From the high vantage point of the “Hermann the German” statue in New Ulm, Minnesota, Ryan Hellenbrand and Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand explore the settler stories inscribed on stolen Dakota homeland, casting a thought-provoking spotlight on the intricate tapestry of history and belonging in the region.
While working at a stable, Nicholas Miller uncovers a space for more than just horses and complex web of relationships among the dogs, cats, bats, and birds that make a home there.
Minnesota state agencies have a history of seeing the landscape with an eye toward extraction, writes Andrew Hoyt, ignoring water resources and Indigenous sovereignty in favor of risky mining.
Wisconsin is home to some of the best sand in the country, making it a key player in the oil and gas industry. For this episode of Ground Truths, Justyn Huckleberry and Clare Sullivan take a close look at frac sand mining in the state—the lack of regulation and oversight, environmental and health consequences for local residents, the volatility of oil and gas markets, and how some activists are fighting back.
In 2021, rates of childhood lead exposure in Milwaukee were nearly double the state average. In this episode of Ground Truths, Juniper Lewis and Carly Griffith learn more about this public health crisis.
With the future of wolf protection being debated on the national stage, Ground Truths editors Clare Sullivan and Marisa Lanker speak with local experts and advocates about wolf stewardship in Wisconsin.
In the first episode of the Ground Truths podcast series, Carly Griffith speaks with environmental advocates in Wisconsin about how they are addressing local issues of contamination from manufactured chemicals like PFAS and industrial agriculture.
Kasey Keeler and Ryan Hellenbrand think beyond tourism to show how logging and forestry have impacted a tribal nation in Minnesota—and how storytelling and placemaking can be tools of both colonialism and Indigenous resistance.
