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.

One of the appointees has questioned the link between climate change and extreme weather events. The other questions humans’ role in climate change.
Thirteen counties in the southwestern corner of the state are expected to have critical weather conditions Wednesday, including relative humidity as low as 20 percent and strong winds. The warning lasts from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Minnesota Supreme Court weighs fate of PolyMet mine permits
Lawyers for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine and state regulators urged the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday to defer to the judgment of the state Department of Natural Resources and reinstate three critical permits for the project.
Bands continue moose hunts to maintain tradition, treaty rights
The Minnesota DNR has not authorized a state moose hunting season for years, after a sharp crash in the iconic animal’s population. But more recently, as the moose population has stabilized, three Ojibwe bands in northeastern Minnesota have allowed limited hunts to keep alive an important cultural tradition.
COVID-19 stalks a Montana town already grappling with asbestos-related diseases
In Libby, Montana, an estimated 1 in 10 residents have an asbestos-related illness, after decades of pollution from a now-shuttered mine. With lungs already scarred, many fear contracting the coronavirus.
A coronavirus vaccine could kill half a million sharks, conservationists warn
The use of an immune-system stimulant harvested from shark liver oil in the development of some coronavirus vaccines has animal conservationists pressing for alternatives.