Zeus the mini 'polar bear' poodle. Photo of Zeus by Ryan Peterson 2012, photo of polar bear by Susan van Gelder\Flickr.

I am personally inspired by all sorts of wildlife but especially polar bears, and I wonder if it is a coincidence that my new puppy Zeus kind of resembles a polar bear. What do you think?

Viewing Polar Bears with an Amateur Camera and Healthy Respect

Zeus reminds me to tell the story of my first, and likely only, viewing of polar bears in the wild. About a decade ago, I was lucky enough to participate in an impromptu polar bear viewing in Barrow, Alaska.

Barrow, Alaska is the northernmost city in the United States, about 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. I was there in the summertime as part of a larger project to help the city of Barrow adapt to climate change.

Summer Ice in the Chukchi Sea. Photo by Melinda Koslow 2001.

A local Barrowite asked us if we’d like to partake in a trip to the point of Barrow, where he knew polar bears liked to congregate. Thankfully I had a basic camera and a will to experience. That was all I needed. We jumped at this once-in-a-lifetime chance.

He piled us into a all-terrain vehicle reminding us that it is important to carry a healthy respect for the world’s largest land carnivore. In other words, no getting out of the car, and definitely no feeding or attempts to cuddle the polar bears!

Polar bears on Chukchi Sea Ice near Barrow, Alaska. Photo by Melinda Koslow 2001.

Polar Bears, Point Barrow, Alaska. Photo by Melinda Koslow 2001.

It is important to have a large amount of respect whenever viewing wildlife in the wild.

As Sea Ice Diminishes

As we took in the experience we realized that regardless of their immense power and size – and ability to survive in both water and land in frigid temperatures – that opportunities like this for people to experience them in the wild are vanishing.

The Arctic is warming from global warming and the sea ice, especially in the summer months, is declining in astonishing amounts. This affects the wildlife as well as the people who live in Barrow. As the sea ice declines they are more vulnerable to flooding from large waves and shoreline erosion.

Protect polar bears from global warming by sending a message to the Environmental Protection Agency >>

Return to Barrow

Chukchi Sea. Photo by Melinda Koslow 2005.

I share this adoration and concern with many people throughout the National Wildlife Federation and also with our young friends. Recently our scientist, Doug Inkley, received a letter from a 2nd grader who drew a touching picture of polar bears and dedicated herself as a friend of polar bears.

She and others remind me that there is hope for the polar bears. Every day we work together at NWF and with our partners, affiliates and members to reduce global warming to protect their habitat.

So again Happy National Puppy Day and Wildlife Week! Let’s go home and hug our puppies (or dogs, cats, kitties, mice, fish) or whoever it is that helps remind us of those more wild ones we also admire and work to protect. Zeus says so.

Zeus 13 weeks. Photo by Melinda Koslow 2012.

The photo that generated the most accusations

BILL ROTH (ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS/MCT/LANDOV)

After we published Bill Roth’s picture of a moose sitting in a backyard baby pool in Anchorage, Alaska, in a 1999 issue, we were besieged with angry messages from members accusing us of using computer trickery. In response, in a subsequent issue of the magazine, we published another Roth photo taken from a different angle showing the animal’s full body inside the pool. While it didn’t generate many letters, the second photo did produce one reaction that I still remember today. “I was wrong in assuming you would doctor a photo,” a member in Oregon wrote. “Please accept the enclosed donation to NWF as an apology.”

The photo that produced the most smiles

KATHARINE FENG (MINDEN PICTURES)

It’s impossible to verify how many people actually smiled after looking at it, but this image of a four-week-old panda cub produced a large reader response, including two dozen letters from students in a California elementary school class who told us it was their favorite photo ever. Katharine Feng took the picture in a captive-breeding facility in China for a 2005 NW article. “I photographed the cub as it stretched and yawned,” she told us. “Its eyes were not yet opened, so it could not see.” Feng assured us that her presence did not cause any problems for the cub.

The photo that spawned the most mail from readers

DANIEL J. COX

When it first appeared in the magazine in a 1998 essay about wildlife in winter, Daniel J. Cox’s heart-wrenching picture of a polar bear mother and cub in northern Manitoba huddling over another cub that had just died generated an outpouring of emotional letters from NWF members. Cox told us it was “a tragic scene, but one that I believe needed to be documented with a camera so people can see how difficult wild creatures’ lives really are.”

The photo that got the most staff votes

STEFFEN BINKE

I should qualify that this Steffen Binke image of a dwarf minke whale in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef received the most votes from the judges in the magazine’s 2009 annual photo contest. It was awarded the grand prize. Binke said he took the photo with a fish-eye lens, only a few feet away from the massive creature. “It was a great moment,” he recalled. “I am still sure I could hear its heartbeat and breathing.”

