Smell is an ancient and powerful sense, and for Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender, it evokes potent memories and an encounter with a hungry polar bear.

This week, Living on Earth Contributor Peter Dykstra joins Host Jenni Doering to share some good news about regulations on PFAS “forever” chemicals. Also, a new freshman dorm at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska uses updated rooftop solar thermal technology to heat water. And in history, they look back to a major Alaska public lands bill that protected 100 million acres in 1980.

Leaked documents from the team leading the COP28 climate talks now underway in Dubai point to corporate coopting of the UN climate negotiations. COP President Sultan Al Jaber is also CEO of the UAE national oil company Adnoc, which according to the internal documents has used the COP process to try to cut oil and gas deals with companies and countries. Ben Stockton of the Centre for Climate Reporting, which partnered with the BBC to verify and review these leaked documents, joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss.

Scientists are turning to high tech solutions to preserve genetic diversity of endangered species, including biobanking with frozen cells and living tissues. A new project involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the nonprofit Revive & Restore, and partners aims to biobank 24 endangered mammals to start. Pete Miraglia of Revive & Restore joins Host Jenni Doering to explain the science of using biobanked material to restore healthy populations of black-footed ferrets, Mexican wolves and more.

In North Birmingham, Alabama, racist zoning practices and industrial coke production have plagued Black communities for decades. Despite a growing focus on environmental justice from the federal government, it’s yet to be clear how new funds will help the communities in North Birmingham. Host Steve Curwood speaks with Vernon Loeb, the Executive Editor of Inside Climate News, about what he found during a reporting trip there.