Give a gift to nature and
support the Center's work

Rubber
dodo award

Tell your friends about the Center's e-mail newsletter! Click here.

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Endangered Earth Online.

 

   


GLOBAL WARMING MAY WIPE OUT TWO-THIRDS OF POLAR BEARS BY 2050; ARCTIC SEA ICE REACHES RECORD LOW IN 2007

A new U.S. Geological Service study predicts that two-thirds of the world’s polar bears — including all of Alaska’s population — are likely to disappear by 2050 due to global warming. As the planet heats up, the bear’s sea-ice habitat melts, leaving the animals to starve and drown. The Center for Biological Diversity has thrust the polar bear into the heart of the battle against global warming by petitioning to list it under the Endangered Species Act and suing the Bush administration for refusing to take steps to protect it. See stories in National Geographic and the Denver Post.

Sea ice is melting faster than most global warming models predict. On September 16, Arctic sea ice reached a record low of 1.59 million square miles, shattering the previous 2005 record of 2.05 million square miles. Compared to 2005, this year’s record minimum represents a loss of 460,000 square miles of sea ice — an area roughly the size of California and Texas combined. See stories on MSNBC and in the Rocky Mountain News.


REALLY? A GIANT SPITTING EARTHWORM?

On September 10, the Center for Biological Diversity and allies filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to respond to the listing petition for the giant Palouse earthworm. The giant Palouse earthworm is the largest and longest-lived earthworm still remaining on the North American continent and lives only in the rare grassland habitats of the Palouse region of southeastern Washington and west-central Idaho.  As Steve Paulson of Friends of the Clearwater put it, “This worm is the stuff legends and fairy tales are made of. What kid wouldn’t want to play with a three-foot-long, lily-smelling soft pink worm that spits?” Really, a giant, flower-scented, spitting earthworm — what kid wouldn’t?

Check out the story in the UTNE Reader.


A WIN FOR THE CONDOR: CALIFORNIA SENATE GETS THE LEAD OUT

After three years of legal pressure, the California Senate passed the Ridley-Tree Preservation Act on September 5, requiring hunters to use non-lead ammunition for hunting big game and coyotes within the California condor range. Passage of the legislation is a victory for the condor as in recent months at least 17 of the endangered birds have suffered from lead poisoning by feeding on carcasses riddled with lead shot. In 2004, the Center for Biological Diversity and allies petitioned California Fish and Game Commission to end the use of lead ammunition statewide; in 2006, the Center filed a suit against the state for continuing to allow such condor-threatening hunting practices.


KEMPTHORNE WINS CENTER’S FIRST RUBBER DODO AWARD

On August 24 the Center awarded Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne its first annual Rubber Dodo Award for protecting fewer endangered species than any interior secretary in history. Since May 26, 2006, Kempthorne has not placed a single plant or animal on the federal endangered species list, beating James “consume-now-the-rapture-cometh” Watt. Watt listed no species for 376 days; Kempthorne listed no species for 472 days


FEDERAL COURT RULES AGAINST BUSH ADMINISTRATION IN GLOBAL WARMING CASE (AGAIN)

The Bush administration has again been taken to task by the courts for refusing to deal with global warming. In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace, a federal judge ruled that the administration violated the Global Change Research Act of 1990 by refusing to prepare reports detailing the economic, human health, and environmental consequences of continued global warming. It ordered the completion of a draft research plan by March 1, 2008 and a national assessment of impacts by May 31, 2008.


TEN PENGUIN SPECIES MARCH TOWARD ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROTECTION

Penguins are one step closer to gaining endangered species protection. On July 9, the federal government advanced the emperor penguin and nine other penguin species toward protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity filed the initial administrative petition on behalf of the penguins in November 2006. Read about it in the New York Times.

 


WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE VOTES TO PROTECT PANAMA WORLD HERITAGE SITE

On June 26, the World Heritage Committee voted to begin the process that would list Panama’s La Amistad World Heritage Site as “in danger.”  The committee’s decision came in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in April, which sought to protect La Amistad from pending construction of four massive hydroelectric projects. Currently, dam construction is still pending. The committee's decision to take action is a significant step in the right direction toward conservation and species protection in La Amistad.

 


 

This message was sent to . Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop receiving Action Alerts and Newsletters, click to unsubscribe. To stop ALL email from Center for Biological Diversity - Biodiversity Activist, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line).