A recent study of beaver dams in northwestern Alaska concludes that the explosive repopulation of Arctic terrain by beavers is thawing large areas of tundra and releasing climate-destroying methane.
The purported negative climate impact of northern beavers regarding methane is the polar opposite of the vaunted benefits of southern beaver populations which climate scientists have for years claimed sequester vital carbon and rescue humanity from climate change. The dichotomy between the two beaver populations is paralleled by the tensions between animal rights activists’ views of fur trapping.
Is it O.K. to trap animals to save the planet?
The beaver problem in Canada and other northern climes is attributed to anthropomorphic causes – warming temperatures and reduced trapping. Beavers are populating these areas in explosive numbers. The resultant locust-like beaver onslaught has caused even the study’s authors to raise concerns about how to counter the beaver infestation and protect the planet. This posture is reverse-mirrored by earlier laments that beavers were unavailable to save the Earth in North America because of European colonizers who trapped them to obscurity. Trapping, like beavers, appears to be morally climate-binary: It is an “evil” practice against good climate beavers; a “good” practice against bad ones.
[Source.](https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/03/fur_trapping_to_save_the_planet.html)
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A recent study of beaver dams in northwestern Alaska concludes that the explosive repopulation of Arctic terrain by beavers is thawing large areas of tundra and releasing climate-destroying methane.
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The purported negative climate impact of northern beavers regarding methane is the polar opposite of the vaunted benefits of southern beaver populations which climate scientists have for years claimed sequester vital carbon and rescue humanity from climate change. The dichotomy between the two beaver populations is paralleled by the tensions between animal rights activists’ views of fur trapping.
>
Is it O.K. to trap animals to save the planet?
>
The beaver problem in Canada and other northern climes is attributed to anthropomorphic causes – warming temperatures and reduced trapping. Beavers are populating these areas in explosive numbers. The resultant locust-like beaver onslaught has caused even the study’s authors to raise concerns about how to counter the beaver infestation and protect the planet. This posture is reverse-mirrored by earlier laments that beavers were unavailable to save the Earth in North America because of European colonizers who trapped them to obscurity. Trapping, like beavers, appears to be morally climate-binary: It is an “evil” practice against good climate beavers; a “good” practice against bad ones.
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