Save Polar Bears and Undo Bush's Weakening of Endangered Species Act

polar bear

So far 46,000 online signatures have been gathered by the Center for Biological Diversity to support the re-writing of the Bush administration’s regulations which allow for the emission of greenhouse gases to not be considered as a threat to wildlife habitats and wildlife like the polar bear, even though global warming is clearly harming polar bears.

They also removed the capacity of the Fish and Wildlife service to monitor wildlife conservation impacts for federal projects involving timber sales, and dam construction. 

The Bush administration’s revisions to the ESA were a blow to the act, and need to be removed. “These policies eviscerate the central Endangered Species Act process — Fish and Wildlife Service oversight — that has protected endangered species for 35 years, and they exclude the greatest future threat to endangered species — global warming — from consideration under the Act. ” states their website. The Obama administration has said publicly they want to revise Bush’s weakening of the act, but so far the revisions have not taken place. Congress passed legislation granting Secretary of the Interior Salazaar 60 days to rewrite parts of the ESA, but it has not been done yet. There are only about 20 days left to do so.

The Center of Biological Diversity is collecting signatures from the public who want to show their support for strengthening the Endangered Species Act, and protecting the world’s remaining polar bears. Please vist their site and consider signing the online petition.

Image Credit: Ansgar Walk

 

 

9 thoughts on “Save Polar Bears and Undo Bush's Weakening of Endangered Species Act”

  1. I am only 12 years old and my dream is to save these animals. We are the same to them. This shouldnt be happening to such wonderful animals so make a difference. If you want to save these animals do the simple things. Like turning off the tv and reading with one light on at a time for 1 or 2 hours. Those small things can make a big difference. If you are a true believer go on strike and stop building these houses. The less houses there are the less oil. Please at least trie to make a difference. As a 12 year old i am doing my best to save these animals.!

  2. After this post I started to do some research on what is out there on the web in terms of major educational projects and ran across this website:

    http://www.transantarcticexpedition.com/education/

    Its an expedition that is set to begin this November, led my a man named Andrew Regan. I think what they are doing in terms of research, and pioneering more environmentally friendly ways to traverse the arctic, is pretty cool. I also think there need to be more things out there like this for public awareness. The first step towards any change is through public action to the problem.

  3. I find that the trickle down affect (in terms of attitudes) shows that how government handles the urgency of global warming and the effect on endangered species. If the government is pushing it to the back of their agenda, the average person is even less likely to list global warming and endangered species as an issue that should be addressed in their everyday lives.

    I wonder how aware the public is of the governments tactics with these issues?

  4. These regulations, one of President Bush’s last acts in office, dramatically weaken the protections that the polar bear would receive under the U.S. Endangered Species Act law. In order to save the polar bear and stop global warming, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar must use his special authority to rescind the Bush rules. He can do so with no more than the stroke of a pen, but this power only extends until May 9th. Please sign the petition to revoke the Bush extinction rules at http://www.savethepolarbear.org.

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