Patrick Moore's Polar Bear Myth Debunked

While Patrick Moore’s anti-climate change book sets out to share headlines that he deems doom and gloom, in this self-published chapter, he forgets the premise of his book and jumps in to announce that climate change threats to polar bears are, “a real candidate for the most fake news story of all. There is absolutely no truth to the claim that polar bears are endangered by anything, including climate change.”

It’s important to note that today, most of those headlines about polar bears and climate change are actually recycled narratives drummed up by low-quality, antiscience sources like Ann Coulter, The Epoch Times, The Heartland Institute, Tucker Carlson’s The Daily Caller, The Las Vegas Review-Journal and far-right conspiracy websites such as Alex Jones’ InfoWars, who love the use of the polar bear as their anti-climate science mascot. The reality, however, is that there are changes, declines and threats to countless other species, many of which represent much more significant threats to the planet than polar bears. 

While polar bears are an iconic, beautiful flagship species that symbolize the Arctic as well as the threats of sea ice loss, their extinction’s impact on the globe would be much less than that of the decline of insect populations, or the plankton and coccolithophores which are responsible for so much of the regulation of our climate and marine ecosystems. Climate change is never about polar bears; it is about polar bears and the decline of thousands of other species.

The vast majority of scientific evidence indicates that polar bears are indeed facing significant threats due to climate change. The primary concern is the loss of their sea ice habitat, which they rely on for hunting seals. As the Arctic ice melts, polar bears are forced to travel longer distances to find food, leading to increased energy expenditure and potential population decline.

Patrick Moore claims that there has been a 400 percent increase in polar bear populations in the past 45 years. This is a recycled internet myth. In 1957, a Russian polar expedition reported that, based on their observations, they believed there were about 5,000 polar bears in the world. This estimate was not made by scientists, and was presented in a Russian children's book in 1958.

Scientists did not begin studying polar bear populations until the 1970s, when the estimates came in somewhere between 22,000 and 28,000, similar to the numbers we believe exist today.

Additionally, polar bear populations are challenging to study accurately due to their remote habitat, but available data suggests that many subpopulations are experiencing declines or are vulnerable. This is why the IUCN lists polar bears as ‘vulnerable’ due to “decline in area of occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or quality of habitat.”

FactCheck.org actually debunked Patrick Moore over his claims about polar bears. The fact checkers interviewed Steven Amstrup, chief scientist at Polar Bears International, who explained, "The polar bear populations in the areas with the most consistent sampling over long periods of time — the Beaufort Sea and the western and southern Hudson Bay — are all declining."

Polar bear populations may have increased in some regions because new environmental laws protect them. For example, in 2008, the U.S. began protecting polar bears under the Endangered Species Act, and the D.C. Circuit court upheld this listing in 2013, leading to reports of increased polar bears in US Arctic regions.

But polar bear numbers are believed to also have improved after 1960s and 1970s laws in Canada (most polar bears are found in Canada) enforced hunting quotas, and trapping and hunting was banned throughout much of the Arctic.

Reports of increasing populations of polar bears are a triumph of environmental laws, but unfortunately such increases will be short-lived, as polar bear populations are expected to plummet as sea ice in the Arctic continues to wane.

There are about 28,000-30,000 polar bears alive today, and they live in 19 distinct subpopulations in the Arctic. Some of these populations are known to be decreasing, some are known to be increasing, and most have insufficient data. Patrick Moore’s claim that polar bears have increased 400% has no basis in reality.

In the FactCheck article, Amstrup explains, "In the long run, it doesn't really matter what the global population size is now. When sea ice is not available for long enough, polar bears will not persist."

It's essential to rely on peer-reviewed scientific studies and assessments from reputable organizations, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Polar Bear Specialist Group, and climate science organizations, to get an accurate understanding of the status of polar bear populations and the impact of climate change on their habitat.

To learn about the threats of climate change on polar bears, don’t follow Patrick Moore’s recycled narratives — start with the science. This paper is a good summary of the relationship between climate change and polar bears.

Read my rebuttal of the other Patrick Moore chapters here:

Exposing Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore Credibility
Chapter 1 Fact-check: Baobab Trees
Chapter 2 Fact-check: Coral Bleaching
Chapter 3 Fact-check: Carbon Dioxide
Chapter 4 Fact-check: Polar Bears
Chapter 5 Fact-check: Estimated Threats to Biodiversity
Chapter 6 Fact-check: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Chapter 7 Fact-check: Genetically Modified Foods
Chapter 8 Fact-check: Nuclear Radiation
Chapter 9 Fact-check: Wildfires Chapter 10 Fact-check: Ocean Acidification Chapter 11 Fact-check: Walruses