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Polar bear's message

Polar bears have always fascinated people, either as the cuddly playthings in Coke commercials or the fierce carnivores they really are. Now, the snow-colored bears are about to command public attention for another reason. By flirting with extinction, polar bears have forced the Bush administration to admit that global warming is caused (at least somewhat) by human activity and carries dire consequences for living things.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made the link only grudgingly Wednesday when he proposed adding polar bears to the list of threatened species. "While the proposal to list the species as threatened cites the threat of receding sea ice, it does not include a scientific analysis of the causes of climate change," explained an Interior Department news release. "However ... the administration treats climate change very seriously and recognizes the role of greenhouse gases in climate change."

So if the decision stands after a period of public comment, the federal government would have to come up with a recovery plan for polar bears and withhold support for any activity that contributes to the destruction of their habitat. That could pressure Congress and the administration to put restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and automobiles, which are a leading cause of warming.

Not that the administration came to its decision willingly. The proposed listing occurred only after a team of environmental groups took Interior officials to court. There is no mistaking its significance, however. "Global warming is the single biggest threat to polar bears' survival, and this will require the government to address the impacts on the polar bear," said Andrew Wetzler a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Rescue can't come too soon. Polar bear populations in Alaska and elsewhere in the arctic are declining steadily. The bears need summer sea ice to hunt their main prey, seals. Yet in the past year alone, the ice has shrunk by 115,000 square miles and could disappear by 2040. Adult polar bears weigh less than in the past, and cub survival rates are down. In some cases, the bears have turned to cannibalism when they can't find food - hardly a formula for survival.

Reluctance or delay aside, the Bush administration has now begun the process of saving polar bears. Let's hope it is not too little, too late.

[Last modified December 29, 2006, 22:11:47]