Mongabay: The U.S. Interior Department has decided to list the polar bear as a threatened species due to declining sea ice cover in the Arctic. The decision comes a day before a court-imposed deadline to decide whether the polar bear should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The listing could force the U.S. government to take measures to protect the bear’s Arctic habitat which scientists say is melting partly as a result of the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Such …