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.

New trees replace those lost in Mpls. tornado
Efforts continue in north Minneapolis to replace thousands of trees downed in the tornado in May 2011.
How will melting Arctic ice change global economy?
The melting Arctic ice is a major concern for climate change and global warming experts, but for some the changing landscape could bring in new economic opportunities. How will the new normal impact our daily life and economy?
Arctic ice shrinks to all-time low; half 1980 size
In a critical climate indicator showing an ever warming world, the amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean shrank to an all-time low this year, obliterating old records.
Minnesota Sounds and Voices: Ron Bowen profits from prairie preservation
Every year around about this time, a Minnesota businessman brings in an unusual harvest: seeds from native prairie plants. He aims to help preserve those species -- at a profit -- as their habitat slowly shrinks.
Researcher Lynn Rogers feeds the bears, battles critics
Last month, the Department of Natural Resources shot a bear that wore a tracking collar. The animal had refused to leave an area where children were present. That bear's death lies at the heart of a longstanding tension between mainstream wildlife scientists and a controversial researcher.
Conservation groups challenge wolf hunt in court
Two groups opposed to Minnesota's first regulated wolf hunt are suing the Department of Natural Resources to try to stop the hunting season. The groups allege the DNR did not make sufficient effort to seek public input when it designed the season.
A University of Minnesota team has won a $600,000 federal grant to develop biotechnology for purifying wastewater from hydraulic fracturing.
Photos: Bear researcher Lynn Rogers keeps making tracks
Follow along with Wildlife Research Institute biologists Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield as they use radio collars and GPS trackers to find and examine June, a 300-pound black bear in the woods near Ely, Minn.
Minn. DNR sued over wolf hunt
Two groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to block the opening of Minnesota's inaugural wolf hunting and trapping seasons this fall, saying the Department of Natural Resources failed to provide a proper opportunity for public comment on its recently issued rules for the seasons.
A company involved with developing a controversial mine near the Boundary Waters expects to receive permits Thursday to do more exploration in the area.