I posted sound statistics on polar-bear populations, and Agence France-Presse called them ‘misleading.’

Polar bears in Wapusk National Park, Canada.PHOTO: MEDIA DRUM WORLD/ZUMA PRESS

By Bjorn Lomborg – Jan. 26, 2023 6:10 pm ET – The Wall Street Journal

My cmnt: Please see these posts from about two years ago here and three years ago here. Polar bear populations have only been increasing ever since the global-warming/climate change hysteria started. Quite the opposite of what the alarmists have stated and predicted.

My cmnt: As I’ve stated on this blog multiple times, IF the climate is actually warming (which is debatable) it can only mean good news for the vast majority of species on the planet including man. A cooling planet is inevitable doom for most species, including man, especially if it leads to the next global glaciation.

Partisan “fact checks” are undermining open discourse about important issues, including climate change. Earlier this month I wrote an accurate post on Facebook about the growing polar-bear population. The post undercut alarmist climate narratives, so it was wrongly tagged as a falsehood.

Activists have used polar bears as an icon of climate apocalypse for decades, but the best data show that far from dying out, their numbers are growing. The official assessments from the leading scientists who study these animals—the Polar Bear Specialist Group within the International Union for Conservation of Nature—peg the global population today at 22,000 to 31,000. That’s higher than the 5,000 to 19,000 polar bears scientists estimated were around in the 1960s.

The main reason has nothing to do with climate. An international agreement enacted in 1976 limits polar-bear hunting, always the key threat to polar bears’ numbers. Polar bears survived through the last interglacial period, 130,000 to 115,000 years ago, when it was significantly warmer than it is now.

None of that means climate change isn’t real or doesn’t affect people or the planet. But to deal effectively with these problems, we need to use good data rather than defaulting to ideologically inspired narratives. It does more good for polar bears, and the rest of us, if those trying to help them use accurate facts.

(the rest of this article can be read by clicking the link above to the WSJ)