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.

See inside a Minnesota bat cave
Thousands of Minnesota's most common bats make their winter homes here. So do a handful of the less common big brown bats and tri-colored bats, also known as eastern pipistrelles.
Minnesota, like some other states, currently requires a year-round 5 percent blend known as B5 for most diesel sales.
Hornets, unlike honeybees, can sting a victim multiple times. In the case of the Asian Giant Hornets (Vespa mandarinia), which are about the size of an adult's thumb, their size means they can inject more venom, quickly delivering a potentially lethal dose.
The storied over 400-year-old tree near Charleston, with an expansive canopy and massive, gnarled branches that sweep the ground, attracts thousand of visitors each year. Local conservationists are rushing to raise enough money to buy the land around the centuries-old live oak to protect it from development.
Xcel says it will put up to 20 megawatts of community generated solar power on its system in the next two years to help the utility meet a new solar energy standard.
Beekeepers fight disease by breeding 'hygienic' bees
Honeybees are in trouble and their population is steadily declining. A growing problem is the prevalence of pest called varroa mites, tiny parasites that attack bee larvae and adult bees in the hives. Some beekeepers are trying to fight disease by improving bee genetics.
Agency director Dan Ashe said Monday that the wolf's recovery in the Great Lakes and Northern Rockies is one of the greatest conservation successes ever. He said the species is no longer in danger of dying out.
Minnesota's recycling rates have been lagging in the past few years, and the state's considering whether money would change people's habits.
'June' the research bear killed by hunter
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources confirmed that a collared research bear near Ely was shot and killed by a hunter. The DNR asks hunters not to shoot collared bear, but it's not illegal.
The Met Council is studying whether it's feasible to pipe St. Paul's water to some of the northeastern suburbs -- or take some of the raw water St. Paul is pumping from the Mississippi and send it to a new regional treatment plant. the idea is to lessen pressure on the aquifer beneath White Bear Lake.