At the end of his term, George W. Bush signed legislation that greatly weakened the Endangered Species Act. President Obama is working to undo that damage. Please visit Stop Extinction and sign the petition to save the polar bears.
Petition to Save the Polar Bear
Time is running out to save the polar bear and other endangered species. As their sea ice habitat disappears, polar bears are starving and drowning, and mothers and cubs are dying as their snow dens collapse on them due to a warming climate. In addition, pollution from oil and gas drilling threatens to destroy what’s left of the polar bear’s disappearing habitat.
In their last days, the Bush Administration weakened protections for the polar bear and other endangered species. We have a few weeks to restore their protections under the Endangered Species Act.
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Jenn 03.30.09 at 5:52 pm
Save the polar bear? Their populations are fine. The ice caps have been expanding the last couple of years and for pete’s sake, they are MARINE MAMMALS. They do fine in the water.
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Elizabeth Barrette Reply:
March 30th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Those statements contradict other things I’ve been reading: polar bear populations are low, bears are losing habitat, polar ice is shrinking, and more bears are drowning as the scanty ice floes are too far apart for them to swim between.
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Palma | Buddha Trance 03.31.09 at 6:21 pm
I will never forget a documentary I have seen, where a lovely polar bear tried to get his food after the long fasting period of hibernation, and in great effort tried to swim across the melted ice, where he should have walked… he was too weak to hunt, and laid down on a piece of ice to let himself die. When I think of it, I still cry. I am right now. That scene touched my heart forever.
Whoever says that the polar bear is not endangered, is under an illusion.
Elizabeth, thank you for providing the opportunity to sign the petition. I joined change.org and signed. Now that I have a profile there, I will be active. A review of your site is coming up on my blog by tomorrow evening.
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Elizabeth Barrette Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I haven’t seen that documentary, but I have seen photo-essays of polar bears on ice floes or bergs hardly big enough to hold them, and of drowned bears. It’s really alarming.
I joined change.org and signed. Now that I have a profile there, I will be active.
That’s so good to hear! I enjoy turning friends on to great sites.
A review of your site is coming up on my blog by tomorrow evening.
Eee, squee! Thank you so much for the networking assist. Wednesday is my birthday (yes, really) and the luck of the goodies is upon me!
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Palma | Buddha Trance 04.01.09 at 10:33 am
Elizabeth, your review is online. You deserve it, for all the wonderful work you do. Happy birthday!!!
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Cheryce 04.21.09 at 9:04 pm
It’s terrible what’s happening to these polar bears. They are completely out of energy swimming from one melting glacier to the next. What about the production of plastic glaciers to help them out for the time being? Does that sound too far fetched or impossible? I’m no scientist, and I am not sure of the impact that the plastic would cause on the other marine animals, but I think if the idea was plausible, we should give it a shot.
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Elizabeth Barrette Reply:
April 21st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
What an interesting idea! I don’t know whether it would work or not, but I think it has potential. Other marine animals are also suffering from the loss of icebergs; this might help them too.I can think of two main barriers, mobility and scope, and they relate to each other. To work, the project would need to provide artificial icebergs at intervals small enough for the polar bears to reach safely. Say, about 200 miles apart, spanning as much of polar bear territory as possible. How many would that require? Also, if not anchored, they’d drift out of position, probably becoming a nuisance elsewhere. Is the water shallow enough to make anchoring them feasible in any part of polar bear range?
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