Singapore Bill is correct. It’s not about climate change and no, Claude is not stupid, at least no more so than the other bear (his wife presumably). It’s a spin on the “selling a refrigerator to an Eskimo” joke plus a bonus “women right?” joke. Actually I can relate. My wife constantly asks me to do things without asking. She will say things like “This garbage really needs to be taken out”.
Conversely, Singapore Bill and Mark M are NOT correct, and it is about climate change.
There is a significant decline in sea ice in the north pole regions. This is what the bears were talking about before the snapshot of time shown in the cartoon panel. A decline in sea ice directly affects polar bears because they use the sea ice to go far from land, to hunt their food which is in the sea.
Claude, on the other hand, thinks they need ice CUBES. Standing on a huge icy plain is no help if you want to put ice in your drink.
Claude’s wife is looking at him with narrowed eyes, and the word “naturally” implies a certain level of disdain, so I think Claude is stupid, and the wife was talking about climate change, not asking him to go to the store.
Okay you’ve all convinced me. “Running out of ice” isn’t a common description of the effects of climate change to me, and this seems a little deep for Strange Brew, but the use of ‘naturally’ does indicate that the bear talking was not trying to convince Claude to run to the store.
“When Claude got home I told him” implies that Bear 1 and Claude share a home, Claude’s response of buying ice cubes suggests that they share a supply of consumables and purchasing power, and “naturally” implies that Bear 1 is intimately familiar with Claude’s personality and fairly comfortable criticising him. So maybe they are very familiar roommates, but the since this whole scenario is really a setup for a global warming joke, I think it safe to assume that this is meant to be a cliché and not overthought, making a marriage (in which the above scenario is common) more likely than a familiar friendship (which is much rarer)
Comics I Don't Understand 
The joke is that Claude is stupid. I’m not sure whether climate change is part of the setup.
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I’ve heard of selling ice to Eskimos, but not polar bears.
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Yes, climate change; it’s making it harder for polar bears to get out where the seals are.
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They’re polar bears!
There’s ice everywhere! Look at the picture!
But he’s going to the store!
Comedy!!!!!
Sadly, it’s as simple as that. There’s no climate change reference there.
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Singapore Bill is correct. It’s not about climate change and no, Claude is not stupid, at least no more so than the other bear (his wife presumably). It’s a spin on the “selling a refrigerator to an Eskimo” joke plus a bonus “women right?” joke. Actually I can relate. My wife constantly asks me to do things without asking. She will say things like “This garbage really needs to be taken out”.
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Conversely, Singapore Bill and Mark M are NOT correct, and it is about climate change.
There is a significant decline in sea ice in the north pole regions. This is what the bears were talking about before the snapshot of time shown in the cartoon panel. A decline in sea ice directly affects polar bears because they use the sea ice to go far from land, to hunt their food which is in the sea.
Claude, on the other hand, thinks they need ice CUBES. Standing on a huge icy plain is no help if you want to put ice in your drink.
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Yes it’s about climate change. Also about marital strife.
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Claude’s wife is looking at him with narrowed eyes, and the word “naturally” implies a certain level of disdain, so I think Claude is stupid, and the wife was talking about climate change, not asking him to go to the store.
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I didn’t get the implication that polar bear #1 is Claude’s wife, and I don’t think that’s a necessary interpretation.
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Okay you’ve all convinced me. “Running out of ice” isn’t a common description of the effects of climate change to me, and this seems a little deep for Strange Brew, but the use of ‘naturally’ does indicate that the bear talking was not trying to convince Claude to run to the store.
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“When Claude got home I told him” implies that Bear 1 and Claude share a home, Claude’s response of buying ice cubes suggests that they share a supply of consumables and purchasing power, and “naturally” implies that Bear 1 is intimately familiar with Claude’s personality and fairly comfortable criticising him. So maybe they are very familiar roommates, but the since this whole scenario is really a setup for a global warming joke, I think it safe to assume that this is meant to be a cliché and not overthought, making a marriage (in which the above scenario is common) more likely than a familiar friendship (which is much rarer)
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