After Al Gore told us about the Inconvenient Truth, the White House seems to be buckling under the inconvenience. This is after an internal memo, distributed in the Alaskan division of Federal Fish and Wildlife Service, appear to be discouraging biologists and other employees traveling in countries around the Arctic to speak regarding climate change, polar bear, and melting ice caps unless assigned to do so.

Late last year, the Bush administration was pelted by calls from environmental groups to include polar bears as one of the species under the Endangered Species Act. The said Arctic mammal is facing sheer loss of numbers from the unusual retreat of sea ice (used by bears for seal hunting) caused by warming climate. Environmentalists are trying to use such a listing to force the United States to restrict heat-trapping gases that scientists have linked to global warming as a way of limiting risks to the 22,000 or so bears in the far north.

The issued memos, to be used by biologists and wildlife officials as a guide in prepping travel requests, carry the heading "Foreign Travel — New Requirement — Please Review and Comply, Importance: High". Here's what's written on the cover note:

Please be advised that all foreign travel requests (SF 1175 requests) and any future travel requests involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice and/or polar bears will also require a memorandum from the regional director to the director indicating who'll be the official spokesman on the trip and the one responding to questions on these issues, particularly polar bears.