After a year of research and months of delays, the Interior Department finally declared the polar bear a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited melting Arctic sea ice as the motivating factor in the decision, making the polar bear the first species protected because of the threat it faces from global warming.
But at the same time he acknowledged the threat polar bears face from melting ice, Secretary Kempthorne also insisted that it would be “inappropriate” to use the bears’ protected status to cut greenhouse gases, or as a way to address global warming in general. ”This listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting,” he said.
In fact, the decision to protect the bears includes administrative actions that will limit the impact the decision can make on American energy development and climate policy.
Meanwhile, Interior Department scientists warn that the melting ice will result in the disappearance of two-thirds of polar bears over the next fifty years.
Listen to the NewsHour report and read a transcript of Secretary Kempthorne’s press conference.
Original post, April 30, 2008
A federal judge in Oakland, Calif. gave the Interior Department two weeks to make its decision on whether to declare the polar bear protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The decision has been delayed since January, when the Interior Department missed its original deadline to come to a conclusion. The four-month delay has attracted sharp criticism, most notably from California Senator Barbara Boxer. According to the New York Times:
Shortly after the Interior Department missed its original January deadline for a final rule, the agency held a $2.6 billion oil lease sale covering a 46,000-square-mile area of the Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska. Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, earlier this month accused the department of delaying the listing to ensure it did not affect the lease sale, an accusation Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has denied.
News of the judge’s ruling thrilled environmental groups that had pressured the Interior Department for a decision. Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Times, “By May 15th the polar bear should receive the protections it deserves under the Endangered Species Act, which is the first step toward saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global warming.”
Plight of the Polar Bear
To learn more about the plight of the polar bear, visit Nature online and explore the impact of melting ice sheets on the Arctic ecosystem.
How the World Gets its Oil
You can also investigate how the oil industry meets the 75-80 million barrels of crude oil per day the world requires at Extreme Oil.
Sun Tzu Says:
Why Do We Care If Polar Bears Become Extinct?
This is not any sort of revelation: Polar bears declared a threatened species , but it does raise the question: Why do we care? By some estimates, 90% of all species that once existed are now extinct and new species are always taking their place. For the species that’s going to become extinct, for whatever reason, extinction is the end of it. However, for the species that remain, is the extinction of another species good or bad. When Europeans first colonized North America, there was an estimated five (5) billion Passenger Pigeons alive and well in North America. In 1914, they were extinct. Passenger Pigeons didn’t live in little groups, but huge flocks that required extraordinary quantities of hardwood forests for them to feed, breed and survive. Deforestation to build homes, create farmland and over hunting for cheap food decimated their population. The westward drive to grow the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s was incompatible with the needs of the Passenger Pigeon and they literally could not survive in the new North America being carved out by the U.S. economy. The interesting thing about the Passenger Pigeon was the impact its extinction had on another species—man. That impact was essentially none. Man continued to find ways to feed himself through agriculture and other technologies and the United States and its citizens continued to prosper from the early 20th century till today. Whether or not Polar Bears become extinct because of Global Climate Change or other reasons, we need to address the larger question of: Do we care and why? One of the ways a nation, its citizens and the global community can answer that question is addressed by John A. Warden III in Thinking Strategically About Global Climate Change. He asks some interesting biodiversity questions in his post to include How Many Species Is the Right Number and Which Ones?