Polar Bears and Global Warming In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act, enacted in 1973, is the nation's primary tool for conserving imperiled plants and animals. The polar bear's future is very much in jeopardy. The chief threat to the polar bear is the loss of its sea ice habitat due to global warming. However, the polar bear is also stressed by other human activity, particularly oil and gas development activities in its habitat. According to scientists, saving wildlife from the threat of global warming requires more than reducing global warming pollution. To help wildlife cope with the stress caused by climate change, natural resource managers must take action to reduce non-climatic stressors. In the case of the polar bear, this means that natural resource managers must limit oil and gas development in the polar bear's habitat. The Alaskan polar bear population relies heavily on the Arctic coastal plain for denning. It also relies on the ice on the Beaufort and Chukchi seas for both denning and hunting. Both of these habitat areas are threatened by increasing oil and gas development. How To Help To save the polar bear from extinction, the U.S. must enact strong legislation that reduces the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Individuals can help by reducing their personal energy use and by advocating for legislative action on global warming at the federal, state and local levels. To avoid the worst impacts of global warming, lawmakers must enact policies that reduce U.S. global warming pollution 2% per year, leading to about an 80% reduction by mid-century. Wildlife species are ill-prepared to meet the threat of global warming�s rapid and disruptive climate changes. Support NWF's conservation efforts by symbolically adopting a Polar Bear today.Take the Good Neighbor pledge today! Do your part to help reduce global warming and help cool the planet one home at a time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can read the letter here: http://www.nwf.org/news/story.cfm?pageId=E9055F92-F1F6-7B10-3788A03291E5C483 I am not back yet but will try to do some commenting today and this week to catch up. Things remain the same with the health issues. Thanks for your emails, previous comments and favs! Photo of Polar Bear faded into Terragen image.