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.

What's the best way to help the climate and people, too? Home improvement
President Joe Biden wants to spend $200 billion renovating old homes or building affordable new ones. It's a move that would fight climate change in a way that makes people's lives better.
Minn. farmers: Cashing in on the carbon bank, fighting climate change?
President Joe Biden wants U.S. farmers to be the first in the world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The details around how they might achieve that goal are still unclear, but one idea getting a lot of attention involves paying farmers to store carbon in the soil — as a way to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Enthusiastic amateurs advance science as they hunt for exotic mushrooms
Scientists who study mushrooms get a boost from a surprisingly sophisticated world of amateurs who tromp through the forests observing oddball species and sharing valuable information about their finds.
Hot weather fuels early algae blooms on Minnesota lakes
Blue-green algae typically doesn’t make its unsightly appearance on Minnesota lakes until August. But this summer has been anything but typical.
The record temperatures enveloping the West are not your average heat wave
This record-setting heat wave's remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change.
Wildfire red flag warning raised for 33 Minnesota counties
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for 33 counties in central and northwestern Minnesota Friday, which means the risk of wildfire is high.
Airlines work to scale up sustainable jet fuel
Waste from crops, logging — even cities — can be turned into a more sustainable jet fuel. Airlines are lobbying for tax incentives that would put more of it into their fuel mix.
How much is it worth to leave an old pipeline in the ground? State regulators reject call to clarify Line 3 removal program
More than 250 landowners who live along an oil pipeline corridor that cuts across northern Minnesota can expect to receive additional information in the mail in the next few weeks about removing those pipelines from their land.
The final of a three-part series by MPR's Chris Farrell about the economy and climate change, called "The Greener Good." This episode is about ethical investing.
'We held a lot of good ground': Line 3 protest and prayer camp disbands near Mississippi River crossing
A group of about 100 people who oppose the pipeline that is primed to be laid near a stretch of the Mississippi in Clearwater County pitched tents, built compost toilets and established a camp along the timber-mat boardwalk that extends to the riverbanks. The group ended its eight-day occupation of the space Monday evening.