Polar bear scare: Now I get it!

Last month the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment issued a report predicting the extinction of polar bears and other Arctic-related calamities supposedly caused by the dreaded global warming. At the time, I didn't understand what the big deal was since, among other things, the claims in the report weren't new -- for example, the data underlying the polar bear scare had been published in 1999! But an article in today's New York Times cleared up my confusion.

Inuit leaders announced today at the COP-10 meeting in Buenos Aires that they will seek a ruling from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (an arm of the Organization of American States) that the U.S. is threatening their existence by contributing to global warming. The Inuit plan is to sue either the U.S. in international court or U.S. companies in federal court for damages allegedly due to global warming. The Inuits hope to get from the Commission a declaration that the U.S. has violated the Inuit's rights.

According to the Times, experts say the Inuit petition "could have decent prospects" since recent studies (read last month's Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report) have concluded that greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to "big environmental changes in the Arctic."

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report, then, was really all about laying the groundwork for the Inuits to sue the U.S. and U.S. companies! Moreover, U.S. taxpayers paid for the report, which will now be used as a basis to sue us!