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.

Submit a question or story for Getting to Green here.

Climate Cast

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

Minnesota regulators OK building massive solar power station near Becker
Once completed, the Sherco Solar project near Becker, northwest of the Twin Cities, will cut carbon emissions by nearly 300,000 tons annually as it replaces a nearby coal-fired plant that's being phased out, Xcel Energy said.
This is the season for collecting wild rice across northern Minnesota. Ricers have been out in canoes harvesting the crop from lakes and rivers. To preserve that rice, and give it the trademark nutty, smoky flavor involves a process of parching, jigging, winnowing and fellowship.
How small, rural towns are making the biggest clean energy ideas happen
How are small towns building clean energy futures? L. Michelle Moore, author of “Rural Renaissance: Revitalizing America’s Hometowns through Clean Power,” shares examples of how rural towns are taking on the biggest ideas to transform our energy systems.
New program connects English language classes with Minnesota’s green spaces
A pilot project called Nature for New Minnesotans ties English language instruction to a natural-history curriculum. Adult participants from Somalia, Laos, and Myanmar end the course with a hands-on experience in fishing or camping.
Wildlife conservation tends to save charismatic species. That may be about to change.
Bald eagles have soared back from the brink. Grizzly bear numbers are rebounding. But thousands of less charismatic species are competing for scarce conservation resources in the United States.