Walrus Latest To Be Threatened By Warming

Sea Ice Melting Leaving Many Stranded On Land, Causing Stampedes, Woes For Other Species

(AP)  The disappearance of Arctic sea ice is leaving thousands of walruses stranded on land and leading to deadly stampedes, according to U.S. federal marine mammal experts in Alaska.

The experts - who study the effects of global warming on walrus, polar bears and ice seals, while lobbying to protect the animals by restricting hunting, ship traffic and offshore petroleum activity - say there is little more they can do if the animals' basic habitat, sea ice, continues to vanish.

"Ultimately it's beyond my scope," said Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage. "I can't make ice cubes out there."

Garlich-Miller said 3,000 to 4,000 mostly young walrus died this year in stampedes on land on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea, the body of water touching Alaska and Russia just north of the Bering Strait. Instead of spending the summer spread over sea ice, thousands of walruses were stranded on land in unprecedented numbers for up to three months.

Anatoly Kochnev, who conducts walrus research for Russia's Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, said the loss of 3,000-4,000 animals this year from mostly one demographic could be disastrous.

If current ice trends continue, and walrus have to stay on coastlines every summer, they may put too much pressure on nearby foraging areas instead of feeding in the rich waters offshore, U.S. Geological Survey biologist Tony Fischbach said.

Experts on summer sea ice say it is not likely to suddenly reappear. Arctic sea ice this summer plummeted to its lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.

"Certainly we look like we're on a death spiral right now," said Mark Serreze, senior research scientist. "Losing that summer sea ice over by 2030, within some of our lifetimes, is a reasonable expectation."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide within weeks whether to list polar bears as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act because of the loss of sea ice from global warming. Polar bears hunt and breed on sea ice and are poor candidates for survival if they are based on land, where grizzly bears dominate.

Polar bears' primary prey are ringed seals, the only seals that thrive under sea ice. They dig breathing holes with their thick claws and create lairs on top of the ice where they birth their young.

With warming, those lairs collapse earlier in springtime, leaving hairless pups susceptible to freezing, foxes, other polar bears and even ravens and gulls.

And then there is the Pacific walrus, which face at least three problems: Their ocean habitat may be changing, they may be forced to shore for long periods, and their weakest members are in danger when crowded on land.

Walruses dive to the ocean bottom to eat clams, snails, crabs, shrimps and worms. Research suggests that diminished sea ice and warmer water may decrease plankton, which are food for creatures on the bottom.

Unlike seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely. Females and their young traditionally use ice as a diving platform, riding it north like a moving sidewalk over offshore foraging areas, first in the northern Bering Sea, then into the Chukchi Sea.

If animals are on shore for three months every summer, they cannot reach offshore foraging areas. Chad Jay, chief walrus researcher for the USGS, said there are concerns about how much energy walruses will expend swimming to foraging areas.

An adult walrus can eat 200 pounds of clams in a day. If the walrus population stays within 30 miles of shore in summers, they could overharvest the available clams and other food.

"I suspect they won't do very well as totally shore-based animals," said Vera Alexander, one of three members of the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission.

[j-whitman]

Republican concept of fixing the problem --- Kill them while they are young.

[sbb2211]

j-whitman''s concept of fixing the problem -- Blame it on the Republicans.

It doesn''t fix ANYTHING, but it is a satisfying phrase for Liberals.

[fibonacci_]

Merry Christmas to wide stanced toe-tappers.

[j-whitman]

tiddsanbeer,,,, Blame liberals if you want, Jesus wouldn''t like that -- He was a liberal

[jowand]

Global cooilng is here again, what say you now Biiiiig Al and friends

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COMMENTARY/10575140

[jowand]

tiddsanbeer,,,, Blame liberals if you want, Jesus wouldn''''t like that -- He was a liberal
Posted by j-whitman at 06:15 PM : Dec 24, 2007

No he wasn''t Whitman, the Liberal litmus test is being pro-abortion

[j-whitman]

jowand,,,, You think they didn''t have abortions during the times of Jesus ??? ----- Oh yes they did, & it really wasn''t much of an issue.

[j-whitman]

Rick,,,, You still think God was only concerned about the unborn ??? Was there a signing statement he wrote onto the end of the 10 Commandments that said we should kill beyond birth ?? --- Merry Christmas, is also about Peace on Earth ---- Isreal''s government refused peace.

