Save Some Polar Bears!

Though the cries of “Drill, Baby, Drill!” from the Sarah Palin crowd are a whisper of what they were back in her bun-induced, moose-lugging stupor, the dangers of Arctic drilling are not behind us by any means. As the Arctic continues to melt, leaving “unlucky” polar bears to sink or swim for their lives, we’re expanding efforts that both deplete the habitat directly, as well as continue to egg the force that makes it melt in the first place on like an Alaskan cheerleader.

Have we not learned anything?

We’re looking at a population of incredible creatures—mammals, like us, who raise their young and try to survive despite these brutal conditions—that may be completely wiped out by 2050. Can you imagine having your grandchildren looking up at you with a troubled expression, inquiring as to how we managed to allow the polar bear to go the way of the Dodo?

Again—have we not learned anything? What’s the point of even teaching history and science if we simply disregard it? It’s not like your mother’s advice or your uncle’s disapproval; you can’t simply ignore them and go on with your life happy as you please.

And the irony is that we are approaching the situation without any logic whatsoever. In fact, while the Interior Department is proposing protections for the polar bear’s habitat—the very same week!—they are also approving drilling in the exact same area!

Wow. I’ve heard of stupid decisions—seen quite a bit with the last Administration, actually—but this is ridiculous. Do we have preschoolers making our national decisions these days?

Look, if you drill in a polar bear’s house, you’re not protecting it. I say this as slowly as I can, enunciating every syllable, just in case the Department of the Interior blinked during the sentence.

Isn’t this frustrating, folks? The next thing we’re going to get from the government is a single-payer health insurance program with a mandated everybody must smoke to get coverage law. Honestly, I think the polar bears themselves would be better at coming up with a policy than our lawmakers are doing.

At any rate, if you’re as ridiculously outraged as I am over this crap, please tell the Obama administration to check their logic before making such big decisions. Maybe call in a high school guidance counselor, or God forbid, a scientist of some sort. Whatever they do, they need to do something consistent that at least has a chance of working.

You can write them here.