Save the Whales?

That was the refrain years ago. It was common to see 'Save the Whales' bumper stickers, especially on VWs and AMCs. They were being saved from overharvesting and environmental pollution, something worthy in principle even if the proponents went just a tad overboard. But it's doubtful any were being threatened by rapidly growing polar ice:

"A couple of weeks ago, when the ice was still moving, there were quite a few narwhal seen out there in the open water," Jayko Allooloo, chairman of the Pond Inlet hunters and trappers organisation, told public broadcaster CBC. "About a week later, they're stuck."

Now that it's been decided by the local hunter/gatherer council that these trapped whales shall be 'culled', exceeding the yearly limit, will we see the enviro-nuts descending on Baffin Island in protest, railing against the policies of Bush for causing the rapidly growing ice or against the natives for trying to make a living in tough economic times?

And what about frightening stories of creeping ice from our media via James Hansen or NOAA or NCAR, or others? What suggestions do they have for stopping it's unchecked growth?

[note to reactionaries--this doesn't mean global warming has stopped. It simply means we don't understand the environment quite as well as we need to yet, certainly not well enough to justify immediate economic destruction under the guise of saving anything]