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As major wildfires burn out West and in Canada, the air quality in much of Massachusetts has ranged from "unhealthy for sensitive groups" to outright "unhealthy" — and experts warn that climate change will make the problem even worse.

El Niño is warming up the water in the Pacific Ocean. That extra heat affects the whole planet, and has helped drive record-breaking hot weather.

The Bush administration announces on Wednesday that the polar bear will be protected as a threatened species because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming. It's the first time that the Endangered Species Act has been used to protect a species threatened by the impact of climate change.

The Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said it lifted a moratorium on timber harvesting on state land back in January. But loggers said no new harvesting projects have gone out to bid since late 2022.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told COP26 that India, the world's third-biggest carbon emitter, would go net-zero by 2070. But appetite for coal, which supplies 70% of India's power, remains high.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports on the re-emergence of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin as a popular figure in Russia. Soon after the Soviet Union collapsed there was talk about removing him from his mauseleum to be buried. Lenin's body is now back on display from its bienniel cleaning. And, the changing political climate in Russia means it will probably stay in its prominent place in Red Square.

David Kestenbaum reports on astronomers plans to deal with some future climate changes. A billion years from now the sun will swell and grow brighter as it burns more fuel. By nudging an asteroid into close passes with the earth, they say it would be possible to move our planet into a cooler, more distant orbit. That would buy us a five billion years to figure out what happens when the sun becomes a red giant and engulfs us.

American speed skating has traditionally been dominated by athletes from the upper Midwest, skaters with hair and skin as pale as the frozen lakes and rinks they raced on as kids. But that has all changed due to the popularity of in-line skating in warmer climates, NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports for Morning Edition.

The new documentary An Inconvenient Truth is an important counterbalance to the misinformation about global warming, say Al Gore and film producer Laurie David. The movie is based on the former vice president's slideshow presentation on climate change.

- Daniel talks with New York University Professor Frederick Karl about recent allegations that the Unabomber might have been inspired by the works of Joseph Conrad. Conrad's book, "The Secret Agent" centers around a professor who tries to bomb the Greenwich Observatory in England to protest scientific and technological advancement. Karl says the themes in Conrad's book were typical during the turn of the century because of the political and social climate.