[j-whitman]

Rick,,,,, Actually it''s the Mormon''s who are pacifists. --- The word liberal is just a lable you hang on those who don''t share your views.
.... The majority of American''s & our Troops are much more liberal than you give them credit for.... Yes, Jesus was a liberal & very much a pacifist.

[iceman_1960]

"Liberals are pacifists. Jesus IS NOT a pacifist. He is the authority and Lord of all."
- Posted by singinrick at 06:57 PM : Dec 24, 2007

That was very cheeky of you. I"ll take your tunic for that.

"You have heard that it was said, "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." [Jesus" Father said that...] But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. [Jesus" Father was wrong, as usual...] If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well." - Matthew 5:38-40

[j-whitman]

singinrick,,,,, Funny you should be the one to use the word litmus test
---- You & your GOP so-called conservatives have been denying there ever was litmust tests for judges, yet you don''t want a judge on a common court or the Supreme Court that doesn''t pass your Super Christian litmus test
----- Now all your republican canidates are arguing over who''s a better Christian.

[j-whitman]

singinrick,,
,,, A Merry Christmas from the likes of you is about as empty & meaningless as your "Support The Troops" bumper stickers you have on your car.

[iceman_1960]

Breaking News:

Santa has left France...

He is now reported sighted over London.

He"s keeping a flight plan and he"s checking it twice.

[iceman_1960]

The Walrus is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture.

But John Lennon mentions the Walrus.

Obviously John Lennon was the Messiah.

He came among his own, and his own received him not.

[iceman_1960]

"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney. Lennon later claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips.

The line "See how they fly like Lucy in the sky" refers to Lennon''s earlier psychedelic song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

The song also contains the unusual exclamation "goo goo g"joob." Various unsatisfactory hypotheses exist regarding the origin and meaning of these syllables.

"James Joyce"s "Finnegans Wake" contains the words googoo goosth at the top of page 557, where it appears:

"...like milk-juggles as if it was the wrake of the hapspurus or old Kong Gander O"Toole of the Mountains or his googoo goosth she seein, sliving off over the sawdust lobby out of the backroom, wan ter, that was everywans in turruns, in his honeymoon trim, holding up his fingerhals..."

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Walrus

[harp1963]

When the polar ice caps resemble a ice cube floating in the water, big industry "bought and paid for" scientists will continue to tell us they aren''t melting.

[ontheleft]

When coconuts and bananas become the main cash crops in Siberia, the right wing will still be in denial. Of course they''ll be denying it from an air conditioned room, as it will 120 degrees outside.

[jowand]

Who is really killing the Walrus, if you subscribe to the human caused global warming lunacy?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/jan/24/travelsenvironmentalimpact.carbonfootprints

[wdrussell1]

Even your naysayers agree that there is global warming, they just don''t agree on the solution or what is causing it.
Only the looniest of the loonies try to deny it is happening.

[realpatriot1]

rick,

For starters, Merry Christmas!

Mt. 10:34 completes a parable told by Jesus to his disciples before sending them out to speak to the "lost sheep of the House of Israel". He was not proposing to slay the non-believers, he was saying that he would deny before the father those who denied him. He instructed the disciples he was sending in his name to be wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.

Luke 19:27 ends a parable of a nobileman whose servants had been instructed to invest his money. The servant who did not invest the money has been instructed to give his portion to the servant who invested and grew his the most. What''s the context for this parable? Jesus is telling this to the tax collector of Jerico who has told Jesus that he had given much of the collected taxes back to the poor( an obvious liberal Democrat)-Jesus said salvation has come to this house.

Jesus ended the parable with the sword refernce you offer.

He didn''t actually have the disciples bring his enemies to him for slaying...the following scripture reveals who he was talking about.

As Jesus enters Jeruselem he warns the Pharisees that if they had seen what God intended for them they would''ve been protected from their enemies(the Gentiles)but will not be. He enters the Temple and drives out those who bought and sold in it(think Pat Robertson & Jim Baker)-"My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a Den of thieves".

