Word: polarized
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...environmental movement has marked its advancement in a series of caps and cutoffs and deadlines. On Jan. 9, one of those targets came and went: The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Interior Department agency that evaluates endangered species, was due that day to deliver its ruling on the polar bear. Though FWS had already taken over a year to investigate the polar bear's plight - green groups sued the federal government two years ago to declare the animal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act - the day before the deadline, the agency announced that it would need another month...
That situation is as follows: As temperatures warm, the Arctic sea ice that supports the polar bear shrinks, leaving the animals to drown as they are forced to swim long distances between the ice, or simply starve to death. The summer of 2007 saw record melting of Arctic sea ice, and NASA scientists now predict that the Arctic could be ice-free as soon as the summer of 2013. "Without the sea ice, there is no polar bear," says Andrew Wetzler, director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's endangered species project. Indeed, a study by the United States Geological...
...face another threat. On Feb. 6 - three days before FWS's new deadline - the Minerals Management Service (MMS), also part of the Interior Department, plans to lease 30 million acres for oil and gas drilling in the Chukchi Sea bordering Alaska, where one-fifth of the world's remaining polar bears live. Drilling - with the risk of spills and seismic damage - could further jeopardize the polar bear, and environmentalists consider it suspicious that FWS decided to delay its decision until after the lease sale. "It seems that every time there is a choice between extraction and extinction in this administration...
Speaking at the hearing, MMS Director Randall Luthi defended the lease sale, arguing that developing fossil fuels in the Arctic needn't hurt the polar bear - although an Interior Department study indicates there's a 33% to 51% chance of an accidental oil spill in the area. At the conclusion of the hearing, Markey introduced legislation that would force the Bush Administration to protect the polar bear before it allows further oil drilling in Alaska, setting up a showdown later this month...
...always thought of these two chains as polar opposites - one designed as a sophisticated faux living room where customers could get a decent coffee drink and read their newspapers; the other, a riot of plastic-and-vinyl booths and bright fluorescent lighting where meals are counted in billions served. I wondered if it was really possible for these two worlds to collide. If McDonald's built its own version of a grande nonfat latte, would Starbucks customers come...