The National Wildlife Photo Contest

Now in its 42^nd year, the National Wildlife Photo Contest is open for submissions, and you don’t have to travel to distant places like the Great Barrier Reef to create a winning image. Sometimes, in fact, the best photographic subjects can be found right in your own backyard. This year’s winners will be published in the magazine and will receive some great prizes. Entrants also can participate in our separate People’s Choice competition. For details, including how to enter, visit www.nwf.org/photocontest.  To see more nature and wildlife images, go to www.nwf.org/photozone.

Kay's Polar Bear Drawing

Her written words were passionate, and the drawing she enclosed obviously heart-felt. Carefully sketched were two sad polar bears sitting on very small ice floes; both bears were crying. In the corner she drew a diagram of the sun shining on the earth to depict global warming, with a label pointing to the Arctic where polar bears live.

Kay’s letter touched my heart. And just like she was feeling, it made me both sad and angry.

Sad, because the reality is, beyond even a shadow of scientific doubt, global warming driven by the excessive burning of fossil fuels will forever change the planet and the life it supports, unless we take real and significant action immediately. Angry because politicians continue to play reckless and dangerous political games with Kay’s future and, in fact, the future well-being of every child.

Reckless Indifference or Responsible Action?

Providing our children a future with polar bears, a healthy environment and a safe place to live should not be a mere political game. It’s a deep responsibility, incumbent upon all of us to take meaningful and effective action, regardless of political persuasion.

Tragically, organizations like the Heartland Institute continue to feed the fires of climate change controversy despite the overwhelming scientific evidence, with reckless indifference to the future well-being of Kay and millions of children just like her. Congress continues to duck the global warming issue, failing to take any significant action to curb global warming pollution. Even worse, lawmakers continue to try and stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that under the Clean Air Act the EPA clearly has the authority to do so.

Unable to see beyond the next election, politicians are gambling away Kay’s future, all the while fixing the odds in their own favor for short-term political winnings.

I wrote back to Kay, encouraging her to keep learning about global warming and to tell her friends about the trouble polar bears are in and why. I told her that some of them, like her, would also want to take action to help solve the problem. I believe we actually can save polar bears and lots of other wildlife that are affected by global warming. Kay’s “big voice” combined with others is necessary to win a brighter future for children like her.

Not a week later, Kay wrote back to me. She is working on a day where her schoolmates will ride their bikes and walk to school in lieu of motorized transportation…she calls it the “Polar bear shuffle.” Kay is taking action. Meanwhile, our elected officials continue to stall, duck and even deny the issue.

If an eight-year-old girl can step forward to invest in her own future, is it too much to ask our politicians to truly invest in every child’s future by taking action to curb global warming now?

Let’s not gamble Kay’s future away, and instead protect wildlife for her and future generations.

Here’s how you can help Kay:

• Send a message to the EPA in support of limiting carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants >>
• Find out how you can conserve energy and reduce your carbon footprint >>
• Learn about NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program, which helps schools green their facilities and curriculum >>

Here are some ways you can celebrate International Polar Bear Day:

1) Take Action for Them – Take a few seconds to help speak up for polar bears.

2) Stink for the Arctic – Join the Facebook event by SpiritHoods is hoping to get 5,000 people to skip a shower for one day, in order to save 26,110 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions.

3) Get to know them – Do you know what a polar bear sounds like? While these animals are fairly common to see on websites and pamphlets- here are 13 things you may not know about them.

4) Turn down the heat: Bundle up for the polar bears – Our friends at Polar Bears International are asking people to turn the thermostat down a few degrees in honor of polar bears. Not only will it give you a taste of the colder conditions these animals live in- it will also reduce your impact on climate change, a huge threat to these animals.

More Polar Fun:

1) Send a Polar Bear eCard
2) Make “Cub”cakes
3) Tweet #Polarbearday
4) Watch polar bear videos
5) Adopt a Polar Bear

How are you celebrating polar bears this winter?

According to the Alaska Dispatch, a well being drilled by Spanish company Repsol hit a methane gas pocket, which triggered the blowout.  A crew of specialists all the way from Texas is traveling to the site, but meanwhile the well is spewing drilling mud–42,000 gallons and counting.  An expert from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation explained that the drilling mud “is hazardous to the tundra.”

Should Big Oil Be Allowed to Drill (And Spill) in Places Like the Arctic Refuge?

credit, Susanne Miller/USFWS

Some misguided members of Congress are using the excuse that extracting dirty fuels from a beautiful and untouched national treasure will pay for highway projects.  But, thanks to people voicing their outrage across the country, some elected officials are standing up against the transportation and energy bill (H.R. 3408) that would bring ruin to wildlife and wild places.

