# Polar Bears and Global Warming
Uttering "Global Warming" and "Polar Bears" in sequence is a guaranteed way to start an argument. It's not _just_ the question of whether global warming is real, the issue is forced by the fact that polar bears are so recognizable.
And so whether polar bears are dying is a good thing to think about. First, I will write five questions. Then, I will find 3 sources that answer for each of the five questions.
Then I'll repeat the process, with new questions generated as I answered the first five.
1. Is the polar bear population shrinking?
2. Are polar bears drowning because of melting ice?
3. What is the range of polar bears?
4. Is the habitat of polar bears changing significantly?
5. Can global warming be blamed directly for polar bear deaths?
Here we go:
1. Is the polar bear population shrinking?
2. Are polar bears drowning because of melting ice?
3. What is the range of polar bears?
> Polar Bears International - Bear Facts
One final misconception is that polar bears live at both poles. The belief is common among school children, who grow up seeing illustrations of penguins and polar bears together. Polar bears, of course, live only in the circumpolar North. They never encounter penguins, which do not live in the same regions as polar bears.
> Urso-polar - Wikipédia
> O urso-polar é um animal do hemisfério norte que habita o círculo polar ártico. Ele pode ser encontrado no Alasca, no Canadá, na Groenlândia, na Rússia e no arquipélago norueguês de Svalbard. O habitat natural do animal é a camada fina de gelo, onde lhe é possível caçar focas. Ele é perfeitamente apto à vida no gelo, sendo encontrado durante o inverno nos mares congelados de Chukchi e Beaufort ao norte do Alasca, mares Siberiano Oriental, de Laptev e de Kara na Rússia e no mar de Barents ao norte da Europa. São comuns também na porção norte do mar da Groenlândia, na baía de Baffin e em todo o arquipélago Ártico Canadense. Apesar de seus números diminuírem a partir do paralelo 88°, os ursos-polares podem ser encontrados virtualmente em todo o Ártico.
> Sea ice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> An ice floe is a floating chunk of sea ice that is less than 10 kilometers (six miles) in its greatest dimension. Wider chunks of ice are called ice fields.
> Polar Bear
> Polar bears live only in the northern Arctic where they spend most of their time on ice floes. They are the largest land meat-eater in the world and the largest of the bear family. They are well suited to the cold Arctic ice and snow.
> All About Sea Ice: Environment: Wildlife: Mammals: Polar Bears
4. Is the habitat of polar bears changing significantly?
5. Can global warming be blamed directly for polar bear deaths?
# general references
## Articles
* Is Global Warming Killing the Polar Bears? - WSJ.com
* 'Polars bears on the brink? Don't you believe it' | the Daily Mail (contra)
YouTube - On Thin Ice: Polar Bears and Global Warming
# New questions
1. Are purported changes at the North Pole comparable to changes at the South Pole?