Yesterday’s The Washington Post article Arctic sea ice drops to second lowest level on record highlights how important it is that we act now to confront the climate crisis.

Arctic sea ice currently covers 2.03 million square miles, which is the second-lowest sea ice extent ever measured since satellite measurements began in 1979. The record was set last September. Since there are three weeks left in this summer season, this year may beat that record.

Arctic scientists are saying this record melt could be described as a climate "tipping point." Arctic ice reflects sunlight and helps to cool the planet. Sea ice loss accelerates the global warming process through greater heat absorption by open water as compared to the reflective ice.

Polar bears rely on seals as their primary food source and hunt them from the ice. The decline in summer sea ice is forcing bears to fast longer in the summer. As a result, their nutritional status and ability to bear and raise young is decreasing. United States Geological Survey scientists conservatively project that two-thirds of the global polar bear population could disappear by 2050, including all of Alaska’s polar bears.

Some polar bears have been reported to have drowned as a result of the disappearance of summer sea ice. As described in The Washington Post article, Federal observers spotted nine polar bears swimming in the Chukchi Sea, some apparently trying to reach the polar ice, which was 400 miles away.

Scientist Bob Correll said "We're moving beyond a point of no return."

A recent study led by Chien-Lu Ping of University of Alaska-Fairbanks and published in Nature Geoscience estimates that organic carbon stored in the North American Arctic Region is considerably higher than previously thought.

The study, entitled High stocks of soil organic carbon in the North American Arctic region, analyzes 117 1-meter deep measurements of soil organic carbon in the North American Arctic region and previously published measurements from the same region. The researchers found that soil organic carbon stores are highly dependent on landscape type, and extrapolating from their measurements, the authors estimate that the total organic carbon pool in North American Arctic soils is 60 percent higher than previously estimated.

A recent article Global warming time bomb trapped in Arctic soil: study highlights that these measurements are not included in current climate models and that landscapes in Europe and Russia probably contain a comparable amount of carbon.

The potential release of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from the thawing of permafrost is a dangerous feedback loop that we must not let happen.

On August 15 the Department of Interior announced plans to dramatically weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Bush Administration is steamrolling these changes through by limiting public participation to a 30 day public comment period—comments are currently due on September 15—and not accepting email comments. If adopted, these changes to the ESA regulations would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years.

You can help stop these Endangered Species Act rollbacks by: (1) calling your Senators and Representatives and asking them to include language in the 2009 spending bill (known as the Continuing Resolution) prohibiting the Administration from finalizing the regulations, and (2) submitting comments through www.regulations.gov asking for the proposed regulations to be withdrawn.

Together we can and must stop this attack on America’s most important conservation law.

To our leaders: It’s time we stopped chasing the last barrel of oil and began pursuing a clean energy future.

We must rebuild our economy, free ourselves from our addiction to oil, and help solve the climate crisis.

Together we can Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.

Reaching this goal will recharge America’s economy and create millions of jobs through investments in clean energy technologies.