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Essay / Polar bear: threatened or not? - 1595
In recent decades, the threat of global warming has captured the attention of the nation and the world. While the initial focus was on the effects this long-term natural crisis would have on the human population, select groups worked to approach the topic in a way that involved prevention in order to help other animal and plant species around the world. One such organization is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has played a major role in the conservation of the polar bear species, one of the mammals most affected by recent climate change. As more and more research has been conducted on polar bears, scientifically named Ursus Maritimus, the findings have been shocking. In 2008, the Department of the Interior listed the polar bear species as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, granting it certain federally mandated protections (Wolfe). However, on January 5, 2011, Representative Donald Young proposed a bill in Congress to delist polar bears as an endangered species, thereby reducing or even eliminating conservation efforts put in place over the past three years. years. The polar bear species is expected to remain listed under the Endangered Species Act because ice thickness has decreased by 40 percent over the past 30 years, reducing the critical environment polar bears. If current conditions continue, polar bear populations worldwide could decline by two-thirds by mid-century, and since the species was protected under the Endangered Species Act, Global populations have experienced stabilization or growth in most circumstances. Above all, the polar bear species should maintain its threat status. paper......this would cause a two-thirds decline in global polar bear populations over the next 50 years, and since the species was listed as threatened under the law, it has seen stabilization and, in certain cases, an increase proving the effectiveness of the efforts put in place. All of these reasons, combined with a plethora of others, support the decision to leave the species with a threatened title and arguments against this designation are only supported by misguided values and thinking. As we enter a new technological era, the human population must realize that we are creating many unintended effects that ripple out to other species and environments around the world. As the dominant species on Earth, humans must do our part to conserve the world's natural environment so that important species and aspects of natural history are not wiped out..