Friday, August 08, 2008

Can polar bears scam architects?

The Al Gore polar bear hoax was disproven a long time ago
    "Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study.

    A survey of the animals' numbers in Canada's eastern Arctic has revealed that they are thriving, not declining, because of mankind's interference in the environment.

    In the Davis Strait area, a 140,000-square kilometre region, the polar bear population has grown from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today.

    "There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears," said Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist who has spent 20 years studying the animals." Story source
But don't tell the AIA which is still offering "can competitions" with endangered animal themes. And of course, bear experts disagree. But on this they don't,
    "Contrary to concern over a celebrated photograph of a bear and its cub floating on a tiny iceberg, the animals often travel in that way, he said.

    "Bears will often hang out on glacier ice or large pieces of multi-year ice," he said."

“An UnBEARable Truth,” by New York City architecture and interior design firm Butler Rogers Baskett, took Jurors’ Favorite with a moving depiction of two stranded polar bears—one trapped on a tiny ice flow with its head stretched skyward, while the other struggled to stay afloat in the water, no land in sight. In addition to its sculptural and structural purity, the jury stated it was the perfect metaphor for global warming and commended the entry for addressing the interspecies issue. AIArchitect This Week.

Even at Lakeside we can not get away from this drivel. Our singer this week, Kathy Mattea, is a shill for Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. How inconvenient for those of us who see it as a political hoax but pay our gate fees, assessments and property taxes to be here.

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