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Years of
controversy, endless discussions and lawsuits paid off for the polar bears, at
least on paper, as they’ve been listed as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act. But what does this decision do for them? This could be considered
nothing more than a moral victory for conservationists, because the polar bear
is probably not going to feel any pluses any time soon.
The idea of
such a decision would normally be to protect them and their environment. Just by
taking a logical approach on the situation, the polar bear, which is now a
protected animal, lives in an unprotected environment, which means the decision
to declare it an endangered species is not quite as “protective” as we would
expect.
Earlier this
year, when the Fish and Wildlife Services failed to meet yet another deadline
for the polar bear situation, the U.S. Interior Department did manage to make a
quick decision when asked to analyze whether an oil exploration in the Chukchi
Sea would affect the natural habitat of the bear. And, as “strange” as it may
seem, they said it’s perfectly safe! So much for protecting the bears…
The Chukchi Sea
oil exploration and the delay of the Fish and Wildlife Services to declare the
polar bear as an endangered species have had what one would call a ‘perfect
timing’. Environmental issues have been left aside as it appears, by giving
green light to an oil exploration that will most certainly not help the bears… Which
makes us wonder: are the lives of a couple of polar bears as valuable as an oil
business? For us, they are, for the U.S. officials…well, that’s a totally
different story.
As the bear
habitat is shrinking, and the bear faces nothing more than extinction, we all
witness decisions on papers that do nothing much in reality. Interior Secretary
Dirk Kempthorne said after the bear was listed as threatened that he won’t
allow the decision to become an instrument for activist groups to force the
adoption of greenhouse emission regulations for automobile, power plants or any
other sources in a similar manner (by lawsuit).
What’s to
understand of this? The decision was obviously forced. And it’s hard to imagine
why, as scientists never got tired of issuing alarm signals on the disastrous
effects global warming, that we are responsible for, has on habitats such as
that of the polar bear.
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