A strange take on global warming

Apparently, the person in charge of leading Canada’s fight against global warming thinks the phenomenon could be good for polar bears! Well, that’s great news.

On March 20, Mia Rabson of the Winnipeg Free Press reported that federal environment minister Jim Prentice is questioning the science behind claims that polar bears won’t do so well when their habitat melts away.

As reported in the Free Press, he stated:
“I don’t think anyone disagrees the whole process of climate change has implications for polar bears. … What those implications are is still under scientific investigation. It could be positive, it could be negative.”

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/environment-minister-questions-polar-bears-peril-41553972.html

This coincides with officials from his department signing an agreement with the world’s other polar bear nations stating climate change is the biggest factor threatening the creatures.

Prentice will have to go up against a fair bit of science as well as common sense to prove that polar bears are actually benefiting from climate change. While there are debates over the extent of polar bears’ peril, I have not heard any data saying climate change will improve their situation.

I wonder about the point of Prentice’s statement other than to subtly stick it to Canadians concerned with the environment. It’s as if he wanted to hint that no matter how many polar bear summits he organizes, in the end, he’ll find a way to undermine any progress.

Such a nonsensical comment is about as close to climate-change denying as an environment minister can get, and it’s unacceptable. It makes a mockery of the federal government and makes their stance on progressive environmental change abundantly clear, as if it wasn’t already. 

Worst of all, if the first in command on environmental policy is willing to make statements that reveal his distorted vision of environmental action, what hope does that leave those working from the bottom up?

Check out Steve Currie’s comments piece on another federal minister’s questionable beliefs in issue 25 of The Uniter.