Bush v. the Polar Bears

Polar bears, those cute, cuddly, white furry animals of the north, are actually one of the world's most formidable predators. They are the only bear species known to stalk and kill human beings for food.

Native hunters of the north have a great respect for the hunting prowess of Nanuq, the polar bear, and recognize that Nanuq uses the same techniques for hunting the ringed seal that humans do. For centuries, Nanuq and humans have shared the hunting territory of the Arctic, but today as global warming melts the ice, both are threatened.

Inuit people have methods for dealing with a polar bear attack, but as one man said, the instructions he was taught did not fully prepare him for the experience: "You feel like you're in another world the moment the bear attacks and you jump to get out of its way."

Since making the decision to propose listing the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Bush administration officials may also be feeling that they have entered "another world." Listing the polar bear has placed the administration in a box it can't easily get out of, because under the ESA, it must consider the best available science in crafting a plan for the polar bear's recovery. Since the best available science indicates that global warming is at fault, the administration will be forced to confront its own inaction on global warming.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition to list the polar bear under the ESA back in 2005. When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to act on its petition, the center brought suit. On December 27, 2006, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne proposed that the polar bear be added to the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments until April 9, and the agency will make a final determination by January 9, 2008.

Given the staunch refusal by the Bush administration to take meaningful action against climate change, the Interior Department's decision to support listing the polar bear seems inexplicable. But Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said that the listing is the result of a carefully constructed strategy by his organization to place the Bush administration in a box that it can't get out of -- a box constructed by science.

Suckling said that by filing the petition to list the polar bear under the ESA, "We took the issue of global warming out of politics and into science. The ESA is very clear that only science can be considered in a listing decision." Suckling also said that while the Washington DC office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service did not want to support the listing, the Alaska office put together a very strong scientific analysis and "held firm," so that the agency had no choice but to go forward with the listing.

Also critical to the decision was intense public and media attention on the charismatic species, the largest bear on the planet. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the polar bear listing petition, said that she had submitted petitions for other species based on the threat of global warming -- a seabird and some coral species -- but these were not accepted. The difference, she says, was the "huge media coverage and throngs of reporters" who followed the polar bear petition. "In this case," she said, "the whole world really was watching."

Still, the actual language of the proposed listing rule is a little strange. Normally, an ESA listing requires three things: a description of the threat, the cause of the threat, and the solution. According to Suckling, the proposed rule is very clear on the primary threat, which is the melting of the sea ice that polar bears need to be able to hunt seals. But it is very unclear on the cause of the threat. It mentions rising temperatures, but never connects them to greenhouse gas emissions. The actual text of the proposed rule states that "the polar bear is threatened by habitat loss and inadequate regulatory mechanisms to address sea ice recession."