“I think that would be an extremely strong signal [that Obama is serious about climate change action],” European Union climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, said during a briefing with reporters in Washington. “That would be a strong signal to the world.”

Hedegaard’s remarks made it clear that a yes or no will have implications far beyond our borders — the United States wields a tremendous amount of influence over future efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, and Keystone XL is the biggest climate test the White House has faced in years.

Photo: TarSandsAction

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”

Even without the spectacle of Canadian diplomats bending over backwards to drag the planet into the dark days of “1984,” George Orwell could have written a novel on Prime Minister Steven Harper’s machinations. In recent months, Harper has withdrawn Canada from the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, slashed funding for scientific agencies and muzzled government scientists, all while promoting tar sands as a healthy addition to the world’s energy mix. And the Premier of Alberta, Alison Redford, left jaws dropped across the continent this week when she proudly described Keystone XL as “responsible energy development” despite her province’s skyrocketing emissions and record of environmental destruction.

NWF’s friends at Environmental Defense Canada issued a scathing breakdown of their government’s credibility gap, including this shocker:

Canada ranks among the worst performers in the developed world on climate change. In the most recent ranking of climate change performance, Canada was trailed only by Kazakhstan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, ranking 58th out of 61 countries.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Harper calls tar sands “ethical oil.” Up is down, black is green, oil is ethical, the planet is not in danger.

State Department’s Keystone XL review expected soon

Protesters at February 17th “Forward On Climate” rally in Washington D.C. (photo: 350.org)

With climate champion and former Senator John Kerry in the top spot at the State Department, we hope that the answers to those questions are good news. But ultimately, the decision is President Obama’s to make, and he’ll have to pick whether to stand with the oil industry or with the millions of Americans who have spoken out in defense of our planet. As TIME’s Michael Grunwald puts it, “Now is the time to choose sides…There are many climate problems a President can’t solve, but Keystone isn’t one of them. It’s a choice between Big Oil and a more sustainable planet. The right answer isn’t always somewhere in the middle.”

Speak up for people and wildlife! Tell President Obama to say “NO!” to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The assault on Canada’s environmental protection rules and organizations that work to protect the environment is about making it easier for Big Oil to get its way.

One shocking example is the Canadian government’s plans to initiate a large-scale wolf slaughter in order to conceal the impacts of booming oil and gas development on woodland caribou and the silencing of scientists who have spoken out against the misguided cull.

Another is Canada’s recent budget bill that rolled back many of the country’s most important environmental laws on clean water, wildlife, and climate change and drastically limited the public’s right to participate and comment on environmental reviews.

The decisions being made in Canada affect us all. From the massive Keystone XL pipeline to the Trailbreaker pipeline in the Northeast–Big Oil’s plans to bring dirty tar sands into the United States reach far and wide, and pose unacceptable threats to wildlife, water, and communities.

That’s why today, the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund is blacking out their webpage–along with hundreds of other groups across North America–to demonstrate that concerns about tar sands will not be silenced. Read more about “Black Out, Speak Out”.

Make sure Congress hears from you that boosting Big Oil’s profits at the expense of wildlife is unacceptable.

And here’s how you can help spread the word on social media:

•  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BlackOutSpeakOut/info

•  Twitter:  I’m speaking out for nature and democracy. I won’t be silenced. Will you? http://bit.ly/KC6bzE #blackoutspeakout #cdnpoli

Basically untouched until recent decades, the boreal forest’s great natural riches may also turn out to be its undoing: massive amounts of oil have been found in deposits known as “tar sands,” and the energy industry has kicked off a full-scale war on Mother Nature in their rush to boost their profits. Aided by a government that seems determined to wreck the country’s eco-friendly reputation, Big Oil is transforming huge parts of Alberta, Canada into something out of a nightmare, destroying vital wildlife habitat and putting whole populations at risk.

Read on to learn more about nine remarkable species that are directly threatened by tar sands development, then send a message to the President to help protect them.

Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Woodland caribou are being pushed out by oil development in their habitat (photo: British Columbia Forest Service)

The Canadian federal and provincial governments seem happy to turn a blind eye to the problem, and a stakeholder group that should be leading the charge to protect this iconic species — the Endangered Species Conservation Committee — is stocked with representatives from the energy industry, agriculture and timber companies, who watered down the caribou recovery plan to a toothless piece of paper. And even then, Environment Minister Peter Kent ignored a court order and refused to issue emergency protections for at-risk herds. Scientists fear that industrial development could cause Canada’s woodland caribou to vanish by the end of the century.

Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)

Our understanding of gray wolves has come a long way since the days of Little Red Riding Hood. They are impressively smart, social animals that spend as much time playing as hunting, and live together in close-knit packs of 4 to 7 animals.

Gray wolves are a keystone species in the northern ecosystem (photo: flickr/YankeeNovember3)

But in the eyes of the Canadian government this makes them a threat, and an easy scapegoat for the recent rapid declines of the caribou herds. So the government has embarked upon a plan to “cull” wolf populations using poison-laced bait and aerial hunts from helicopters. The poison, strychnine, is known for an excruciating death that progresses painfully from muscle spasms to convulsions to suffocation, over a period of hours. As if that weren’t awful enough, other animals like eagles and even domesticated dogs have been unintended casualties of the baiting campaign.

Black Bears (Ursus americanus)

Black bears like this cub like to eat the garbage from dumps around tar sands mines, much to their misfortune. (photo: Noah Katz)

It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now that tar sands development has directly encroached on bear habitat, leading to more interactions between humans and this species. Unfortunately, the government’s approach has been similar to their wolf plan: shoot ‘em and keep digging for oil.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development says 145 black bears were killed by Fish and Wildlife conservation officers last year after being habituated to garbage in the oilsands region. The number of bears shot in the Fort McMurray district was nearly three times the count the previous year and the highest in recent history, said spokesman Darcy Whiteside. Nearly half — 68 bears — were shot in oilsands camps and facilities after being attracted to the camp by food, garbage or other attractants, Whiteside said Tuesday.

Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis)

Canada Lynx near Whitehorse, Yukon (photo: Keith Williams)

Unlike bears, lynx shy away from contact with humans. Development in the eastern part of Canada has already forced out the big cats, and pressure from tar sands exploitation in Alberta is causing concerns there as well. And there’s a critical connection between gray wolves and lynx: wolves kill coyotes, which directly compete with lynx for snowshoe hare and other prey. So fewer wolves means more coyotes, which means fewer lynx. For a population that’s already threatened, that’s bad news. On the other hand, protecting wolves means lynx may rebound as well.

Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis)

Sandhill cranes face a double-whammy in Alberta and Nebraska (photo: flickr.com/nigel)

The big birds migrate thousands of miles each year from their breeding grounds in western Canada to as far south as Mexico, fattening up for a month in Nebraska’s Platte River valley. But this exposes them to a double-whammy from tar sands, with Alberta’s energy development destroying prime nesting habitat, and the danger of a spill in the Nebraska Sandhills region (from which they take their name) that could take away a crucial feeding ground. As it happens, their migratory pathway overlaps the route of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline almost mile-for-mile, meaning that a spill at any point will put this iconic species in harm’s way.

Walleye (Sander vitreus)

An angler in Ontario holds her latest catch (photo: flickr.com/Rowdy Rider)

But walleye and several other native species of fish might soon become a scarce commodity if Big Oil gets its way. Residents of Fort Chipeweyan, Alberta (most of whose residents are First Nations members) have reported a pretty scary development in the last few years: lots and lots of deformed fish downstream of the tar sands developments. In 2010, commercial fishing ground to a halt due to concerns about heavy metals like mercury and cadmium…as if anyone would want to eat a filet with a golf-ball sized tumor. The Canadian government, not surprisingly, contests these claims, but independent data shows that contamination has reached 30 times the federally-accepted levels.

In addition to all that, tar sands extraction requires a lot of water — up to three barrels of water for every barrel of oil — and this has disrupted the normal cycles of of the Athabasca river and surrounding watersheds.

Moose (Alces alces)

It's hard to play hide-and-seek when you weigh more than a ton (photo: flicker/Benjamin 1970)

This species has been a major part of native culture and their diet for millennia, but with numbers near Fort McKay, Alberta declining 60% in recent years, First Nations elders now have to travel up to 200 kilometers to find moose during their traditional hunt. Moose meat has also tested high in arsenic and carcinogens created by tar sands mining, endangering the health of the region’s indigenous communities.

Like woodland caribou, moose are prey for gray wolves, and toxins in moose meat spells trouble for their predators.

Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)

Scaup, also known as "bluebills," call the Athabasca River delta home (photo: Carol Foil)

Scaup (pronounced “skawp”) are a favorite of hunters but, like so many other creatures, tar sands operations are taking a toll. In addition to direct habitat loss, Big Oil has created a particularly gruesome way for these birds to die. One of the dirtiest parts of oil mining is so-called “tailings ponds,” gigantic open pits where the industry dumps its liquid waste. There are lots of these contaminated tailings ponds in the delta region, filled with toxic chemicals and oil, but which appear to flying birds like just another good spot to land. And when they do, it’s not hard to imagine what happens: slow, painful death. The industry’s solutions have ranged from the simple (and ineffective), like scarecrows, to the absurd — supersonic “cannons” that boom loud enough to disturb animals for miles around, and scare off any birds from landing in the sludge.

You and Me (Homo sapiens)

Climate change threatens our oceans, shorelines, and every other ecosystem on earth (photo: Barry Keleher)

And perhaps the biggest threat of all is the danger posed by global warming, which has already reached a tipping point and could be pushed over the edge by burning Canada’s tar sands oil. Rising sea levels, extreme droughts, flooding — it might sound like the Apocalypse but in fact it’s already happening.

Speak up now! Tell President Obama to stand up for wildlife in the tar sands region, and stand strong against Big Oil’s plans to destroy the boreal forest.

National Wildlife Federation is helping to lead the charge against tar sands and Big Oil’s dirty projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, which would help trigger even more development in the boreal forest. We need your help to make sure that this pristine ecosystem and its magnificent animals don’t vanish forever.

To donate directly to our tar sands campaign, please go to NWF’s “Choose Your Cause” website, or visit NWF.org/tarsands to learn more and find out how you can make a difference.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development says 145 black bears were killed by Fish and Wildlife conservation officers last year after being habituated to garbage in the oilsands region. The number of bears shot in the Fort McMurray district was nearly three times the count the previous year and the highest in recent history, said spokesman Darcy Whiteside. Nearly half — 68 bears — were shot in oilsands camps and facilities after being attracted to the camp by food, garbage or other attractants, Whiteside said Tuesday.

Black Bear cub (photo: Noah Katz)

Fort McMurray, like other company towns that have sprung up over the last few decades, sits in the middle of Canada’s boreal forest, one of the last great intact ecosystems in the world. But unchecked industrial development is leaving scars upon the earth that are visible from space (seriously – take a look at satellite pictures on Google Maps and prepare to be blown away) and destroying habitat that supports caribou, millions of migratory birds, and other species like lynx, gray wolves and bears.

Is Wildlife an Afterthought?

According to NWF scientist Dr. Doug Inkley, the provincial government’s actions are deplorable:

Their approach seems to be, if it becomes a problem, kill it — rather than prevent the problem in the first place. Humans are destroying bear habitat and not disposing of garbage properly. So, we kill the bears.

Whiteside, the spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resources Development, stressed that bears aren’t endangered and the shootings have had “no impact on the black bear population as a whole.” But Dr. Inkley sees it another way. “This is death by a thousand cuts,” he says, his voice edged with anger. “It may seem like there are plenty of black bears now, but look what’s happening: the tar sands area that could be developed is the size of Florida, and this is going to be repeated over and over and over if we keep encroaching on their habitat.”

Making the Right Choice for Bears

David Mizejewski, a naturalist with National Wildlife Federation, says it comes down to common sense.

We make the choice about whether these bears are a problem or not.  We’ve chosen to destroy their habitat and turn it into a garbage dump.  We can make smarter choices and avoid conflicts with bears.

It may sound simplistic, but that’s what has happened in Alberta. Black bears aren’t naturally inclined to linger in places where people are, but if they learn that food is accessible they lose their fear quickly. Without proper waste management, bears and other animals become urban scavengers, attracted to the easy pickings from uncovered dumpsters. NWF’s Mizejewski points out that solutions like bear-proof trash cans can help lessen the problem, but the only long-term answer is to put the lid on tar sands development and prevent outright destruction of their habitat.

These animals don’t have to die. They’re being slaughtered in part due to America’s addiction to dirty oil.

Black bears and other wildlife are becoming casualties of the oil industry's take-no-prisoners approach (Photo: Glenn Alexon)

We need your help to protect wildlife! Get involved and help us stop this from happening. Take action to protect black bears and other wildlife caught in the line of fire.