The “terrible” transportation package in Congress opens up new drilling areas on the East and West Coast, off the coast of Alaska, and in the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge, which is home to iconic wildlife like polar bears, caribou, Arctic fox, wolves, and more. House Republican leadership are using rare procedural tricks to split the bill up because many Members take serious issue with drilling impacts, so they may lack the votes to pass it all at once.

Representatives object to drilling off the coast of places like California and along the Atlantic coast, where oil spills and well blowouts, like in the Gulf spill and right now in Alaska, threaten communities that depend on tourism. Other lawmakers worry that a provision to grant industry 2 million acres of public land for oil shale speculation would generate zero energy, zero revenue, and zero jobs. A group of House Republicans even sent Speaker Boehner a letter requesting that Arctic Refuge drilling be taken out of the bill, continuing a legacy of moderate support for this pristine wilderness.

All of this new drilling revenue is supposed to pay for a chunk of the $260 billion transportation bill.  But there’s one minor detail:  much of this revenue is speculative and wouldn’t even pay for 1% of the total cost.  Groups like Club for Growth, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Taxpayers for Common Sense agree that it is a fiscally irresponsible approach to paying for highways, bridges, and mass transit with imaginary money.

But Pipelines Transport Oil, Not People

The transportation package also requires approval of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline permit within 30 days,  which irresponsibly overturns a recent decision by the President to deny the permit.  This pipeline would move dirty Canadian tar sludge through the heartland of the U.S. to export to foreign countries, making the America complicit in the destruction of wilderness habitat in Alberta’s boreal forests and the senseless  poisoning of wildlife to make room for the pipeline. The transportation legislation, if passed in its current state, would also fuel  climate change that is already causing severe drought and economic damage in the United States.   Building the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would threaten America’s clean water supplies, raise gas prices in the U.S. and result in a net loss to American jobs.

The legislation also waives environmental review for many projects, takes away dedicated dollars for public transportation and even defunds a program to establish safe routes for kids to get to school.

Big Oil is already double-dipping into our wallets.  It is making record profit through taxpayer-funded subsidies and every time we pay at the pump–the industry doesn’t need another expensive gift from us.

Help Protect Wildlife from Arctic Drilling

Arctic wildlife are already suffering from loss of sea ice from global warming.  The lives of species like the ringed seal and the polar bear would be at even greater risk from an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean, which would be virtually impossible to clean up in the remote and rough, frigid waters.  The blowout on Alaska’s North Slope is a perfect example: a crew of specialists had to be called up from Texas to try and control the well.

Wildlife need you to speak up for them and tell their member of Congress that the entire transportation package is a bad deal for wildlife, our clean air and water, and the future of public transportation.

Urge your decision-makers to make the right choice to protect wildlife from drilling >>

Pennsylvania Sportsman, Ed Zygmunt

The animal was so long and lanky that its large hind feet touched the ground while its front feet almost reached up to my beltline. When I saw my first snowshoe I thought I had seen a ghost. Its pure white fur was like no other mammal I had ever seen.

I have not missed a season of hare hunting since that memorable day. To me they are the ultimate symbol of wild and wilderness remaining in one of the country’s most populated states. You could say the snowshoe hare is Pennsylvania’s polar bear. I would bet that only a minuscule fraction of Pennsylvanians have ever seen a snowshoe-or even know they exist in our state.

In the past few years, however, I have taken to hunting hares with a camera. I now have this terrible fear of shooting the last snowshoe to survive in its southern-most range. In the years that I hunted them with a gun, I estimate that I have taken well over 100 hares in northeastern Pennsylvania, many of them in their prime habitat located in the Pococo plateau. Here the average elevation is about 2,000 feet above sea level. In my younger days we hunted the mountainous corners of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties at an elevation of about 1,200 feet. But by the early 80′s, hares became almost impossible to find in this area. So when I began hunting hares in the higher elevations of the Poconos, I found them in relative abundance. I remember in 1986 two of my friends, one beagle, and I harvested 14 hares. We probably saw over 20 altogether in the course of that one week season.

A Personal Search

(NPS Photo/Jacob W. Frank)

I took my GPS with me even though I know the swamps in this region in and out. My GPS told me that I was nearly two miles from my car, so I am certain the Bender receives little to no hunting pressure (nobody is crazy enough like me to crawl through this tangle of spruces, blueberry bushes, hard-hack, interspersed with pockets of water that can fill your knee-high boots when least expected). Well, after better part of the day trying to locate a snowshoe, I am saddened to report that I did not find even one. I could cry. I only found a few pieces of scat to tell me at least a couple may still be surviving.

