This is a wake up call. It's haunting to visualize polar bears literally drowning from global warming, unable to swim the increasingly longer distances between declining sea ice and land. But this is exactly what scientists are documenting.

Polar bears are on a trajectory to extinction because of global warming. Unfortunately, the bear’s decline is the tip of the iceberg, an early sign of the dangers America’s wildlife faces with global warming.

For polar bears, global warming is not a future possibility; it is right now causing declines in their condition and populations because of the shortened period they are able to forage on the ice for their primary prey - seals.

Global warming is harming wildlife throughout America.

In Minnesota, heat-stressed moose are declining. In the West, critical snowpack that supplies cold water for trout streams and salmon runs is declining. Forest landscapes are being ravaged by unprecedented wildfires. As sea levels rise, coastal wetlands are being submerged.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife has done the right thing by officially declaring that the polar bear deserves protection as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.Polar bears are exquisitely adapted for living and hunting on sea ice. The global warming pollution that's melting the Arctic is harming polar bears. And the urgent threats to wildlife extend far beyond the Arctic. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration listed elkhorn and staghorn coral as the first coral species threatened under the Endangered Species Act, in part because of global warming. Warmer water from global warming is destroying coral reefs. Similarly, global warming pollution is literally melting the polar bear's habitat out from under it.

To change the forecast for wildlife, we must reduce global warming pollution.

We can solve this problem. We have solutions. Americans want a new energy future that breaks the oil addiction, creates more American jobs and develops clean, renewable energy sources that will benefit us all.We have a moral responsibility to solve this problem to protect wildlife for our children's future.

During the holidays, we encounter wildlife in all “the old familiar places” as the popular song would have it…in department store displays…greeting cards…decorated homes and even a few rooftops. There are polar bears and Santa’s reindeers…penguins…songbirds and so many animals and birds that bring a smile to faces of young and old alike.

But there are many wildlife species that aren’t up-front on the holiday stage, but would benefit from some caring year-end giving by National Wildlife Federation supporters. I’m thinking particularly of grizzly bears and a few other species that need our help right now. If you are looking to add one more gift to your holiday list, then you couldn’t do any better than to add a grizzly to your list. You can be sure that it’s a gift that will pay big dividends for this monarch of the wilderness for many, many holidays to come.

Right now National Wildlife Federation’s wildlife biologist, Sterling Miller, and his colleagues in our Montana field office are working to restore the grizzly bear to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana – a land of mountains, forests and meadows ideally suited for the grizzly bear. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness is a huge, remote chunk of land – probably the largest unbroken expanse of wilderness left in the Lower 48. It’s a breath-taking landscape of snow-capped mountains, dense forests, clear-running streams and lush meadows, totaling almost four million acres in all. Studies have indicated that the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness can sustain a population of more than 600 grizzly bears – about the same number found today in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

I have just received a special matching grant from a generous donor who wants to support the innovative plan that Sterling and his associates have developed for the grizzly’s recovery. Basically, it will allow National Wildlife Federation to install safeguards so the grizzlies will not becoming accustomed to foraging out of dumpsters…leading to their ultimate removal and death. Happily they’ll be forced to make their way to the wilderness where they will live and survive.

We have a deadline on this matching grant, so I urge you to “add a grizzly to your holiday giving list” so we can do the right thing for this magnificent species. Think how good you’ll feel knowing that you’ve done your part to protect this magnificent creature so they’ll be there in our children’s future. You might even say adding a grizzly to your list gets a double reward…the grizzly and our children! Please click on the secure link below to make your donation.

Donate Now to Save Grizzlies

Wildlife are an important part of our lives today and a critical element in our children’s future. By protecting wildlife and their habitat today, we will be securing our children’s future by stopping global warming, maintaining ecological integrity of our wild places and by reconnecting people to nature.

The Greatest gift you can give to your children is a healthy planet. Thank you for your support and commitment to the nature of tomorrow. Thanks for caring and have a happy and safe holiday.

With thousands of years of traditional knowledge and a deep connection to nature, native Americans are important eyewitnesses to our changing planet.  We believe native people can play a significant role by giving voice to the threats and by helping us to combat climate change with wind energy development on tribal lands.

The Cocopah Indian Tribe and National Wildlife Federation partnered to host a Tribal Lands Climate Conference-the first event of its kind-on the Cocopah Reservation in Somerton, Arizona, December 5-6. The NWF Tribal Lands Conservation Program reached out to Native Americans to provide a venue to relate their first-hand, on-the-ground accounts about the natural resources that have sustained changes due to carbon emissions and climate change related events. The conference gathered more than 150 representatives from over 55 tribes from throughout the U.S. to exchange ideas on proactively addressing climate change.

In addition to NWF and the Cocopah Tribe, the conference was co-sponsored fwith nine organizations, including Arizona Wildlife Federation, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Indigenous Environmental Network, Intertribal Council of Arizona, Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, National Tribal Environmental Council, Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, Native Energy and Native Movement.

The Tribal Lands Climate Conference laid the foundation to develop an intertribal climate coalition for tribes to spread the word about climate impacts to Native people, educate the American public and advocate action on climate change. We believe that Native Americans can be a significant force in changing the course on climate change and welcome our partnership on climate change.

Working together to find and advance green energy solutions, we can stop global warming.