You can also help fight tar sands by making a donation. Visit NWF’s “Choose Your Cause” page to see how your support can safeguard black bears and other wildlife in jeopardy.

All are victims of tar sands mining in the Boreal Forest of Alberta, Canada. And we are the largest importers.

Kids Want to Protect Wildlife

Last Saturday morning, my daughter noticed I was on my Blackberry communicating with someone from work. “What are you doing,” she asked me, in that familiar impatient tone. I turned to her, and without hesitation I said: “How do we get more people to care about the fact that wolves are being poisoned in Canada because of tar sands?”

She then turned to me, and immediately announced that she will donate $7.00 to our cause—seven weeks of allowance.

She was motivated because she, like most young children, have an uncluttered sense of what’s morally right and wrong. There’s nothing that clouds their judgment. What a contrast to what we are facing every day in Congress these days. Elected officials of both party persuasions are wringing their hands on what to do about the White House’s decision to halt the permitting of Keystone XL, which, if built, would’ve been the largest tar sands oil pipeline snaking through the nation’s Heartland. Allies of the oil industry are teaming the halls of Congress to find any lever to pull to reverse the decision.

My 9-year-old daughter doesn’t understand why people who are in government aren’t standing up for the wolves. I wonder why are they not standing up to Big Oil’s insatiable greed and indifference.

She also wonders, understandably, whether a $7.00 donation will make a difference, knowing that we are up against a multi-billion dollar oil industry.

Join & Make a Difference

Motivating others to join her, that’s the difference $7 can make. Imagine if just one percent of the children in the U.S. between the ages of 10-14 donated $7.00? One percent is about 200,000 children…you can do the math.

The point is that if we stand together, unpolluted by politics and oil profits, united about what’s morally right, we can shift the political debate. And our legacy will be that we stood up for those who don’t have a voice.

Please join Ava, and thousands of others, in NWF’s fight to stop tar sands and help protect wildlife. 
Spread the word. Your voice matters.

Learn more about tar sands>>
Learn more about the threat to wolves and caribou>>
Take Action to help wolves and other wildlife>>

Polar bears are iconic arctic species, threatened by global warming and big oil companies. (Image: Christy Mazrimas-Ott)

There was a time when Canada, symbolized by the maple leaf, was a “green,” environmentally conscientious neighbor. Remember, in the 1980s, Canada came knocking on America’s door, rightfully demanding that the United States curb the sulfur dioxide emissions causing the acid rain that was killing Canada’s lakes and streams.

But today, alarms are going off up north. Increasing capture by polluter interests, Canada’s sliding into shades of gray. Experts say Ontario could lose its beloved polar bears because of a warming climate. World polar bear expert Ian Stirling, University of Alberta, citing Arctic ice loss at 10 percent per decade since 1979, says it’s unlikely this iconic animal will survive on the Ontario and Manitoba shores of Hudson Bay in 20 to 30 years.

Another study predicts trouble for caribou. Some of Canada’s caribou face the possibility of local extinction because of industrial development in northeastern Alberta and the lack of effective habitat protection. Woodland caribou is listed as a threatened species, provincially and federally. “The recently released draft recovery strategy allows for 95 percent of woodland caribou habitat in northeastern Alberta to be lost in order to promote oil sands development,” the Pembina Institute has warned.

Then there’s cod. Canada had to impose a moratorium on cod fishing off the coast of Newfoundland because the cod fishery collapsed, some say because of lax government oversight, poorly-managed over-fishing and exploitation.

Is Canada asleep? No, Canada is in fact very much awake and very busy working on behalf of polluters.

Climate Blind

First let’s look at climate change.

Canada is one of the world biggest emitters of greenhouse gas pollutants. “After committing to targets in Copenhagen, Environment Canada’s projections show that Canada’s current federal and provincial policies will achieve only a quarter of the reductions needed by 2020 – leaving 75 percent of the work as a question mark….”  P.J. Partington has commented.

Canada ranks 54^th out of 61 countries internationally – two points lower than the U.S. – earning a “very poor performance” label in the December 6 global climate performance assessment of world governments’ efforts to curb climate change.

In the negotiations in Durban, Canada pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change on December 12 to worldwide denunciation, citing the country’s previous commitment as a mistake. Environment Minister Peter Kent said, “It’s now clear that Kyoto is not the path forward to a global solution to climate change. If anything it’s an impediment.” China, once recalcitrant, agreed to limits on greenhouse gas emissions and called Canada’s decision “an excuse to shirk responsibility.”

