Your quote of the day comes from Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who notes with great nuance that “this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting.” It also won’t stop China from continuing to belch out greenhouse gases at such an amazing rate that in two years it’ll have singlehandedly wiped out all of the reductions from the left’s beloved Kyoto. What it will do in theory is give greens the right to use the Endangered Species Act to challenge economic development all over the country, on grounds that carbon emissions anywhere are a threat to polar bears everywhere. Remember, NASA’s not even sure yet that it’s global warming that’s causing the ice caps to melt; in fact, it’s Canada that’s best positioned to address the needs of the bears since they host two-thirds of the global population. Are the Canadians freaked out about the bears’ endangerment? No: They haven’t even listed the species as threatened, and according to this fact site about polar bears, Canadian hunters actually believe the population’s increasing. Some biologists think that’s untrue, that the bears are simply moving inland as the ice melts. Other biologists disagree, claiming that there are more bears today than there were 35 years ago.
Ah well. It’s an election year and “change” is in the air, my friends. Exit question: The Goracle warned us, didn’t he?
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