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US emits about 25% of the world's total greenhouse gases, despite having only 2% of the total population. However, when a species is listed as endangered, it is illegal to harm it. In this case, everyone who emits greenhouse gases is harming the polar bear. So, companies such as coal-fired power plants, automobile manufacturers, and even airlines could become liable for any further damage to the polar bears' habitat. Listing polar bears as an endangered species could change the way that companies do business in the United States and begin to put the brakes on global warming.

While people in the US dither about whether global warming is actually happening, whether it's our fault, and what if anything we can do about it, polar bears are dying. If we don't take drastic measures soon, the great white bear of the North will be extinct before this century is done.

Sources:

The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/p ublic/article_print/SB11345243 5089621905-vnekw47PQGtDyf3iv5X EN71_o5I_20061214.html

NASA
http ://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/20 06/sep/HQ_06315_sea_ice.html

Bi ological Diversity
http://www.biological diversity.org/swcbd/species/po larbear/index.html

The Daily Mail- UK http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pag es/live/articles/news/news.htm l?in_article_id=433170&in_page _id=1770

UN Environment Program
http://www.un.org/works /environment/animalplanet/pola rbear.html

Learn more about this author, Kallie Szczepanski.
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