sea ice

Secretary Kempthorne announces that he is accepting the recommendation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dale Hall to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing is based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat.

The Arctic melt, blamed by the U.N. climate panel on heat-trapping gases emitted by burning fossil fuels, threatens the livelihoods of indigenous hunting peoples and wildlife such as polar bears and seals.  This melt is occurring at an alarming rate.

Two-thirds of the world's current polar bear population could be gone by 2050 if predictions of melting sea ice hold true, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Friday.

Sea ice in the Arctic is approaching a record low, and Inuit people are now wearing T-shirts and buying air conditioners in the summer for the first time. Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier explains how climate change is threatening her people's way of life and very survival.