Thinking about polar bears

It has been unseasonably warm here in Beringia so far this winter, with temperatures up into the 20s and even 30s—above zero! It has also been unseasonably dry, with very little snow so far. It makes you wonder about climate change and how it might affect us at a local level.

While I was out splitting wood, my mind was wandering, as usual, and I remembered that polar bears diverged from brown bears a long time ago, and that polar bears had survived through the last interglacial period, which was warmer than this one (so far). In refreshing my memory, I (re)learned that polar bears split off from brown bears about 600,000 years ago and actually survived through multple interglacials. The last interglacial (we’re in one now, the Holocene), was called the Sangamon interglacial or the Eemian. It was about 130,000-115-000 years ago and was perhaps the warmest of the interglacial cycles experienced by polar bears. That interglacial period was warmer than today, and it is considered that the polar ice caps melted—the Arctic Ocean probably only had ice in the winter.
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From the Archives: Jam

The humidity was low for a change, and the day wasn’t too hot yet, although some big thunderheads would brew later. In the bright sun the blackberry bushes were dense along the small dirt road, with big, luscious berries just begging to be picked and eaten. Not even trying to resist such a temptation, Rose and I worked our way slowly along, filling our berry buckets and our mouths as we went. Oh, my gosh they were good! In the afternoon we made a huge batch of jam, and in the evening we canned it. It was superbly delicious, and we were glad we’d made a lot.

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The Ebola Song

Turn on any news program these days and you’ll probably be exposed to high levels of irrational fear and paranoia of the Ebola virus. Never mind that the number of cases in North America is minuscule, or that you have a higher chance of being struck by lightning. Yes, it is an ongoing tragedy in several countries in West Africa (see image below), and the global medical community needs to continue efforts to stamp it out. But throughout North America the news industry should stick to a simple and effective message:

“Ebola is still a very low-risk proposition. If you want to do something effective about your health, get a flu shot.”

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A-Hunting We Will Go!

It had been three long years since I’d gotten a moose, and the freezer was clatteringly empty. We hadn’t done so well with fishing this year, either, so it seemed like a good time to shake things up. As I hopped in the truck to go, I didn’t realize that someone I didn’t know was just down the road brandishing a gun and threatening to shoot police officers. This guy’s escapades caused one of the oddest beginnings to a hunting trip I’ve ever had.

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Heat Transfusion

A few weeks ago, our good friend Andy Johnson emailed to ask whether we’d like to get a bunch of fresh New Mexico chiles. It sounded great, so last week when we met at the American Ornithologists’ Union meeting in Estes Park, Colorado, we transferred 40 lbs. in a large gunny sack from the trunk of Andy’s car onto my shoulder, and I marched off happily in the dark to put them in my room. All during the meeting my room smelled fantastic. I rotated them every day to keep them as fresh as I could, then packed them into a recycled box I found behind the dining hall and checked them as baggage for my return flight from Denver.

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