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.

Crews battle wildfires amid brutal heat wave in California
Firefighters struggled to contain three wildfires near Los Angeles on Saturday amid triple-digit temperatures. In Northern California, the National Weather Service warned fire crews of the possibility of a rare fire tornado.
Trump to withdraw polarizing nominee to lead Bureau of Land Management
The Trump administration is planning to withdraw William Perry Pendley as its nominee to lead the agency. Pendley has faced criticism for past statements in support of selling off public land.
Eagle attacks woman along North Shore, bystander comes to the rescue
Cascade Lodge and Restaurant head kitchen manager Bernie Banks happened to be outside when he saw the eagle attacking the woman.
‘She was a legend’: Quetico ranger remembered for her guidance, grit
Janice Matichuk, the longest-serving interior ranger in the history of Quetico Provincial Park, died last week from brain cancer. For 35 years she greeted canoeists crossing from the Boundary Waters into Canada at the remote Cache Bay Ranger station, on a small island on Saganaga Lake, at the end of the Gunflint Trail.
A changing of the guard among Minnesota's climate leaders
Scientist Heidi Roop is replacing Mark Seeley at the University of Minnesota Department of Soil, Water, and Climate.
Climate change, the environmental movement and racism
Air pollution, severe weather and the economic upheaval brought on by climate change has a serious impact on people of color and their communities, yet their voices are often left out of policy responses and market solutions. Can there be a green movement that is inclusive and actively anti-racist?
New report documents once-polluted Rainy River’s recovery
A half-century ago, the Rainy River was heavily polluted by paper mills and untreated sewage. Now the river that runs along Minnesota’s northern border supports a world-class fishery and excellent water quality.
Mauritius races to contain oil spill, protect coastline
Thousands of students, environmental activists and residents of Mauritius were working around the clock Sunday, trying to reduce the damage to the Indian Ocean island from an oil spill after a ship ran aground on a coral reef.
Mauritius scrambles to contain oil spill from grounded ship
Anxious residents of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves Saturday to create makeshift oil spill barriers as tons of fuel leaking from a grounded ship put endangered wildlife in further peril.