Newspapers are not credible sources. Try this one - http://amap.no/acia/

[keithle1]

You can''t trust what you read in the WASHINGTON POST or NY TIMES? How about CNN or BBC? Radio news? Internet? What do you do if you can''t trust ANY media sources? Research EVERY story yourself to see if it''s true? You''re going to be busy.

Have to trust someone or something.

You can''''t trust what you read in the WASHINGTON POST or NY TIMES? How about CNN or BBC? Radio news? Internet? What do you do if you can''''t trust ANY media sources? Research EVERY story yourself to see if it''''s true? You''''re going to be busy.
Have to trust someone or something.
Posted by Keithle1

You don''t have to research the specifics of every story if you educate yourself on the science. The Arctic is melting. Some animals depending on Arctic ice for survival. Melting Arctic ice is going to impact those animals adversely. It''s pretty simple, actually. Legitimate scientific sources are as accessible as newspapers, thanks to the internet. Commercial news sources are in the business of making money, not verifying scientific evidence.

For example, the article in Newsmax was written by E. Ralph Hostetter, a prominent businessman and agricultural publisher. What the heck does he know about climatology and who in their right mind would consider him an authority?

[iceman_1960]

"Chad Jay, chief walrus researcher for the USGS, said there are concerns about how much energy walruses will expend swimming to foraging areas."


How come walrus researchers are always named Chad ???

[iceman_1960]

Luke 19:27:
27But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them%u2014bring them here and kill them in front of me."
- Posted by singinrick at 08:28 AM : Dec 25, 2007

Jesus was just kidding about that.

Love and forgiveness of one"s enemies was the cornerstone of His entire Message.

He wasn"t one of these "Do as I say, not as I do" type of people. (There"s another word for them: Hypocrites.)

Can"t the Good Shepherd tell a little joke now and then ?

[myidoncbs]

For Sinner Rick''s benefit, curse914 quoted his favorite Bible verse. Here''s mine: "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Psalm 137:9, KJV)

See, Christians are BABY KILLERS! So, why do all of you get your panties all twisted in a knot over abortion? The inconsistencies are insurmountable, so why not keep your religious dogma to yourself!

Re the article''s topic:

Global warming is undeniably real. The consequences are potentially disasterous. Human activity absolutely contributes to global warming. Human beings better get their act together and minimize their contribution to global warming ASAP. The time for pretending it''s not happening is long past.

[iceman_1960]

Is another Buump necessary ?

[iceman_1960]

????

[iceman_1960]

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Psalm 137:9, KJV)

That might be a prophecy about Rolling Stones concerts.

[jimfinster]

Here is a little challenge to you skeptics:

The blogs etc that you keep posting as "proof" are not scientific research. Neither is your opinion.

So, find articles that support your position in reputable scientific journals. Or how about a reputable scientific organization that supports your position? Hint: Exxon-Mobil, Fred Singer, Steven Malloy, and Fox News don''t count.

Tick tock tick tock.....

[iceman_1960]

Bump.

[andor3]

"Global warming is undeniably real. The consequences are potentially disastrous. Human activity absolutely contributes to global warming."

Yes! All reasonable people have finished the debate and moved to agree with those three ideas. Now we have to decide what to do about it.

We need to ignore the people who want to continually go back and challenge those three truths (without any evidence, just pretending and make-believe science).

The future belongs to those courageous and strong enough to accept reality and move forward!

curse914: Your sources are not credible. Try this one - http://amap.no/acia/

[gaye5]

I wonder how these Walrus''s survived when it was so warm that the Vikings could grow crops in Greenland, hmmmm but eventually it became so cold (as we see today) that they couldnt grow crops anymore so the Vikings had to leave..

Of course the universe is not stable at only one temperature, thus our world isn''t the same every decade/century, of course we go through cycles and even the ice caps on Mars and Pluto are melting..
Do the people really want to help put more trillions into the pockets of these people who can afford to continually push this line that global warming is going to destroy us unless we do certain things??...

All of you on here obviously use the computer, so before you criticise those who don''t believe, look bothe sides up for yourselves.. I did and yes there is much there on so called facts (which leave much out) that we are heating up and we are the cause, but there is also so much there as to the opposite, even from scientists .. one such scientist is being made to look a fool and it is a well known fact that if you destroy the messenger, no one will believe him. If this same man had of agreed with global warming his name would have been up in lights as someone to listen to..

