| The Arctic and the Antarctic regions play very | | | | National Resources Defense Council or NRDC, and |
| important roles. How? First, like the human eyes, they | | | | Greenpeace. |
| are the mirrors to the soul; they are the first to | | | | For years, these three have been urging the US |
| manifest adverse effects like global warming. We | | | | government precisely to act on the problem. It could be |
| witness these changes rather most drastically in these | | | | victory for the group, but not much since it has taken |
| polar regions. Another correspondingly direct effect of | | | | the concerned authorities this long ; it will now take |
| global warming is: any change in the polar conditions | | | | painstaking effort to save the polar bears from |
| affects those of all the other regions. | | | | extinction. An NRDC executive strongly referred to |
| Once the polar ice melts, this flushes more freshwater | | | | global warming as the one major threat to the survival |
| from the region's rivers, consequently holding the | | | | of the polar bears. He urged further to stop delaying |
| ocean from circulating fast enough, thereby causing | | | | the action and to go full-force; no more half-measures. |
| higher sea levels. With more ice melting, more land and | | | | Enlisting the species as endangered is not even the |
| bodies of liquid water are exposed to the heat of the | | | | culmination of the unified effort; it is only the initial part |
| sun. These two, which naturally absorb more heat than | | | | of a long process. It should take the US Fish and |
| snow and ice, causes more warming oceans and land | | | | Wildlife Service around one year to study the proposal |
| masses. Worst of all is borne by the Arctic's | | | | before they decide on an action to take. Meantime, |
| perennially frozen soil - melting of the polar ice | | | | there is imminent danger that the polar bear would |
| releases the greenhouse gases (carbon and methane) | | | | totally lose its sea-ice habitat as this one year rolls by. |
| trapped within. This is very dangerous as the Arctic | | | | Loss of sea ice also means loss of their main source |
| permafrost contains a third of the planet's total soil | | | | of food which are ice seals. This could also result to |
| carbon content. | | | | more mortality as the bears would tend to cannibalize |
| Man-made emissions would fade in comparison is all | | | | their ranks in the absence of prey. Why? Mainly |
| this carbon were released. The National Center for | | | | because enlisting a species as endangered does not |
| Atmospheric Research has also predicted that the | | | | necessarily mean ready plans would immediately be |
| Arctic could be ice-free starting 2040 and sea ice | | | | implemented. |
| reduced by 80% in the next couple of decades. | | | | Steps would involve a stoppage on all activities that |
| Warming of the Arctic has already been felt and is | | | | threaten the bears survival, before developing and |
| now a cause for apprehension. According to the Polar | | | | implementing of a recovery plan are put to order by |
| Bear Specialist Group (the absolute scientific authority | | | | the Fish and Wildlife Service. Faced with the rate |
| on everything involving polar bears) several (5) of their | | | | greenhouse gases are being emitted from the Arctic, |
| populations in the world are now stamped as declining. | | | | this will indeed be a daunting task. |
| Just recently, the US. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF & | | | | Talking about populations, it is not just that of the polar |
| WS) announced that the polar bears who once | | | | bears which lie victim to global warming. The Inuits, (a |
| roamed the territory freely may soon be classified | | | | member of the Eskimo peoples living in northernmost |
| under the list of endangered species. The agency has, | | | | North America down to eastern Canada and |
| in fact, done the initial steps already formally proposing | | | | Greenland) depend on the sea ice for food. The dismal |
| to do such that, include the polar bears in the critical | | | | and continued shortening of their hunting season by |
| registry. This alarming announcement has, in effect, | | | | 50% has had drastic effects on their lives. |
| granted the request (later escalating to a demand by | | | | Will it not be long till a people and an era vanished from |
| way of a lawsuit against the USF & WS) of 3 | | | | the face of the earth? Can we do something about it? |
| organizations (the Center for Biological Diversity, the | | | | |