U.N. Climate Talks Greeted With Polar Bear Doing Tai Chi In Tianjin, China (VIDEO)

International delegates meeting in Tianjin, China this week for U.N. climate talks were met with a friendly, albeit peculiar, surprise. Our friends at Mother Nature Network brought to our attention this video of a polar bear taking part in a Tai Chi class with Chinese youth in Tianjin.

So what in the world does this have to do with the climate negotiations? According to MNN, the Tai Chi class was practicing "the art of balance," and the polar bear's involvement was a part of TckTckTck campaigners' efforts to highlight their belief that U.N. negotiators are pursuing "the balanced package" rather than actually making successful progress toward an international agreement on tackling climate change.

The polar bear's tactics paid off, as the man behind the mask, Paul Horseman, was interviewed by China's largest TV network, and was able to deliver a clear message about the serious and urgent crisis climate change poses while U.N. climate talks continue to falter.

WATCH (via MNN):

Comments

[Publicola]

02:33 PM on 10/14/2010

SecondTime, who claims that the Moon violates the laws of physics, declares: "I await your evidence."

The following are scientific facts:

* The Earth has warmed significantly over recent decades, to what may be the highest level in 2,000 years or more.

* Anthropogenic greenhouse gases including CO2 -- which is generated mostly by fossil fuel burning -- warm the Earth. Without greenhouse gases including CO2 the average temperature of the Earth would be below freezing.

* Satellite measurements demonstrate that increasing CO2 atmospheric concentrations over recent decades has caused increased retention of heat energy in the atmosphere.

* The atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased by more than a third since the dawn of the fossil fuel era, to the highest level in at least 800,000 years.

* The scientific evidence strongly indicates that said increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is due to anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and there is no other viable scientific explanation for said atmospheric CO2 increase.

* There is a strong correlation between said atmospheric CO2 increase and said recent warming.

* Known natural forcing agents of past global warming - including changes in orbital cycles and increases in solar radiative output - cannot explain the bulk of said recent warming. Neither has any scientific theory to explain the bulk of said recent warming other than anthropogenic global warming (AGW) survived scientific scrutiny.

Again these are all scientific facts. Which is to say:

The scientific evidence supporting anthropogenic global warming is overwhelming.

[Minolta]

09:03 PM on 10/09/2010

A good reminder that polar bears are NOT endangered....I"m surprised they did it.

[DocSkull]

08:25 AM on 10/12/2010

"A good reminder that polar bears are NOT endangered..."

Why is that a good reminder?

Polar Bears are a "threatened" species and are covered by the Endangered Species Act. You don't have to wait until they are just about extinct to be concerned.

[SecondTime]

02:40 PM on 10/09/2010

Oh dear, sometimes communications are so slow and reliable. The polar bear is no longer preferred to rouse emotions since it is doing rather well these days. The walrus is currently the preferred vehicle for those with no arguments, no evidence, but plenty of emotional involvement with 'saving the planet' from evil X, where X remains CO2 for the time being. Please keep up!

[wm1066]

05:48 PM on 10/09/2010

Senator Inhofe is that you? "no evidence" sheessh!

[SecondTime]

06:22 AM on 10/10/2010

I read your 'sheessh' as astonished disbelief. But there really is no evidence that CO2 is a threat to our or anything else's wellbeing via the atmosphere. I ask and ask and ask for examples of evidence that should persuade me that CO2 in the air is something to be alarmed about. But I never get any. Can you perhaps help? What have you found convincing? Some things can be ruled out: temperatures, ice extents, rates of temperature change, storm levels, rainfall - none of these have shown anything out of the historical range. We have a variable climate. Computer models pre-set to give CO2 a big role via H2O feedback can also be ruled out since they merely, and crudely, provide illustrations of a somewhat implausible hypothesis. So what is there? Anything at all would be appreciated. I am genuinely mystified by what all the fuss is about.

[DocSkull]

08:28 AM on 10/12/2010

"But there really is no evidence that CO2 is a threat to our or anything else's wellbeing via the atmosphere."

The world's scientists disagree with you.

"Computer models pre-set to give CO2 a big role via H2O feedback can also be ruled out since they merely, and crudely, provide illustrations of a somewhat implausible hypothesis."

You made that up and you'll never give a specific example.

[Publicola]

10:25 AM on 10/11/2010

And according to SecondTime the Moon violates the laws of physics too.

Science deniers can be entertaining sometimes.

[DocSkull]

08:29 AM on 10/12/2010

SecondTime wastes our time with lies.

[wm1066]

11:34 AM on 10/09/2010

I love it! With all the different forms and their colorful names in tai chi their is a freeform movement called "Swimming with the Dragons", that would have been great for a polar bear to do. It kinda looks like you treading water as you move your arms and sway from side to side.

[fumes]

06:43 PM on 10/08/2010

Sun's Activity Flies In The Face Of Climate Expectations!
06 October 2010 Magazine issue 2781.
IF NEW satellite data can be trusted, changes in solar activity warmed the Earth when they should have cooled it. Joanna Haigh of Imperial College London studied satellite measurements of solar radiation between 2004 and 2007, when overall solar activity was in decline. The sun puts out less energy when its activity is low, but different types of radiation vary to different degrees. Until now, this had been poorly studied.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827813.700-suns-activity-flies-in-face-of-climate-expectations.html

[Publicola]

07:43 PM on 10/08/2010

You left this out, Fumes:

"The effect is slight... [and] the sun's most recent cycle is known to have been atypical."

And from another article on the same topic:

"Overall solar activity has been increasing over the past century, so the researchers believe it is possible that during this period, the Sun has been contributing a small cooling effect, rather than a small warming effect as had previously been thought...

"'if further studies find the same pattern over a longer period of time, this could suggest that we may have overestimated the Sun's role in warming the planet, rather than underestimating it.'"

http://www.physorg.com/news205590415.html

[DocSkull]

08:31 AM on 10/12/2010

If true to pattern, Fumes will post his misleading snippet several more times, and then bring it back in a month or so for another run. At no point will he acknowledge that he has it wrong.