'Business as usual' will not solve Arctic, energy concerns
An article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about Gov. Sarah Palin's reluctance to see the polar bear listed on the endangered species list misses some very important points.
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First of all, even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced to pre-industrial revolution levels, global warming effects would continue to increase for at least 50 years. The arctic ice shelf, which presently provides the favored habitat of the polar bear, will be gone. Given the world's political realities on the environment, there is nothing that can be done to reverse this. Alaska's polar bears will move, adapt or die.
Second, although there have been a few inevitable accidents, the oil and gas industry has a relatively clean record in the Arctic. What accidents there have been were immediately cleaned up with little environmental effect. Alaska's Arctic plain is a huge area, its length is roughly the distance between San Francisco and Seattle. There is room for industry and the polar bear. There are enough pictures of caribou seeking shelter from snowstorms under the oil pipeline to show that oil production and arctic wildlife can coexist.
Make no mistake, however, by assuming that this argues for "business as usual." Our civilization is devastating the planet's atmosphere. The United States economy has utilized cheap energy to propel our standard of living to a level unimaginable three or four generations ago. As China, India, and other countries emulate the United States' success, environmental degradation will increase. At the present time, prevailing winds carry fallout and acid rain from Asian coal-fired electrical plants to the North Pacific, acidifying the ocean and changing that complicated food web upon which many of us in Alaska depend.
Finally, as a civilization we need to recognize the fragility of our planet. We know that present oil production levels are unsustainable for more than a few decades into the future. Instead of using the polar bear's decline as a basis for lawsuits to stop future resource production in Alaska, now is the time to use these non-renewable resources to build an alternative energy economy. A few years ago the largest manufacturer of solar electric cells in the world was a subsidiary of BP, investing non-renewable energy profits in renewable energy. The United States should do the same and lead the way in design, manufacturing, and application of alternative energy products.
As for Alaska's polar bear: Even if all oil, gas, and coal use were to stop tomorrow, he would probably not survive.
Ronn Buschmann
Petersburg