It feels like watching two pigeons fighting over a scrap of bread - just before they get run over by a bus. Russia and Canada are already fighting over the oil reserves in the polar sea. These once unavailable resources locked up under sheets of ice are fast becoming exploitable due to the melting of the polar icecaps as a consequence of our addiction to oil. As Canada builds military bases to strengthen its Arctic claims, Russia planted its flag under the polar icecap. And last week, the North-West Passage melted for the first time ever - it is the most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia. And Canada claims full rights over parts of the Northwest Passage reserving the right to bar transit, or levy taxes there, much to the chagrin of the US and the European Union who argue that the new route should be an international strait that any vessel can use.

As this fight was unfolding - yet another battle was raging in the US over polar bears. In 2005, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. After being ignored for 6 months, the Center for Biological Diversity teamed up with Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council to sue the US Government and won. Their landmark case forced the Government to consider the petition and to conduct their own research into the case - and it looks like the polar bear will soon be the first species to be listed as threatened under the endangered species act due to global warming. In a report released yesterday, the Fish and Wildlife Service opened the findings of a yearlong research investigation to 15 days of public comment. Their report found that:

Projected changes in future sea ice conditions, if realized, will result in loss of approximately 2/3 of the world’s current polar bear population by the mid 21st century. Because the observed trajectory of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models, this assessment of future polar bear status may be conservative.

So, what does melting ice mean for polar bears? Many environmental groups have fastened onto the highly visible polar bear drowning events - where exhausted bears drown while trying to swim between the thinning ice sheets, but many of the worst effects will actually occur out of the public’s view. You see, polar bears hunt seals, which are abundant on the polar ice in spring and early summer. However, with global warming, the bear’s main hunting season will be drastically shortened due to a lack of ice. Without this critical opportunity to fatten up, the bears will go into hibernation dens without enough fat to get them through the Arctic winter and will simply not have enough energy to nurse cubs or, even worse, they will die of starvation in their dens. Late winter rains may also cause hibernation dens to collapse, killing the occupants.

This is the place where I’m supposed to say all hope is not lost and this is where you can donate money to help save them. But I’m stumped; all I can say is ditch the Hummer… for the polar bear’s sake.

Brian Gratwicke is a regular contributor to davidmixner.com. More about Brian can be found at www.briangratwicke.com.