At this moment, the polar bear's Arctic habitat is literally melting away beneath it due to global warming. If we don't intervene now, these majestic bears may not survive beyond the next few decades.

Please go to Polar Bear Action and send a message urging Interior Secretary Gale Norton to protect polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Global warming has already taken a serious toll on the large expanses of summer sea ice that polar bears depend on for survival. Since 1979, more than 20 percent of the polar ice cap has disappeared. Yet the Bush administration refuses to lift a finger to help the polar bear.

Leading scientists now warn that if current rates of global warming continue, the polar bear could face extinction by the end of this century.

To head off this unthinkable tragedy, NRDC is launching a campaign of intense public and courtroom pressure to compel the administration to act. We have just put the Interior Secretary on notice that we will be taking her agency to federal court on behalf of the polar bear.

Please join our effort to protect polar bears by speaking out right now. Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/polar/takeaction.asp and call on the Interior Secretary to take the first step toward ensuring a future for the polar bear by listing it as a threatened species.

Thank you for taking action.