Time is running out. There are now only 22 days and 21 hours left for Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to rescind the Bush regulations that eviscerate the Endangered Species Act protections for polar bears by allowing federal agencies to disregard global warming impacts when planning or approving projects (read more here).
Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice – critical habitat for polar bears, who rely on the ice for hunting and breeding grounds – continues to melt at alarming rates thanks to global warming.
Salazar has been traveling the country holding hearings on whether Americans think it makes sense to drill the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and it just so happened that he had a stop in San Francisco this morning. So we trooped on out there, brought a couple polar bears with us, and stood outside of the venue demanding Salazar take action to save our furry friends.
But don’t think we ignored the issue of drilling the OCS. Oh no, friends. We were joined by folks from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Surfrider Foundation, and many other local activists later in the day at a big rally to let Salazar know that drilling the OCS is a fool’s quest. Not only would it threaten our coastlines with oil spills and all kinds of industrial disturbance that is harmful to wildlife like polar bears and coastal ecosystems at large, but opening more land to drilling would only serve to prolong our addiction to fossil fuels.
With a stroke of his pen, Salazar can simultaneously rescind the dangerous Bush regulations limiting the scope of the Endangered Species Act and prod America to step up our efforts to stop global warming. Join us in urging Salazar to do the right thing: Sign the petition now!
Images © Greenpeace / Diana Silbergeld
