Polar bears could vanish by the end of the century

[Eldorado]

Arctic sea ice has been steadily decreasing since the beginning of satellite records in 1979, but a new study comes with a chilling (or perhaps, warming) prediction: By the end of this century, Arctic sea ice may disappear during the summer, which could drive polar bears and other ice-dependent species to extinction.

The "Last Ice Area" is a region containing the oldest, thickest Arctic ice. It spans an area of more than 380,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) from the western coast of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to Greenland's northern coast. When scientists named the 13-foot-thick (4 meters) ice region, they thought it would last for decades.

But now, under both the most optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for warming linked to climate change, the sea ice will dramatically thin by 2050.

Live Science article at MSN

[+joc]

It's always Doom and Gloom from the Environmental Whackos.  The Polar Bears are not going to go extinct. The ice caps are not going to disappear.  If the ice caps were to disappear we would all have already been dead and the polar bears and seals would be the last creatures remaining.

Ever notice how these dire  predictions are always decades away but 'close enough' to scare the hell out of the kids?  Nothing ever really changes.  Life adapts to whatever changes the Earth throws at it.  Or...it goes extinct.   But the Polar Bears are not going to go extinct.  And if they do...the Killer Whale population will take up the slack.