EPA

After an unnecessarily long legal battle, the NRDC, Greenpeace, and the Center for Biological Diversity finally won some protection for the polar bear. Now listed as a federally "threatened" species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the new classification forces the current administration to recognize the negative impacts of global warming.

According to an NRDC Press Release California and 16 other states just managed to send a big fat "told you so" to Detroit automakers trying to thwart stringent state-made pollution standards.

Read the full press release:

California, 16 Other States Fend Off Detroit, Win Right to Set Pollution Standards; Better Emissions Performance Means Big Cuts in Heat-Trapping Pollution