The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened

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Polar Bears are the Samuel L. Jackson of the animal world; they are bad mother-f***ers.” They survive in extreme conditions, go for months without eating, and think nothing of stalking and attacking hunters with guns hunting them.

At the turn of the century, Polar Bears became the cause celebre of environmentalists. Polar Bear scientists predicted that because of anticipated changes in arctic ice formation in Septembers, Polar Bear populations would plummet by 2/3rds. Because of the number crunching, but not because of any actual decline in population, Polar Bears were listed as threatened.

Polar Bear scientists became famous. Funding for their work increased. Environmentalists felt virtuous. Everything was good.

But, then, author Susan Crockford entered the picture. She noticed that the future decline in ice formation predicted for 2050 was happening now AND that Polar Bear populations were increasing. She attempted to present her findings and was blocked and vilified by establishment Polar Bear scientists and their organizations. She then took to blogging to get word out.

Under the scientific model we are taught in school, scientists should have looked at the facts and corrected their theory. They would have found that Polar Bears are far more adaptable than previously believed. They should have questioned their theories.

But that is not how ideological science works. Under the model of ideological science, dissenters and heretics must be crushed.

This book is interesting and educational in correcting the record about Polar Bears. Much of its technical details went over my head, but I was able to absorb the broad outline. What I found particularly compelling was the inside story on politicized science which is perverting science in the same way that the Soviets perverted genetics to promote Lysenkoism. Instead of an open and self-correcting approach to science, we get scientists with political axes to grind forming cliques, poisoning the reputation of dissenters, preventing peer-reviewed publication and, then, claiming total scientific credibility for their position on the grounds of the unanimity of peer-review. It's a crooked game.

Dr. Mitchell Taylor explains:

“They are part of the record. I have been active in polar bears since 1978. I didn't recognise 12 of the 14 names on the paper written criticizing Susan for publishing an article about polar bears because she does not have any direct experience in polar bear research or management. Does anyone need to point out how hypocritical this is? Since when does anyone need to tag a polar bear to compare what was predicted to what has happened, based on published information?...
There are two ways to get a scientific consensus. One is to present the data and the analysis in a manner that is so persuasive that everyone is convinced. The other way is to exclude or marginalise anyone who does not agree. This occurs so commonly now that it has become an accepted practice. The practice of science has become secondary to governments, NGOs, journals, and scientists who feel that the ends justify the means.”

And:

“Polar bear specialists become a clique
The newfound fame and influence and money of the polar bear community made them very unaccepting of dissent. Some years earlier, fellow polar bear specialist D. Mitchell Taylor had simply questioned a few aspects of climate science, a faux pas that was enough for him to be consigned to the scientific wilderness by the rest of the polar bear community. Taylor had been a Canadian representative on the PBSG from 1981 to 2008, but at the end of his 28 years of service, he was booted out by chairman Andrew Derocher for expressing (elsewhere) his sceptical views on human-caused global warming. This was remarkable: since its inception in 1965, no one else had ever been ‘uninvited' to be a member of the PBSG, for any reason.”

Politics corrupts everything it touches.