Trying to Save the Polar Bears - By: Jessica Vandelay

In response to the disappointment, Ken Salazar responded that the ESA is not the right tool for going after polluters despite the fact that “The single greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change.” For more on Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s ruling, read news magazines like Time, Newsweek and The Economist.

Salazaar proponents argue there are better ways and tools to protect the bears such as the Clean Air Act that limits emissions from vehicles; a bill Congress will debate that would cap greenhouse gas emissions nationwide and a global treaty limiting emissions, in which the U.S. among many other counties will participate in later this year.

While some scientists predict that if current trends continue, three of the world’s four major polar bear populations could be extinct by 2075, these predictions are largely controversial. Many scientists believe polar bears will adapt to their changing habitats and find new ways to survive. For more on the various survival and extinction predictions of polar bears, read E: The Environmental magazine.

Polar bears are the world’s largest carnivores and are native to the Artic Ocean and its surrounding areas. Adult male polar bears weigh between 880–1,500 pounds on average. Polar bears have many characteristics that allow them to survive cold temperatures including moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of their diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea hunting from sea ice. For more on characteristics of polar bears read National Geographic magazine.

Currently the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with 5 of the 19 polar bear subpopulations in decline. After many international restrictions and controls were put on hunting polar bears many populations have rebounded. However, the threat of hunting is not obsolete; the hunting of polar bears remains important in the cultures of Artic indigenous people.

Still, the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear because the melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food.

Recently the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced he would not rescind a “special rule” created under the Bush administration that limits polar bear protections under the Endangered Species Act. While this ruling doesn’t totally derail the U.S.’s efforts to save the polar bears, it greatly disappointed many animal activists and environmental groups.

For more environmental magazines, visit http://www.magazines.com/category/environmental.

Jessica Vandelay is a freelance writer in New York City.