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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.

Submit a question or story for Getting to Green here.

Climate Cast

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

Photographs offer striking glimpse of our oldest living things

Photographs offer striking glimpse of our oldest living things

Rachel Sussman has spent the better part of a decade tracking down and photographing organisms that have been living for more than 2,000 years.

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Lessons learned from 2012 Duluth floods

Lessons learned from 2012 Duluth floods

Floodwater from recent rains continues to cause problems across the state this morning. Cathy Wurzer checked in with Mayor Don Ness in Duluth, where a major flood just two years ago drew national attention.
by Cathy Wurzer

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After the rains, a grueling cleanup on the farm

After the rains, a grueling cleanup on the farm

Rain and hail have made a mess of thousands of acres of Minnesota farmland, so much so that U.S. Agriculture Department officials are out assessing the toll. They don't have a state-wide damage estimate yet, but farmers don't need an official assessment to know that the storms have created a lot of extra work.
by Mark Steil

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Rainfall not solving low groundwater levels

All the rain in recent weeks has lakes and rivers and streams in our region rising to record levels in many places. Flooding is a big concern. As many people shovel mud and suck water out of soggy basements, and farmers fields are underwater, you have to wonder is there any good that could come out of all this rain? Does the heavy rain mean that the problem with declining groundwater levels that we've been reporting on has been solved? MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Jim Stark, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota.
by Cathy Wurzer

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Deluge doesn’t end groundwater concern

Deluge doesn’t end groundwater concern

The recent heavy rains have been a drought-buster, leaving Minnesota entirely drought-free for the first time in a long time. But that’s not the same thing as ending concern about the state’s groundwater, Jim Stark, director of U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota, told MPR News’ Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition today. Aquifers — water-containing rock…
by Dave Peters

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To protect Boise paper, engineers weigh limit to dam flows

To protect Boise paper, engineers weigh limit to dam flows

Minnesota's northern border lakes and rivers are at record levels, and with more rain in the forecast, dam engineers are contemplating an unusual move to help protect the Boise paper mill.
by John Enger

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Here’s some more climate change evidence to ignore

Here’s some more climate change evidence to ignore

I'm pretty sure there's such a thing as climate change and I'm pretty sure humans are responsible for it. I also think it's too late to do anything about it even if we were a country capable of discussing the question in a reasonably intellectual way.
by Bob Collins

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State, industry puzzle over landfill problems

MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said limiting waste is imperative, because otherwise the state likely will have to clean up additional landfills that could later become a pollution problem.
by Elizabeth Dunbar

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Ways to achieve clean and green capitalism

Ways to achieve clean and green capitalism

From the Commonwealth Club's "Climate One" series, several experts discuss the ways business can save energy and money and create jobs, while protecting the planet. A prominent economist calls energy the "biggest market failure the world has ever seen."

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