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Ben Yoon 

Professor Obodiac

Writing 39C

May 25th, 2022

Abstract

It is impossible for any type of animal to go extinct unless some things or people are killing them. This research focuses on how humans and human activities have been negatively impacting the polar bear population and what environmental organizations are doing to help the polar bears. Some of the main human activities I will be discussing are the hunting industries and car companies because these are some of the main causes of global warming and climate change. Global warming and climate change are also the main issues for the polar bear population since the ice is melting due to those issues. The environmental organizations have submitted a fixed regulation for the sake of polar bears, but the bill has only been introduced in the house, and the government still has not taken further action on it. Human beings tend to and also love to choose their own profit over the environment, and it goes the same for the hunting industries and car companies. They are choosing earning money over saving polar bears, because they do not care about the environment unless we fix the regulations. 

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Selfish Human Beings vs Polar Bears

Animal extinction has been happening all over the world for many years. Most of them are also caused by human activities. “One animal or plant species may become extinct every hour. All species are doomed to extinction, but man through worldwide development/killing 

animals for food/profit/using toxic chemicals such as pesticides/industrial wastes, will accelerate the extinction of plants/animals and the result will be a more hostile environment for man.”(Eckholm) is a quote by Erik P. Eckholm. Humans are capable of changing all these factors but most of them will choose profit over the environment status of the world, because we are selfish living creatures. Car companies are one of the great examples of the situation of what I had just explained previously. They would continue to purchase the needs that are made of nature such as trees and forests in order to invent products that also negatively harm the environment which is affecting the lifeworlds of animals. Hunting industries are another example, because they make money by capturing wild animals and allowing people to kill animals. The reason why I brought up car companies and hunting industries is because of the potential polar bear extinction. Car companies play a huge factor in climate change and global warming, because most of the cars burn fossil fuels which releases a huge amount of carbon dioxide, and greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Hunting industries are not as big of a factor as the car companies, because there is at least a limit for the amount of polar bears being hunted, but it is

still a factor, because the limit needs to be lower due to the decrease of polar bear population. There are currently no official regulations or policies for the car industries to decrease the amount of cars they can make each year in the United States, but it is much needed to save the 

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environment. At least there are some environmental organizations that try to save the polar bear population by attempting to make stricter laws.

Caption: Average monthly Arctic ocean sea ice extent throughout the years(1979-2019). As you can see in the graph, it has been only decreasing.

The polar bear extinction has become a bigger issue recently, and some of the environmental organizations have finally decided to take a serious action. Committee on Foreign Affairs, committee on Natural Resources, and committee on Ways and Means are organizations that were involved in introducing the bill that is called Bear Protection Act of 2021. The Bear Protection Act of 2021 was mainly sponsored by Ted Lieu, and followed up by the cosponsors: Mike Thompson, Rodney Davis, and Ann Kuster. This specific legislation’s main purpose was 

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“To conserve global bear populations by prohibiting the importation, exportation, and interstate trade of bear viscera and items, products, or substances containing, or labeled or advertised as containing, bear viscera, and for other purposes.”(govinfo.com) Most of us human beings are very aware of animal extinction happening all over the world, and polar bears are common animals that everyone knows of, but most of us do not care enough to make efforts to protect them. 

The previous bill I was explaining could potentially decrease the amount of polar bears being hunted every year, but we can not get the bill all the way through the house of representatives without people uniting together. The United States is not the biggest issue when it comes to hunting polar bears, because Canada takes it in. I had mentioned earlier that human beings will choose profit over the environment, and Canada is a prime example of what I said. 

Caption: Photo of an industry that sells polar bear skin, and they are bought from the local hunters.

“Canada’s claims at this conference that polar bear hunting is not harming polar bear populations are disingenuous,” said Teresa Telecky, director of wildlife at Humane Society International, referring to a recent report by Canada’s Polar Bear Technical Committee. Canada’s 

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scientists are raising alarm about over-harvest not only in the past year but in the past three to five years. Canada and the other parties to the Polar Bear Agreement urgently need to address this problem.”(New York Times) Polar bear extinction is a global problem which means that there are people causing problems all over the world. “In 1973, the Polar Bear Agreement was adopted by five countries within the polar bear’s range to combat overhunting. Polar bears face new challenges as their sea-ice habitat disappears, and countries are struggling to keep up with the changes. Despite the well-recognized threat of global warming, Canada tripled its quota for one already-declining polar bear population and is proposing increases in two other populations. In 2012, 740 of the animals were shot by hunters in Canada — almost 80 more than the average over the previous five years of 663.”(Biological Diversity) The polar bear population has been at its worst for the past 5 years and the data speaks for itself. The government of Canada needs to fix or make a new regulation that limits the amount of polar bears being hunted, because they should not be letting the population of polar bears decrease for the hunting industries to make money over killing the lifeworlds of animals. “Global sentiment on this issue seems clear, as every country has banned the trade and commercial export of polar bear parts,  said Elly Pepper, policy advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Yet Canada continues to allow substantial harvest and trade. Their populations are perhaps key to the species climate change survival, making the country’s outlier stance all the more vexing. Prices for polar bear hides have skyrocketed, quadrupling since 2007 to $22,000 U.S. for a single hide, and doubling in the last 

year alone. Demand for polar bear skins is also growing, particularly in China where skins sell for up to $80,000 U.S. each. Polar bear scientists today said that three of the four polar bear populations that are known to be declining are also threatened by hunting.”(Biological Diversity)

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Every single government in the country loves feeding the riches their money, because they need to make the riches richer so that their own country will continue to develop. Canada allows all these hunting industries to keep harvesting and trading so they can bring more money in for the country, which could also be a positive impact for the Canadian economy itself. The government really needs to do a better job on fixing these regulations because the entire polar bear population is dependent on it. 

