The bear truth.( )(Correction notice)

ITEM: The Boston Globe for January 2 stated: "Polar bears are becoming canaries in the mine, warning of the consequences of global warming."

ITEM: In an article about alcoholic beverages in the New York Times for January 14, Jonathan Miles reported: "By proposing to add polar bears to the list of 'threatened' species last month, the Bush administration seemed to finally acknowledge that global warming is taking a toll.... Closer to home and heart: I'd been worrying about another sort of species that--at least this season--seems terribly vulnerable to climate change: the hot toddy. Like polar bears', these cold-weather cocktails depend on frigid temperatures to survive."

ITEM: "The way I live today contributes to global warming's effect on the poor in Africa, as well as the impending demise of polar bears," writes columnist Pius Kamau in the Denver Post for January 10. Kamau, a surgeon who immigrated from Kenya, says this became clear to him "when the federal government proposed placing the polar bear on the Endangered Species list. There's overwhelming scientific evidence to support the fact that global warming, causing the melting of the Arctic ice cap, will make the future of the resilient polar bear bleak.... I today own more cars" than I need; each day I drive too many miles from my suburban perch to where I work."

ITEM: "Polar bears might not be extinct until 2040," writes Kassie Siegel, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, in the Los Angeles Times for January 14, "but that doesn't mean we have 30 years to do nothing."

ITEM: The media are "puzzled," said the Albuquerque Tribune for January 9. "The White House has denied the reality of global warming for so long and has suppressed and censored so many government reports on climate change. Why was it now declaring that global warming is not only real but killing polar bears ?"

CORRECTION: The stories about how the polar bears are soon to be wiped off the planet, apparently because Americans drive automobiles too much and are otherwise too selfish to reduce their standard of living, have become as ubiquitous as they are preposterous.

For example, during a recent warm spell in New York City, Today Show host Meredith Vieira told her national NBC audience that, although she briefly thought it was great to be able to run in the park in her shorts because of the weather, she came to her senses and asked herself, "Are we all gonna die?" We'll go out on a limb and say, "Yes, eventually, of something."