ABSTRACT
Even in the aftermath ofthe 2007 report ofthe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which declared that the evidence for human-caused climate change was now "unequivocal," global warming was most often viewed as a somewhat esoteric scientific concern, with consequences that would be felt at some indefinite future time and most dramatically affect the inhabitants of remote and uniquely endangered ecosystems. The most iconic symbol of this earlier wave of climate activism was the polar bear, struggling to stand its ground amidst shrinking ice flows in the Arctic north.
