A few months back, here at takepart we told you the good news that the Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as an endangered species, the first species that is protected due to climate change. Well, it turns out not everyone thought the protection of the Alaskan polar bears was such a good idea. Specifically, the Alaskans.

The Associated Press reports that the state of Alaska is suing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne (awesome name) to have the ruling reversed to take polar bears off the endangered species list. From the article:

Gov. Sarah Palin and other state officials fear a listing will cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in Alaska’s northern waters, which provide prime habitat for the only polar bears under U.S. jurisdiction.

In announcing the decision to sue, Governor Palin stated, “We believe that the Service’s decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available.”

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We finally found a video preview of An Inconvenient Truth, the Opera! Well, it’s actually more parody than preview by Australian comedy show The Mansion” of the anticipated film-turning-musical.   Think tenor polar bears crying their cute little eyes out about losing their families on melting ice:

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3 things I love are the cinema, social action and YouTube! Now, once a day I cam going to combine all 3 in one awesome post by posting an awesome social action YouTube video and an awesome cinema related YouTube video (sometimes maybe I’ll even find one magical video that combines the two)

Like TakePart and Participant Productions, YouTube entertains and informs. With that I give you the

Social Action and Cinema YouTube Videos of the Day:

1) The Real News : US polar bear protection falls short

For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here >>>

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It’s May 16th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action…

The Interior Department has decided today to protect the polar bear population under the Endangered Species Act. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne says that polar bears are threatened because the Arctic ice is melting. And faster than we imagined.

This is the first time that the Endangered Species Act has been used to protect a species threatened by the impacts of climate change. But the New York Times reports, this ruling may not have the impact many are hoping for:

But the long-delayed decision to list the bear as a threatened species may prove less of an impediment to industries along the Alaskan coast than many environmentalists had hoped. While further protecting the polar bear from direct or immediate threats like hunting the Interior Department added stipulations, seldom invoked under the act, that will make it relatively easy for oil and gas exploration and development activities to proceed.

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Glen Beck refuses to let the polar bears, or the truth, win. Beck had James Inhofe (R-OK) On his CNN Headline News show, last week, and the two vented about how stupid politicians are stupidly trying to save stupid polar bears and actually believe that the global warming myth is true. Beck and Steven Colbert are the only men hip to the grave threat posed by the polar bear. You may not be aware of the bear menace, but that’s thanks to the vigilance and guard kept by Colbert and Beck. Watch Beck in the video below as he speaks truth to Polar Bear Power and tears apart the lies with a tongue that is sharper than the sharpest polar bear claw.

They eat people! For the love of Pete, they’re big, angry bears. They eat people. Not that I say we go out and kill all of them, but I mean, it doesn’t seem to be a problem here. Senator, I can’t take the - I can’t take the lies anymore.

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Friends of the Earth is a simple organization that defends the environment and champions a healthy and just world. They also make the cutest videos! Check out the promo video for an old video that contest they had below and then click below the fold to see the winners and the cutest polar bear video ever.

It will make you want to run to your closet and put on your greenest sweater! and learn more about Friends of the Earth

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Polar bears are in limbo; while their natural habitat’s melting away, our government is debating whether or not global warming has, in fact, turned them into an endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required by Federal law to make its decision by tomorrow, which marks a year since the agency first proposed listing the polar bear as threatened.

But, as the San Francisco Chronicle reports today, the Bush administration announced on Monday that it can’t meet the deadline, and may need another month. Should the agency decide the polar bear merits protection, it will pose a huge setback to the oil and gas companies who are drooling over the prospect of drilling in Alaska.

And, as luck would have it, there’s a first-time oil lease sale scheduled for Feb. 6 in Alaska’s pristine Chukchi Sea, which, the Chronicle notes, “provides one-tenth of the habitat for the world’s polar bears.”

So it looks like the sale of the oil lease will go forward while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dithers about the polar bears till, oh, just after February 6th. Coincidence, or just another case of craven pandering to the carbon cabal?