Top six polar bear stories of 2020

Here are the six most important polar bear stories I wrote about in 2020 that are worth reading if you missed them.

These posts cover new evidence that polar bears are thriving (including more populations stable or increasing) despite recent declines in summer sea ice blamed on climate change, an explanation of why the simplistic ‘less ice, fewer bears’ is false and a short post that shows a much-publicized new model predicting future extinction of polar bears is scientifically implausible. Honourable mention goes to a story refuting the claim that Alaskan polar bear cubs are at risk from oil exploration in coastal Wildlife Refuge.

Six top polar bear stories of 2020

1. Southern Beaufort polar bear population stable since 2010 not declining new report reveals (4 October 2020)

2. Good news: Gulf of Boothia and M’Clintock Channel polar bear survey results (17 November 2020)

3. Baffin Bay polar bears are abundant and the population is stable study scientist admits (3 March 2020)

4. New Paper: Body condition of Barents Sea polar bears increased since 2004 despite sea ice loss (5 May 2020) 

5. Polar bear survival contradictions: sea ice decline vs. documented harm (15 July 2020) 

6. New model of predicted polar bear extinction is not scientifically plausible (20 July 2020) 

Honourable mention: Risk to Alaskan polar bear cubs from oil exploration in coastal Wildlife Refuge is small (18 August 2020), in part because the opposition to Alaskan oil drilling based on possible harm to polar bear cubs is dependent on the claim that the population is declining, which post #1 shows is no longer true. Like the situation in Western Hudson Bay, polar bear advocates using their scientific credentials to advance an agenda are using redundant data to support their cause because the up-to-date information refutes it.