Polar Bears: Threatened

In a decision that is months overdue (4 months to be exact), the Interior Secretary listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The reason for their threatened status is habitat loss--the apparent change in climate is causing sea ice to melt rapidly. Polar bears spend much of their time on the ice hunting seals and doing other things that polar bears do. Ice melted to record low numbers last summer, and officials from the National Snow and Ice Data Center predict extreme low numbers again in 2008. If the sea ice melting trend continues the way it's been going, 2/3 of the polar bears could be gone by 2050.

This is the first time that a species has been listed due to climate change. I am interested to see what the polar bear recovery plan will look like. It's not like we can make more habitat for them. Maybe efforts will be geared toward a campaign to reduce greenhouse gases, which is commonly viewed as the culprit in our global warming.