Oozing with Oil

Tailings pond north of Syncrude processing facility and upgrader (Courtesy of the Pembina Institute)

The latest chapter in Canada’s Big Oil binge is big bad bitumen, Canada’s exploitation of tar sands oil, one of the most polluting, highest-carbon, greenhouse-gas-causing fuels on the planet.

TransCanada and partners propose to build the Keystone XL pipeline, a 1,700-mile pipeline through five Midwestern U.S. states from Alberta to Texas and ship 700,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day for refinement into products likely to be exported.

According to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate because it could lead to higher energy prices for Americans, the Keystone corporate interests are Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Conoco Phillips Canada Marketing & Trading ULC, EnCana Corporations, Shell Trading Canada, Total E&P Canada Ltd and Trafigura Canada General Partnership.

The environmental havoc already underway from extraction in Alberta is no secret. To produce one barrel, extractors level the forest, dig up four tons of earth, consume two to four barrels of fresh water, burn large amounts of natural gas and create toxic sludge holding ponds. Alberta’s booming tar sands production is polluting the Athabasca River and converting forests and farmlands to wastelands.

The Keystone XL pipeline will increase production of this dirty fuel by 50 percent. Some will argue that Canada only produces less than two percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but by producing, shipping and exporting tar sands oil at an ever-escalating pace, Canada is promoting a dirty fuel to the rest of the world to burn, thus increasing emissions multi-fold worldwide.

Syncrude oil sands operations (courtesy of the Pembina Institute)

Pro-pipeline pals in Congress have crafted legislative riders to usurp and overrule President Barack Obama, established review processes and science. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper even got President Obama’s ear at the White House in early December and made his case for what he dubbed a “no-brainer.”

Talk about pulling out all the stops. Let’s get that oil flowing as the oil lobbyists oil the Washington skids!

And to rub yet more salt into the wounds, on December 8, the Canadian government approved yet more tar sands production by giving the go-ahead for the construction of the $8.9 billion Joslyn North Mine in northern Alberta.

And there’s more to come. Imperial Oil CEO Bruce Marsh said that his company, an Exxon subsidiary, is planning to start the Kearl oil sands mining project in Canada in 2012 and they expect to produce 110,000 barrels a day and maybe up to the 345,000 barrels a day the Canadian government has approved.

As they say on TV commercials: WAIT, there’s more!

Environment Canada has not implemented its long-term scientific research plan, a plan that undergirds the country’s work to mitigate air and water pollution and other environmental risks, charged Commissioner Scott Vaughan, of Canada’s Office of the Auditor General in early December and the department has stopped issuing many environmental reports. So they don’t know what the problems are or the effectiveness of their policies?

Vaughan also issued a recent audit showing that Environment Canada’s enforcement program is not ensuring adequate compliance with environmental regulations and is failing to target the biggest polluters.

Vaughan also found that several Canadian government agencies do not enforce safety regulations for shipping chemicals on highways and railroads and for pumping oil and gas in the country. He reported an average of two accidents a week involving the transport of dangerous materials across Canada. He concluded, for example, “Management has not acted on long-standing concerns regarding inspection and emergency plan review practices,” for transporting dangerous goods.

Accompanying a map of numerous approved and proposed oil and gas pipelines across Canada, Vaughn wrote, “These pipelines, which are located in both rural and urban areas and across different terrains, require ongoing surveillance and maintenance to ensure that they continue to operate according to the National Energy Board Act, its regulations, and standards such as the Canadian Standards Association’s Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems standard. Pipeline incidents, such as gas leaks and oil spills, have occurred across Canada.” Exhibit 1.4 shows over 50 pipeline incidents. This comes against a backdrop of confident assurances from TransCanada that the Keystone pipeline would traverse the U.S. safely. Huh?

A Graying Canada

Canada, the second largest country in the world after Russia, has vast landscapes – three oceans, the tundra, plains, mountains, boreal forests, wetlands, rivers, lakes and coastline. Given its bounty, Canada should be proud and protective of its natural resources. National motto: From Sea to Sea.

But somewhere along the way, Canada has lost its conservation conscience, as it propels itself into an oil-producing, carbon-crazy frenzy.

