After legal pressure from environmental groups, the United States Government may soon list the polar bear as "threatened", which would force the Bush administration to acknowledge that global warming just might be caused by man-made activity, and prevent harm from being done to the bears and their habitat.

Studies have shown that with the decrease in Arctic ice, adult bears are growing thinner and there is a lower survival rate among cubs. What action would be taken to protect the bears remains to be seen, but this official recognition is a step in the right direction.