[gaye5]

But having said all that we need to clean up our pollution and poisons that governments allow to be pumped into the air, our water and into we humans, I feel that with millions of people dying from sickness from these poisons every year, that this is more important than and natural cycle of global warming/cooling yet world strange how the Governments haven''t worried about the thousands of chemicals that they allow to be pumped into our bodies so why is there such a push for global weathers, could it just be money again.???
We need to realize that many scientists who once agreed with global warming have now changed their minds.

We need to understand the past to have any chance of understanding the future..

[gaye5]

OCEANOGRAPHER FORCED TO RECANT BY THE GREEN LOBBY The Galileo of Global Warming
It''s not PC to blame Mother Nature
In a scientific establishment 50-percent financed by the government few can resist the cult of human-caused global warming.
Keigwin,discovered that temperatures a thousand years ago, during the so-called medieval climate optimum, were two degrees Celsius warmer than today''s and that the average temperature over the last three millennia was slightly warmer than today''s.
Roughly confirming this result are historical records -- the verdancy of Greenland at the time of the Vikings, the little ice age of the mid-1700s, a long series of temperature readings collected in Britain over the last 300 years documenting a slow recovery from the ice age, reports of medieval temperatures from a variety of sources, and records of tree rings and ice cores.

These previous findings, echoed by Keigwin''s, are devastating to the theory of human-caused global warming.
If the Earth was significantly warmer a thousand years ago, if we have been on a re-warming trend for three centuries, if, as other even more voluminous evidence suggests, the Earth has repeatedly seen mini-cycles of warming and cooling of about 1,500 years duration, then any upward drift in temperatures we may be seeing now -- included scattered anecdotes of thinning arctic ice -- is likely to be the result of such cycles.

Gaye5: One of the scientists who disagrees with the findings of the majority also disagreed with experts on the effects of second hand smoke. He did so because he was paid to do so by the tobaccoo industry.
This is happening again, with scientists being paid by the oil industry to cast doubt on the validity of the science behind global warming. this is why I urge people to educate themselves, learning how to interpret the science for yourself so you don''t have to rely on others. I''ve taken enough environmental science and geology classes to understand the science. It''s real, and we''re causing it.

"Governments haven''''t worried about the thousands of chemicals that they allow to be pumped into our bodies so why is there such a push for global weathers, could it just be money again.???"

Of course governments are concerned about chemicals. That''s why some have been banned, and others are constantly being tested. Unfortunately, people being what they are, profits frequently come before safety. Which is why the oil industry is paying scientists in an attempt to confuse the public about the validity of global warming. Greed. If you''re worried about an industry making too much money, it seems that you might want to worry about the one that is polluting the planet, rather than the one that wants to clean it up.

[gaye5]

Climate Momentum Shifting: Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming - Now Skeptics

Growing Number of Scientists Convert to Skeptics After Reviewing New Research
Many former believers in catastrophic man-made global warming have recently reversed themselves and are now climate skeptics.
Once Believers, Now Skeptics
Geophysicist Dr. Claude Allegre, a top geophysicist and French Socialist.

Geologist Bruno Wiskel. Wiskel was once such a big believer in man-made global warming that he set out to build a %u201CKyoto house%u201D he has reversed his view.

Astrophysicist Dr. Nir Shaviv, one of Israel''s top young award winning scientists, recanted his belief that man made emissions were driving climate change.

Mathematician & engineer Dr. David Evans, who did carbon accounting for the Australian Government,

Climate researcher Dr. Tad Murty, former Senior Research Scientist for Fisheries and Oceans in Canada, also reversed himself from believer in man-made climate change to a skeptic.

Botanist Dr. David Bellamy, a famed UK environmental campaigner, former lecturer at Durham University and host of a popular UK TV series on wildlife, recently converted into a skeptic after reviewing the science and now calls global warming fears "poppycock."
more to come

[gaye5]

Climate scientist Dr. Chris de Freitas of The University of Auckland, N.Z., also converted from a believer in man-made global warming to a skeptic.

Meteorologist Dr. Reid Bryson, the founding chairman of the Department of Meteorology at University of Wisconsin (now the Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences,

Global warming author and economist Hans H.J. Labohm started out as a man-made global warming believer but he later switched his view after conducting climate research.

