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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.

Online map helps Great Lakes states deal with climate change

The University of Michigan and an independent research group have developed an interactive map designed to help local officials in the Great Lakes region deal with climate change.

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America Abroad: The Global Water Challenge

America Abroad: The Global Water Challenge

Ray Suarez hosts an America Abroad special, "The Global Water Challenge." The world's population is growing and with it, the demand for water. The program examines global water issues from Yemen, Australia, Israel, Turkey and Haiti, and the global water challenges of tomorrow.

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To protect a park, a plan to cut down on people

To protect a park, a plan to cut down on people

Officials struggle to balance the goals of access and conservation.

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Wolf advocates post how-to manual for saboteurs

Environmentalists upset with a federal government proposal to remove protections for wolves across most of the U.S. have posted a manual on how to disrupt wolf hunts and sabotage traps.

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Minn. delays Lake Superior ballast water rules

Minn. delays Lake Superior ballast water rules

Minnesota is giving Great Lakes freshwater freighters known as "lakers" that enter the Minnesota waters of Lake Superior an extra two years to install ballast water treatment technology.

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Hear the sounds of silence from Gordon Hempton

Hear the sounds of silence from Gordon Hempton

Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton is on a mission to save the sounds of silence. Hempton joins The Daily Circuit today to discuss what we’re missing in our noisy world. He’s shared some of his recordings with us. Give a listen.
by Molly Bloom

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Embracing the dark and the quiet in a noisy, bright world

Embracing the dark and the quiet in a noisy, bright world

Paul Bogard and Gordon Hempton urge us to find the dark and the quiet spaces that are increasingly rare in our modern world.

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Jane Goodall offers support to Minn. bear researcher Lynn Rogers

Jane Goodall offers support to Minn. bear researcher Lynn Rogers

Famed scientist Jane Goodall, best known for her 54-year study of African chimpanzees, has lent her support to Lynn Rogers, the embattled black bear researcher in northern Minnesota.
by Dan Kraker

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DNR attributes pine tree deaths to long-term drought

DNR attributes pine tree deaths to long-term drought

Pines and other conifers in northern Minnesota are dying in slightly larger numbers than usual. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says the trees have been stricken by drought. Eight of the last 11 summer and fall seasons have been very dry in northern Minnesota.
by Elizabeth Dunbar

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Wine waste finds sweet afterlife in baked goods

When winemakers crush the juice from grapes, what's left is a goopy pile of seeds, stems and skins destined for the dump. Now, scientists and entrepreneurs are finding new and often surprising uses for this former waste product.

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