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.

Yellowstone floods reveal forecasting flaws in warming world
Flooding that devastated Yellowstone National Park last month has generated calls from weather experts for changes to the way the government issues weather forecasts as extreme weather becomes more frequent.
Summer is a great time for birdwatching in Minnesota
MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Sharon Stiteler, also known as the “Birdchick,” about what birds are nesting now in Minnesota, what you might be seeing in your backyard or the local park and how we can all protect bird habitat. 
Rock rapids replace aging dams to let Minnesota rivers flow
Minnesota has hundreds of dams — many more than a century old that are reaching the end of their useful lives. Efforts are underway to replace them with alternatives that reconnect lakes and rivers and allow fish to move upstream.
Invasive lupine, a lovely lightning rod on Minnesota's North Shore
Many people along Minnesota's North Shore eagerly await early summer when huge fields of lupine bloom along roadsides. But the flower is not native to the state, making it a beautiful, but controversial species.
Supreme Court limits EPA in curbing power plant emissions
In a blow to the fight against climate change, the Supreme Court has limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. 
Minnesota given more than 700 acres near the St. Croix River
Hundreds of acres of woods and wetlands, including three miles of St. Croix riverfront, join preserved public land in an east-central state forest, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Trust for Public Land announced Tuesday.