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.

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Climate Cast

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

'Pick it up': New Minnesota law aims to curb litter left on ice
Garbage left behind on frozen lakes is one of the biggest complaints conservation officers hear every year. The law, which took effect July 1, requires all trash to be placed in a container that's secured to an ice house or vehicle.
State agencies pledge new steps to reduce nitrate in southeast Minnesota
Last month, the EPA said state agencies need to develop a comprehensive plan to tackle the nitrate problem in eight southeast Minnesota counties’ drinking water. In a letter Friday, commissioners of the departments of health, agriculture and the Pollution Control Agency promised to do more – but said they may need more federal or state money to do so.
U.S. report includes calls for Indigenous leadership and self-determination to fight climate change
The Indigenous peoples chapter of the latest National Climate Assessment lays out the specific ways climate change affects indigenous communities — and why indigenous leadership and self-determination are essential for addressing the climate crisis.
3 climate impacts the U.S. will see if warming goes beyond 1.5 degrees
Climate science shows that beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, impacts in the U.S. get substantially worse. The world is on track for almost double that level of warming by the end of the century.
U.S. moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges
The North American wolverine would receive threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal. Warming temperatures are expected to shrink the mountain snowpack wolverines rely on.