Polar bears and caribou on the road to extinction. Cod struggling to thrive in the north Atlantic. Does Canada care? Does Canada prefer gray to green?

Tailings pond north of Syncrude processing facility and upgrader (Courtesy of the Pembina Institute)

The presentation was obtained and released by Postmedia News, owner of several prominent newspapers in Canada.

At Risk: Caribou, Migratory Birds, Public Health, Climate

The report, prepared by Environment Canada, appears to be a smoking gun that removes any last doubt that the Canadian government has been hiding disturbing information about the environmental and health impacts of Canadian tar sands.

It comes on the heels of a public uprising in Canada against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to carry tar sands oil to Canada’s coast.

Canada recently announced a one-year delay in reviewing the pipeline in light of the public outcry.

National Wildlife magazine recently published an excellent feature on the wildlife impacts of mining tar sands to produce oil (tons of sand and many barrels of clean water are needed to produce one barrel of tar sands oil).

What is particularly disturbing about this secret report is that the oil industry’s super-sized influence with Prime Minister Harper and the Albertan government has apparently seeped deeply into the workings of Environment Canada, the government agency entrusted with “protecting the environment” and “conserving the country’s natural heritage.”

In the report, Environment Canada sums up its role in the tar sands debate as follows:

“Environment Canada’s objective is to provide assurance that the oil sands are being developed in an environmentally-responsible manner through discharging of legislative duties.”

Translation: Our job is to tell everyone that things are “OK” even though they are not.

Here are some of the findings of the secret report:

“Oil sands development will put pressure on vulnerable species (e.g., woodland caribou).”

“Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada’s largest, is downstream from the oil sands, and is a major migratory bird site.”

“…emissions of air pollutants will increase with increased production. Increased emissions of SOx and NOx may put downwind lakes in Saskatchewan and Alberta at risk of acidification. Particulate matter identified as possible sources of toxins to river and landscape.”

“Between 1990 and 2008, overall oil sands GHG emissions increased by 242%….The oil sands are the fastest-growing source of GHGs [in Canada].”

“Contamination of the Athabasca River is a high-profile concern. Recent studies suggest elevated levels of pollutants near mining sites including hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Raises questions about the possible effects of health and wildlife on downstream communities.”

Read more about how tar sands impacts wildlife and the campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Others have written plenty about the enormous threat posed by tar sands, so I won’t go into detail here — suffice to say that it’s an incredibly dirty, dangerous resource that accelerates global warming much faster than “traditional” oil. But it’s worth pointing out that mining tar sands won’t slow down Middle Eastern production at all, and it won’t reduce US dependence on foreign oil. If Saudi oil is contributing to oppression, the obvious answer seems to be to invest in renewable energy and efficiency, not to destroy Canada’s boreal forests.

My favorite part of the ad? At the end, a banner comes up that reads “Help keep this ad on the air. Visit ethicaloil.org and make a donation today.”

Yeah, you read that right! Only your modest donations can keep the flame burning…never mind that the folks behind this could afford a Scrooge McDuck-style swimming pool filled with gold coins. I mean that literally: the “big five” oil companies are making more money than anyone has, ever, and TransCanada Corp. (the company behind the tar sands pipeline) is planning to spend $7 billion to get its product to market.

I was at Saturday’s rally in front of the White House, where over a thousand people were arrested for protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry Canadian oil sludge to the Texas Gulf coast for export. The Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein was a guest speaker, and she demolished the “ethical” claim in her moving speech:

“Ethical oil” is not an oxymoron—it’s an outrage. It is an insult. It is an insult to the indigenous communities living downstream from the tar sands. It is an insult to the people who are on the front lines of climate change…whether it’s people living in island nations like the Maldives and Tuvalu, facing cultural extinction; whether it’s people living in countries dependent on melting glaciers like Bolivia. They dare to speak to us of ethics.

Click here to view the embedded video.

She’s right, and these frauds should be ashamed of themselves. If you really want to do something for women, make a donation to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, or any of a thousand other organizations who are actually making a difference. And if you’re as ticked off as I am after seeing that ad, TAKE ACTION and speak out against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

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Learn more about NWF’s work to protect wildlife from the Keystone XL pipeline here.

Heading Toward a Record Year

Ice went out earlier and is lower in cover overall this year in Hudson Bay.

