‘We don’t know what else is out there.’ Five ways new diseases emerge — and what we can do about them
From forests and farms to our own backyards, there’s a lot we can do to reduce future risks of pandemic outbreaks.
Environment
Planning to visit a Minnesota state park this holiday weekend? You won’t be alone
Since the coronavirus pandemic has shut down many other activities, parks in Minnesota have seen record numbers of visitors.
Greater Minnesota solar projects highlight utility plans for speeding up the green economy
“It was nice to see that they gave us a lot to work with,” said Joseph Sullivan, the utilities commissioner who first floated the idea for sped-up projects in May. “They really stepped up.”
The history of Minnesota’s only national park: Voyageurs
Forty percent of the area of Voyageurs is covered in lakes.
Hawk Creek Watershed Project: How one Minnesota conservation group helps keep its local waters clean
Over the past three years, the HCWP has garnered about 25 percent of the federal funds that have been granted to watershed agencies in Minnesota – money those groups use for drainage ditches, embankments, rain gardens and other projects designed to protect local waters.
Can energy companies help Minnesota’s economy recover from the COVID pandemic?
MPUC Commissioner Joseph Sullivan challenged the state’s major energy companies to speed up the completion of projects that could put people to work.
Twenty petitions and 10,000 comments: A look at the public response to the Enbridge Line 3 water permit
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has agreed to review concerns about its permit for the Enbridge Line 3 project after four groups and 16 individuals petitioned the agency for a “contested case hearing.”
Educator and conservationist Sigurd Olson was instrumental in protecting the Boundary Waters
Olson’s conservation efforts in the Quetico-Superior region aided in the establishment of Voyageurs National Park (the name is credited to Olson) and the designation of the BWCA as a wilderness area in 1978.
Minnesota Legislature approves bill requiring video coverage of influential conservation council
The bill requires that any meeting at the Minnesota Capitol of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which recommends millions in state spending on conservation projects, must be streamed live and archived online.
Pair of clean energy initiatives poised for passage by Minnesota Legislature
One bill poised to pass the Legislature would overhaul a program requiring utilities to slash energy each year; another would spend more than $60 million on clean energy projects.
What are Joe Biden’s views on two of the most controversial environmental projects in Minnesota?
Biden never addressed the Line 3 or Twin Metals projects during his presidential primary campaign, and he has continued to avoid taking a stand since becoming the likely Democratic nominee.
Destruction of habitat and loss of biodiversity are creating the perfect conditions for diseases like COVID-19 to emerge
“There’s misapprehension among scientists and the public that natural ecosystems are the source of threats to ourselves. It’s a mistake,” said scientist Richard Ostfeld. “Nature poses threats, it is true, but it’s human activities that do the real damage.”
As energy use changes in the Great Lakes, so too does the Port of Duluth-Superior
One of the world’s largest freshwater ports is facing a future with far less coal. And while that might be celebrated by environmentalists, it will also have economic impacts across the upper Midwest.
In the space of a year foragers practically wiped out the ginseng supply in Minnesota’s Big Woods
The appeal of hunting ginseng came from the cash paid for it — hard currency was scarce after the financial crash of 1857.
In the ‘climate refuge’ city of Duluth, a fight brews over the hometown utility
For those pushing for a carbon-free Duluth, the biggest roadblock may be a company that has long been critical to the region’s economy — and its identity: Minnesota Power.
From rust to resilience: What climate change means for Great Lakes cities
Even as Great Lakes cities cope with economic turbulence, climate change brings new challenges and opportunities.
‘An absolute tragedy’: COVID-19-related plant shutdowns could force hog farmers to kill and dispose of 200,000 pigs
In Minnesota, droves of hog farmers have nowhere left to sell their pigs as plants shutter, forcing some farmers to consider an unfortunate last resort to ease their backlog of hogs: putting them down.
The MPCA delayed gathering public comments on a ‘Clean Cars’ rule because of COVID-19. Why not Line 3?
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s decision speaks to the difficulty of grappling with complex regulation amid an unprecedented situation, but it also raises a larger question: How do government agencies balance legal deadlines and meaningful public input when the state is on lockdown?
The journey from the Mississippi River to Lake Superior used to involve a lot of portaging
A brief history of the Northwest Trail.
In 1894, fire destroyed Hinckley, killing hundreds
A fire survivor described Hinckley as occupying “a hole cut in the brush lands and for miles in all directions young trees, huge stumps, and fallen logs covered the land.”
