stated: “People are concerned that 50 years from now, it will be warm beyond a point of no return. My concern is almost opposite, that it’s cold and getting colder.” Maybe some of our politicians ought to listen to him. Maybe we ought to listen to him. For over a decade now, the earth has cooled, not warmed up. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Carl F. Austin is a Goose Creek rancher, geothermal explorationist and a lot of other things.   Source