Nautilus

One Weird Trick to Save the World (Using Polar Bears)

This is exactly the kind of photo you would not see in environmentalist literature.BMJ / Shutterstock

hen environmentalists petitioned to designate the polar bear a threatened animal under the Endangered Species Act in 2005, they were not, in fact, out to save the polar bear. They were out to save the world. Since the polar bear’s icy habitat was threatened by rising temperatures, they reasoned, the government would have to regulate greenhouse emissions

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