C'mon. Do you actually spend time tracking stuff like this down? Really, if you were writing a story about melting ice and stranded polar bears wouldn't you want to illustrate it with stock footage of forlorn ursines adrift on fantastically carved bergs? If you think about it, real photos of real stranded bears must be scarcer than hen's teeth, mostly because they're miles from land in the bloody Arctic Ocean! If you could get them for free by ripping them off some obscure Canadian website.... that's what Google Image is made for, right?

I must admit, if I were Amanda Byrd, who copyrighted this photo, I would be undergoing a little global warming of my own if I saw this. The photo is visually interesting and illustrates the story, which is why some copy editor selected it: some guy in a leather apron, green eyeshade, and garters on his sleeves who doesn't give a fig about bears or global warming. This is no worse than using a year old photograph of a football player to illustrate last night's game.

However, as a writer myself who uses his own and other's photography to illustrate his work, I know I would be pretty steamed about someone using my work without permission. If you really feel that strongly about it, check out every place this picture appears, and if it doesn't have Ms Byrd's byline on it, send her the link so she can take legal action against the people who have stolen her work. I'm sure this will deprive the entire global warming conspiracy of all its documentary evidence and bring it crashing down in disgrace.

Damn fine photograph, though.