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.

Watershed managers keep your basement from flooding — extreme weather swings are making it harder
Changing rainfall patterns and more extreme weather swings have made water managers’ jobs difficult. They moderate lake and creek levels to prevent flooding and pollution.
Minnesota farmers tap technology to conserve water in drought
It's been a tough year to be a Minnesota farmer trying to keep crops alive during the worst drought in decades. But many are using new tools and research to be smarter and more efficient about how much water they use, and when.
Congress is debating its biggest climate change bill ever. Here's what's at stake
Climate measures in a massive $3.5 trillion economic plan would transform the U.S. energy system. They are crucial for meeting President Joe Biden's ambitious climate goals, but face powerful opposition.
St. Louis County calls for statewide action on chronic wasting disease
A St. Louis County commissioner wants other counties to join in pressuring the state legislature to take stronger action to address the threat to white-tailed deer from chronic wasting disease.
Report: Climate change could move 200 million people by 2050
The report published on Monday examines how long-term impacts of climate change such as water scarcity, decreasing crop productivity and rising sea levels could lead to millions of what the report describes as "climate migrants" by 2050.
The federal government sells flood-prone homes to often unsuspecting buyers, NPR finds
The Department of Housing and Urban Development disproportionately sells homes in flood-prone areas, NPR finds. Housing experts warn that this can lead to big losses for vulnerable families.
Remnants of hurricane bring blizzard conditions to Greenland
Just a month after rainfall was recorded for the first time ever at Greenland's highest point, the island is expecting up to four feet of snow from the remnants of Hurricane Larry — the rare tropical storm to stay intact so far north.
Climate change is making natural disasters worse — along with our mental health
"We are burned out and our resilience is really down," Lise Van Susteren, a psychiatrist, author and environmental activist, told NPR. "It's making us raw to all of these new challenges that we face. They're coming too fast, too furious, and too many."
The Pagami Creek Fire in 2011 blew up into Minnesota’s biggest wildfire in over a century, burning more than 90,000 acres in the Superior National Forest. Ten years later, the forest has been reborn and lessons learned from Pagami now shape how rangers and firefighters respond to wilderness wildfires.