As we reported yesterday, Hudson Bay polar bears are eagerly awaiting the sea ice to freeze up so they can break their fast, return to the ice and start hunting for seals, their primary food source. Historically, Hudson Bay should have ice by now and the bears should be long gone. However, climate change is causing dramatic declines in sea ice. As a result, these bears are stuck on land, living off their fat reserves, and waiting. For some, the longer wait could mean starvation and death.

When my plane departed Churchill yesterday, there was still no ice to be seen on the Bay. We could see a new record set this year if things do not improve soon. According to a bulletin issued by Environment Canada today, “the progression of freeze-up is 2 weeks late in western Hudson Bay and only a very narrow fringe of new ice is evident along the western and southern shores at this time.” Check out the above graph to see how low sea ice cover has been in Hudson Bay this year.

How Long Could you Go?

For some, two weeks may not seem like a big deal. But try to imagine what it must be like to eat next-to-nothing for four months, only to find out at the end of your fast that you have to wait two or maybe three more weeks before eating anything of substance. It’s hard to imagine, right? Most people will never know what it feels like to go 2 days, forget months, without food. That’s where the analogy comes in.

As a runner, one comparison that comes to mind has more to do with endurance than food. Say you decide to train for a marathon. For months and months, you train hard, eat right and build up your miles. Come race day, you know you have it in you to make it the full 26.2 miles. Then, on your last half mile, when you can see the finish line, they suddenly announce that you have to run an extra 5 miles. Would you be able to do it?

A polar bear roams the shores of Hudson Bay, waiting for the sea ice to form.

A Harbinger of Things to Come

Many runners would have no problem going the extra distance, but others would not be able to. The same is true for the bears. For some, the late freeze up will not be an issue. I saw plenty of healthy bears out on the tundra this past week.

The problem is that the decline in ice will spell doom for some.

If climate change continues unabated, all it will take is one really bad year from which these bears will not be able to recover.  Eventually, other populations of polar bears, including those in Alaska, will face the problems we are seeing today in Canada.

Ways to Help

Polar Bears International has a ton of useful information about polar bears, and is also monitoring the situation from Churchill. To learn more about energy saving actions, check out myActions.org where you can  pledge to enter your energy saving actions for 3 weeks to increase your awareness and increase your actions.

You can also help NWF defend polar bears against big polluters by taking action.

One of the greatest thrills a person can experience is interacting with animals in the wild. The polar bear is one of the earth’s most magnificent animals, and today we saw many of them here on the banks of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba.

A Churchill polar bear

Every year the polar bears in this area are forced to abandon their habitat, sea ice, and retreat to a land refuge where there is next to nothing for them to eat.

The bears roam along the shore and, in the fall, begin to congregate around Churchill where the ice begins to form up again.

Sea Ice = Food

Once the ice forms, the bears abandon their summer-long fast and eagerly return to their natural habitat, the cold frozen ice.

From this ice platform, polar bears begin their hunt for seals.  Indeed, polar bears are adapted to feed almost exclusively on seals.  Unlike the grizzly or brown bears that eat a wide variety of foods, polar bears cannot survive without seals.

Longer and Longer Fasts for Hudson Bay Polar Bears

The polar bears in Hudson Bay are different from polar bears further north in that the ice is completely gone here in the summer and the bears have no option but to fast.

If this fast lasts too long, it impacts their ability to gain enough fat during their winter feast of seals to recuperate from their long summer fast.

Hudson Bay should be covered in ice by now and bears should be heading out to start hunting

In the 1970s, this fast typically lasted about 120 days for most bears.  However, this fast has been extending for longer and longer periods as the ice from which they hunt their prey has been breaking up earlier in the spring and forming up later in the fall.

We could be looking at a full five months of fasting for these bears if conditions do not improve quickly.

This year was close to a record for early breakup (July 9) and it appears that it will be closer to or set a new record for ice formation in the fall. 

As a result, some of the polar bears the Canadian researchers are seeing are in worse condition than normal. 

If the ice doesn’t form up soon, some of these bears will die.

How to Help Polar Bears

The driving force behind this change in ice is the greenhouse gas accumulation in the earth’s environment that is causing the earth to warm everywhere and is more accelerated in the far north than in more temperate zones.

If you love the polar bears and want to preserve the opportunity for you and your children to someday see these magnificent creatures as we did today, it is essential to curb our addiction to fossil fuels the burning of which is causing the earth’s climate to change.

Time’s a-wasting for us, and especially for the polar bears.