Polar bears to plastic bags: Jonah Goldberg's anti-eco evangelism

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If you've been following the plight of polar bears in the L.A. Times, you might be a tad confused. Today comes an article about new fights over the bears, which were recently listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Polar bears should be listed as endangered, not just threatened, argue the enviro-groups who've filed a new lawsuit over the issue. And in the article, we hear a lot of reasons as to why -- including a U.S. Geological Survey study that predicts polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.

Meanwhile, the L.A. Times also ran a column by conservative Jonah Goldberg yesterday. Goldberg declares polar bears are thriving and shouldn't be listed as threatened (much less endangered):

Never mind that polar bears are in fact thriving -- their numbers have quadrupled in the last 50 years. Never mind that full implementation of the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gases would save exactly one polar bear, according to Danish social scientist Bjorn Lomborg, author of the 2007 book "Cool It!"

Which is it? Let's just say Goldberg's research and reasoning are pretty shoddy. For one, Goldberg's claim that polar bear populations have quadrupled is in itself strange, since scientists agree there's no adequate worldwide census for polar bears. In fact, according to Dr. Andrew Derocher, chair of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group, "there is no data at all for the 1950-60s. Nothing but guesses."

Even today, there's only a "working figure" of 20,000 to 25,000 bears, as the Arctic is "a vast and forbidding place to conduct field studies," as described by the L.A. Times reporter Kenneth R. Weiss. Science studies do, however, have firmer figures for certain areas; the western Hudson Bay polar bear population, for example, has shrunk by 22% since 1987.

In any case, the push to protect polar bears has to do more with what science tells us will happen to them and their habitat due to climate change in the future, not about what's happened to populations in the past due to other factors. Still, even in the face of scientific consensus to the contrary, Goldberg's eager to grasp at straws. To bolster his case, Goldberg cites Danish "scientist" Bjorn Lomborg, whose peers on the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty issued a 17-page report concluding that Bjorn’s book displayed "systematic one-sidedness” — back in 2003. [Update: Citing procedural errors, Denmark's  Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation did later annul DCSD's decision  (The NYT reports: "Most of the ministry's criticisms were of the panel's methods, not its findings."), giving DCSD the option to reinvestigate, which it chose not to do. Here are links to Grist's more current critiques of Lomborg.]

I find it rather ironic that while railing against environmental "evangelism," Goldberg faithfully clings to his one-sided belief that plastic bags are better than paper ones -- though I get the sense that efforts to ban paper bags would have Goldberg touting the benefits of paper over plastic (most agree the difference is a wash). Nevermind that environmentalists are urging people not to switch to paper, but to bring their own bags.

Photo by Alexander Kutskiy / Business Wire

Comments

[David]

It seems dubious - "systematically one-sided" even - to link to the 2003 article reporting the Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty's findings on Bjorn Lomborg without mentioning that the Committee's findings were themselves thrown out by Denmark's Ministry of Science.

The Ministry was strongly critical of the Committee, concluding that it provided "no documentation" and "lacks any arguments" that support the allegations of dishonesty and bad scientific practice on Dr Lomborg's part.

[Siel]

Your description of the Ministry's decision's rather one-sided, but I agree, I should've included more info about what happened. I've put in an update -- Thanks for the critique.

[Vectorpedia (Rick)]

Goldberg needs to get a life..........Polar bears needs to be listed as endangered !!!!!!

[MariaDavey]

Save our polar bears.......I enjoyed reading your article and would hope Goldberg changes his thinking.