The ice in the Arctic is melting and the polar bears are in danger. We need to act soon to save the polar bears, and get them off the World Wildlife Fund’s list of endangered species.

According to the WWF, between 1864 and 1998, the sea ice extent in the Nordic Sea decreased by 33 percent, leaving the polar bears on a much smaller living area. WWF has presented a model that predicts that by 2080, the Artic ice will disappear completely during the summer months, and that would be the end for wild polar bears.

This means that the bears get less food to hunt and longer periods of time without food. According to WWF, scientists in Hudson Bay have found the main cause of death in cubs to be either the absence of food or lack of fat on the nursing mothers.

The WWF’s list of endangered species contains more than just polar bears. It also has exotic animals such as the tiger, snow leopard, elephants, pandas, and the rhino are animals that could go extinct. It would be a great loss for future generations to go without seeing these wonderful creatures in the wild.

We need to stop global warming before we have done too much damage to our wildlife. There are about 22,000 wild polar bears on our planet, but if the ice continues to melt, this number will go down drastically. The air temperature in the Artic has increased by 5 degrees Celsius over the last 100 years. In the last 30 years the summer minimum thickness of Artic sea ice has decreased by 40 percent.

To prevent this from happening, we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which is the leading cause of global warming. North America was responsible for 26.1 percent of the global emissions of carbon dioxide in 2002 and is the highest fossil-fuel emitting region of the world with 1.73 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. We need to push car companies even more to develop cars that run on clean renewable fuels such as bio fuel or electricity.

Since 1997, 141 countries signed the Kyoto protocol, which states that the countries would lower their emissions by 5 percent each year between 2008 and 2012. President George W. Bush said in 2001 that the United States of America would not sign the protocol, stating that it would hurt the national economy.

It’s unacceptable that the most powerful person in the greatest nation in the world cares more about money then the well-being of our planet. We can’t just think about our generation. The world is our only gift for future generations. We should pass it on in good condition.

I don’t want my great-great grandkids to only hear about an animal called the polar bear, I want them to be able to see one in its natural habitat. Sure, there might be a few left in zoos, but an animal in captivity is not the same as one in the wild.

One man can’t change the world, but together we can make a difference and live in world we can be proud of.