Rural communities worried about shrinking populations and fewer jobs. Low-income people for whom solar energy is out of reach financially or not an option because they rent. But what if an entire community could have a solar energy system, and folks already qualifying for energy assistance could get those benefits, too? Could there really be an option that's good for the environment, helps lift people out of poverty and provides jobs and economic development or small communities? Rural Renewable

Less ash than coal. Less mercury and sulfur than coal. No need for costly retrofits. Uses less energy, smaller carbon footprint and its an environmentally-friendly biofuel. And you make this new fuel using the residuals you get when you thin forests to prevent forest fires.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes says it takes about a hundred years for people to transition from one energy source to another -- no matter how appealing the new energy source might be. But do we have that kind of time? KUMD's Adam Reinhardt has the story. Energy: A Human History is published by Simon & Schuster. [ This story originally aired on November 21, 2018, and was re-aired on December 26, 2018 .]

Moving water from the Great Lakes to drought-stricken parts of the country: environmental justice or enabling unsustainable water practices? That's just one of the topics Northland College's Peter Annin tackles in his book Great Lake Water Wars , and in this conversation with KUMD's Adam Reinhardt.

The Imagine Canal Park project wrapped up last month and now it's time to crunch the data and evaluate what worked and what didn't . Folks haven't heard the last of it, though: there are plans to go ahead with Cold Front February again this year and once the artists get done with them, you may be paying more attention to those utility boxes than you ever thought you might.

According to Colette Adkins, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a history, going back at least twenty years, of being unduly influenced by politics and special interests. So the Center For Biological Diversity's senior attorney has filed suit to preserve federal protections for gray wolves and to force the agency to develop a national recovery plan for the species. At the same time, the USFW Service is expected to put forward a proposal to remove protections for wolves "any day now."

A connection between energy production and citizen participation - or improvisational theater, for that matter - is unfamiliar in the United States. But not for much longer - especially here in Minnesota. Solar United Neighbors has information about what's going on in communities around the state, co-ops, additional information on how to go solar on your own and much more here: You can even find out more about the Preparing for a Climate Crossroads - Energy Comedy Night! here!

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's decision last month to allow Minnesota Power to build a new gas plant in Superior is drawing criticism from likely sources (like environmentalists) and unlikely sources (like industrial clients). The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy , though, says everyday folks have more control over these kinds of decisions than they might think. The Minnesota Citizens Federation and the Citizens Utility Board , in addition to the Minnesota Center for

UMD Greenhouse manager emeritus of UMD, Deb Shubat, joins us in the studio with a tour of some nightmare plants (Dracula orchid!) that might be peeking in your windows even now ...

"Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society," according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in a new assessment that came out, ironically, four days before yet another October storm on Lake Superior decimated the Lakewalk in Duluth. With the seriousness of the climate change problem, the massive changes that would need to take place to stop it and the massive changes taking place as it progresses unchecked,