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.

Winter Play: Let's go ride a kite!
For our Winter Play series, where MPR News staff try winter activities new to them, Bemidji bureau reporter Mathew Holding Eagle III drove further — and maybe flew further — than anyone else as he tried winter kiteboarding.
Buzzz! New research finds more than 500 bees native to Minnesota
Minnesota sits at the intersection of several ecoregions, making it a prime place to catalog bees, some so tiny they can only be identified through a microscope. The University of Minnesota and the DNR are working now on a definitive list of the state’s native bees.
Groups pressure MnDOT to halt tree cutting along Lake Country Scenic Byway
Highway resurfacing projects pose a temporary inconvenience but are not usually all that controversial. But a section of Highway 34 in norther Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is also cutting trees as part of its repaving plan. Locals are not happy.
Winter Play: The anticipation, anguish and magic of ice dipping
As MPR News staff fanned out across the state to experience cold weather activities they had never tried for the Winter Play series, Regina Medina and Elizabeth Shockman took a transformative plunge in Lake Harriet.
Meet the people safeguarding the sacred forests and lagoons of West Africa
In parts of West Africa, communities have designated biodiversity hotspots sacred and measure their value by the peace of mind they provide, rather than in dollars and cents.