Throughout my 44 years of pursuing the snowshoe hare in the Keystone state, I have witnessed their populations in a slow and steady decline. I am no professional wildlife biologist, but my experience as a woodsman sadly causes me to make a dire prediction: the snowshoe hare will become extirpated from Penns Woods within the next couple of decades.

Why? Well, I have my suspicion. Back in the 90′s the PA Game Commission conducted a study of the snowshoe hare. One of their conclusions pointed to climate change as one of the factors that could adversely affect the survival of the hare in PA. I agree with this assessment and would add that the hares vulnerability to predators in a warming climate could mean their ultimate demise. It is hard to believe that in the course of one human lifetime, a magnificent animal like the snowshoe hare could so drastically decline. My young grandson will probably never experience the thrill of seeing his first snowshoe hare as I did over four decades ago. It makes me wonder what wildife species will be next.

Protect snowshoe hare and polar bear habitat from carbon pollution.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with House Speaker John Boehner before delivering the State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 2011 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In 2011, Congress repeatedly targeted conservation programs that protect America’s clean water, clean air, healthy rivers, lakes and shorelines teeming with wildlife, benefits that every American has a right to enjoy. At the same time, Congress protected tax giveaways for coal, oil and gas special interests totaling billions of dollars.

Will we hear a different tune in 2012? Some key issues to consider in advance of President Obama’s State of the Union address:

• Keystone XL tar sands pipeline: Big Oil and its Congressional allies tried to ram this pipeline down the throats of American families in their insatiable appetite for more profits, forcing President Obama into a decision even before a final route was mapped out. Keystone XL is a scam – Canada would get the jobs, China would get the oil, and America would get spills of toxic tar sands oil. House Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday he may once again hold a critical payroll tax extension hostage in an attempt to force approval of the pipeline over concerns from Nebraska landowners and safety regulators.
• Clean Air Act limits on mercury and carbon pollution: The House took an incredible 191 anti-environment votes in 2011, but new limits on mercury pollution (rolled out last month) and carbon pollution (due this year) have survived the assaults. The new mercury standard will not only prevent 11,000 thousand premature deaths, it will support 46,000 new short-term construction jobs and 8,000 long-term utility jobs. The first-ever carbon standard is an important step towards holding polluters accountable for their emissions, creating a more level playing field to give a fair shot to America’s expanding clean economy, which already supports 2.7 million jobs.
• New fuel efficiency standards: American businesses, labor, conservation and consumer groups have all gotten behind the Obama administration’s stronger fuel efficiency standards that cut pollution, build jobs, save families and businesses money and enhance America’s security.  With big benefits across the board, it’s no surprise that the most recent survey by consumer reports found that 93% of the public supports stricter fuel economy standards.
• Renewable energy tax credits: Despite the economic struggles, 2011 was a banner year for clean energy, with global investment surging to a record $260 billion according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Congress can ensure continued growth simply by extending existing renewable energy tax credits, which would create and sustain 54,000 jobs within the next four years according to Navigant Consulting and represent just a fraction of the subsidies Congress feeds to the coal, gas and oil industries.
• Clean Water Act restoration: Clean water protections have been weakened by two Supreme Court decisions that ignored congressional intent and narrowly interpreted the scope of waters covered by the Act, putting in doubt pollution safeguards for many vital wetlands, lakes and streams. Restoring the Clean Water Act would help protect the $122 billion outdoor recreation economy and over 1 million outdoor recreation jobs supported by hunters, anglers, and other Americans who enjoy the outdoors.
• Gulf Coast restoration (RESTORE Act): Under current law, BP and others responsible for the Gulf oil disaster must pay Clean Water Act penalties for each barrel of oil spilled into the gulf, but without action from Congress, this money will go towards unrelated federal spending instead of restoring the area damaged by the spill. Will the White House and Congress make this urgent legislation a priority?

In 2012, Washington has a chance to restore not just fiscal balance to our budget, but moral purpose to America’s future. Future generations will judge us on the legacy that we leave behind.  We must not turn back the clock and say we can’t afford clean air and water for our children and grandchildren.

The National Wildlife Federation’s four million supporters from across the political spectrum want clean energy and they want leaders who’ll face down special interests to deliver it. President Obama has shown he’s willing to stand up to oil lobbyists to safeguard clean water, clean air and wildlife to create a better, stronger, healthier America. Is Congress willing to do the same?

Take Action

The Environmental Protection Agency is acting now to limit carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, but is coming under assault from polluter-funded attack groups.

Let the Environmental Protection Agency know support limits on carbon pollution to protect the future of polar bears.

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?