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Environmental News

MPR News is your source for environment news from Minnesota and across the country.

Getting to Green: Minnesota’s energy future

Getting to Green is an MPR News series that shares stories about Minnesota’s clean energy transition, including what needs to be done to get there.

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Climate Cast

Listen to Climate Cast, the MPR News podcast all about our changing climate and its impact in Minnesota and worldwide.

Waiting for justice for Floyd, north siders work the land as an act of healing

Waiting for justice for Floyd, north siders work the land as an act of healing

An urban garden in the Hawthorne neighborhood in north Minneapolis has been in the works for months. But after the police killed George Floyd, it has become a healing space — particularly for Black residents who often feel targeted and criminalized. 
by Melissa Townsend

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The worrisome link between deforestation and disease

The worrisome link between deforestation and disease

Scientists say accelerating deforestation and development may increase the risk of pandemic diseases. The current economic crisis may also make that trend worse if more people cut down trees for fuel.
by Nathan Rott

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DNR: Irrigation wells in Pineland Sands don’t need in-depth study

DNR: Irrigation wells in Pineland Sands don’t need in-depth study

Tim Nolte wants to irrigate about 300 acres to grow hay and other crops, and graze his cattle. But the request got caught up in a larger debate over the conversion of forests to potato fields in north-central Minnesota’s Pineland Sands region.
by Kirsti Marohn

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U of M to fund more CWD research in Minnesota’s deer herds

U of M to fund more CWD research in Minnesota’s deer herds

Researchers at the University of Minnesota were awarded new funding on Wednesday to study the spread of chronic wasting disease in the state’s deer herds. The goal is to determine how the fatal deer disease is passed to animals through plants and tainted water.
by John Enger

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What zebra mussels can tell us about errors in coronavirus tests

What zebra mussels can tell us about errors in coronavirus tests

The standard test for infection with the coronavirus looks for a genetic fingerprint. Laboratory errors, including contamination, can lead to false results, a problem seen with environmental testing.
by Richard Harris

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Study finds pharmaceuticals, other chemicals in remote Minnesota lakes

Study finds pharmaceuticals, other chemicals in remote Minnesota lakes

The chemicals were often found in lakes that receive discharged water from wastewater treatment plants. But they also turned up in remote lakes with little or no human development, sometimes at levels similar to more populated lakes.
by Kirsti Marohn

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Swarms of locusts continue to plague large swaths of Africa, Asia

Swarms of locusts continue to plague large swaths of Africa, Asia

Titanic swarms of desert locusts resembling dark storm clouds are descending ravenously on the Horn of Africa. They're roving through croplands and flattening farms in a devastating salvo experts are calling an unprecedented threat to food security.
by Pranav Baskar

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