Paleoclimatologist Tim Patterson, of Carlton University in Ottawa who had taught his students of global warming has converted from believer in C02 driving the climate change to a skeptic.

Physicist Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski, chairman of the Central Laboratory for the United Nations Scientific Committee.

Paleoclimatologist Dr. Ian D. Clark, professor of the Department of Earth Sciences at University of Ottawa who also taught his students in favor of CO2''s, reversed his views on man-made climate change after further examining the evidence.

Environmental geochemist Dr. Jan Veizer, professor emeritus of University of Ottawa, converted from believer to skeptic after conducting scientific studies of climate history.

Etc etc..

Gaye5: I notice that you simply presented a list of scientists that are skeptical about the theory. Do you have links to their individual papers on the science, or are you copying and pasting from a list?

[gaye5]

Hominatrix53 all these scientists that I have quoted here (and more) also studied global warming..
I am wondering how are you going to stop the global warming on mars and Pluto Hominatrix53..
I am saying that I agree that we might be going through a stage of warmer climates, and that we have to do something about pollution, but I don''t believe that we are the main cause of earth changes, and as we have gone through many ice ages both mini and large, plus though times of warmer climates than we are in now, what do you contribute these to...
Hominatrix53 IF governments were really thought that humans were the real reason for global changes and were really concerned about the CO2''s, then why don''t they plant more trees world wide which soak up the CO2''s.. If Israel can turn the desert into a garden then why don''t we concentrate the money on planting trillions of trees world wide..

[gaye5]

Hominatrix53, I have given these names so as people like you can also look up what these scientists say...
Perhaps you would be interested in these..

New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming Fears

Global Warming "Consensus" Continues To Melt Away (Op-Ed By Senator Inhofe, Power Magazine)

Latest Scientific Studies Refute Fears of Greenland Melt

EPA to Probe E-mail Threatening to %u2018Destroy%u2019 Career of Climate Skeptic

Senator Inhofe declares climate momentum shifting away from Gore (The Politico op ed)

Scientific Smackdown: Skeptics Voted The Clear Winners Against Global Warming Believers in Heated NYC Debate

Global Warming on Mars & Cosmic Ray Research Are Shattering Media Driven "Consensus%u2019

Global Warming: The Momentum has Shifted to Climate Skeptics

Prominent French Scientist Reverses Belief in Global Warming - Now a Skeptic

Top Israeli Astrophysicist Recants His Belief in Manmade Global Warming - Now Says Sun Biggest Factor in Warming

[gaye5]

And more for you to look up,,,

Warming On Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Neptune''s Moon & Earth Linked to Increased Solar Activity, Scientists Say

Panel of Broadcast Meteorologists Reject Man-Made Global Warming Fears- Claim 95% of Weathermen Skeptical

MIT Climate Scientist Calls Fears of Global Warming ''Silly'' - Equates Concerns to %u2018Little Kids%u2019 Attempting to "Scare Each Other"

Weather Channel TV Host Goes ''Political''- Stars in Global Warming Film Accusing U.S. Government of %u2018Criminal Neglect%u2019

Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics

ABC-TV Meteorologist: I Don''t Know A Single Weatherman Who Believes ''Man-Made Global Warming Hype''

The Weather Channel Climate Expert Refuses to Retract Call for Decertification for Global Warming Skeptics

Senator Inhofe Announces Public Release Of "Skeptic%u2019s Guide To Debunking Global Warming"

This thread is about the effect of global warming on walruses. How is all this religious stuff relevant to the topic?

[gaye5]

As it is boxing day here in Australia and only 9.45am, I am off to the sales to get my years families birthday presents..
So for me the important thing of global warming will have to wait while I wade myself through the angry billions of people who are out there trying to get their bargains.. don''t normally do this so hope I return... eheheh and by the time I get back you will probably be asleep..

Gaye5: Solar activity has been disproven as a cause for the current warming. Your sources are outdated. A list of names is not evidence, nor is a list of headlines.

Gaye5: If you''re going to use names and headlines as evidence, YOU need to look them up. I get my information from scientific sites and textbooks. I''ve provided a link to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report. Read it, or don''t.

[jimfinster]

singinrick:

There you go again. Why are you posting all your religious drivel here? This is a story on global warming, maybe you did not notice???