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.

In St. Cloud, VP Harris promotes electric vehicles
Days after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Vice President Kamala Harris was in St. Cloud to highlight the administration’s record on electric vehicles.
Winter Play: How polar explorer Ann Bancroft finds magic in the winter
Polar explorer Ann Bancroft might be winter’s biggest champion. But Bancroft, who’s set records traveling to the North and South Poles, and crossing Antarctica, says the key to surviving our coldest months is to tap into your inner child. 
Why the EPA puts a higher value on rich lives lost to climate change
There is one number that the Environmental Protection Agency relies on to decide which climate policies to pursue. So why does that number assume the lives of richer people are worth more?
Walz signs carbon-free energy bill, prompting threat of lawsuit
Clean energy advocates, large utilities and labor unions said the new target would put the state on track to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change. But North Dakota officials say they may sue over the new law.
Hibernating bear saved after getting stuck in melting snow near Roseau, Minn.
DNR officials believe the nearly 400-pound bear was hibernating in a culvert when it was forced out by melting snow. It wound up stuck in deep snow beside a road and farm fields. Passersby apparently tried to feed and dig out the bear.
State court backs Leech Lake Ojibwe in dispute over proposed mill
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday in favor of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and ordered the city of Cohasset to reconsider whether a more detailed environmental review is required for a proposed wood mill.
Winter Play: Let's go ride a kite!
For our Winter Play series, where MPR News staff try winter activities new to them, Bemidji bureau reporter Mathew Holding Eagle III drove further — and maybe flew further — than anyone else as he tried winter kiteboarding.
Buzzz! New research finds more than 500 bees native to Minnesota
Minnesota sits at the intersection of several ecoregions, making it a prime place to catalog bees, some so tiny they can only be identified through a microscope. The University of Minnesota and the DNR are working now on a definitive list of the state’s native bees.