Burning fossil fuels is one of the main causes of climate change and global warming, and transportation is one of the biggest problems, because most of the transportation burn fossil fuels that release greenhouse gasses. Electric cars could be a potential solution to this problem, since they do not require gas or fossil fuels to travel because they run by charging electricity into the vehicles. “Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, BYD and Jaguar Land Rover, were also set to sign the commitment.Volvo has already committed to going all-electric by 2030. The Jaguar brand will become all-electric starting in 2025. Ford has said its passenger car fleet in Europe will be all-electric by 2030. Mercedes has said it will be ready to go all-electric at the end of the decade, where market conditions allow.VW brand has so far committed to producing only full-electric vehicles in Europe from 2035, and having a CO2-neutral fleet globally by 2050.”(news.europe) In order to save the environment, industries and the government need to put in effort, because without effort we would be destroying nature. Car industries need to reduce the amount of cars 

that burn fossil fuels, and produce more electric cars. In my opinion, in order to save the polar bear population car industries should be banning gasoline cars by the year 2050. “According to a new report by Greenpeace East Asia and Greenpeace Germany, their corporate decision making tells a very different story — one in which the carbon footprint of the global car industry equals 

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9% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. That means the car industry spews out more than all the emissions from the thousands of factories, power plants, agriculture, airplanes in the entire European Union. But it’s not just up to policymakers. The car industry needs to up its game, and phase out all diesel and petrol cars. We want to see an end to new car sales by 2028, and instead have car manufacturers producing vehicles that are smaller, lighter, more energy-efficient and electric.”(Greenpeace)

Most of the environmental organizations are on the same page, they all believe that all car industries should be going all electric as soon as possible, because the amount of fossil fuels they burn is enormous. The only issue in this case would be the government, because they are the ones that can fix and control the regulations such as law or restrictions. Polar bear population is 

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decreasing every time the car industries produce a car, the government needs to take action otherwise we will see the end of the polar bear population. 

In conclusion, car industries and hunting industry are the biggest issue/cause of the polar bear extinction. The government needs to step up and restrict these industries. They need to force all car industries to go all electric as soon as possible, and also need to regulate and restrict the amount of polar bears being hunted each year or possibly bann hunting polar bears. Both of the industries that I pointed out in the body paragraphs have one similarity which is that they would choose their own profit over the environment. The only way to influence these industries is stricter regulations by the government. The government is the main key to solve this problem, but the government itself is made of human beings which I think is very crucial for the lifeworlds of animals. The government should be looking at the new regulations that have been suggested by  the environmentalists since they have only been introduced to the house which means they have a long way, in order for the regulations to become laws. 

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Work Cited:

Amstrup, Steven C., et al. “Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Can Reduce Sea-Ice Loss and Increase Polar Bear Persistence.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 15 Dec. 2010, https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09653.

H.R.2325 - Bear Protection Act of 2021 117th Congress (2021-2022). https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2325.

Krauss, Clifford. “Bear Hunting Caught in Global Warming Debate.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 May 2006, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/27/world/americas/bear-hunting-caught-in-global-warming-debate.html?searchResultPosition=1.

Lieu, Ted. “H.R. 2325 (IH) - Bear Protection Act of 2021.” Govinfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-117hr2325ih/summary.

Peacock, E., et al. “Conservation and Management of Canada's Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) in a Changing arctic1this Review Is Part of the Virtual Symposium ‘Flagship Species – Flagship Problems’ That Deals with Ecology, Biodiversity and Management Issues, and Climate Impacts on Species at Risk and of Canadian Importance, Including the Polar Bear (Ursus Maritimus), Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua), Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus), and Caribou (Rangifer Tarandus).” Canadian Journal of Zoology, 27 Apr. 2011, https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/z11-021.

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Reid, Lauren. “These 12 Car Companies Are Setting the World on Fire.” Greenpeace International, 12 Sept. 2019, https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/24136/these-12-car-companies-are-setting-the-world-on-fire/.

“Six Automakers Agree to Climate Pledge but VW, Toyota Hold Back.” Automotive News Europe, 10 Nov. 2021, https://europe.autonews.com/environmentemissions/six-automakers-agree-climate-pledge-vw-toyota-hold-back#:~:text=Volvo%2C%20Ford%2C%20GM%2C%20Mercedes,Rover%20will%20sign%20COP26%20commitment&text=GLASGOW%20%2D%2D%20A%20group%20of,emissions%20and%20curb%20global%20warming.

Telecky, Teresa. “Polar Bear Hunting on Rise Despite Species' Decline.” Polar Bear Hunting on Rise despite Species' Decline, 2013, https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2013/polar-bear-12-05-2013.html.