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.

Giant sinkholes in a South Dakota neighborhood make families fear for their safety
Crews built Hideaway Hills, located a few miles northwest of Rapid City, from 2002 to 2004 in an area previously owned by the state where the mineral gypsum was mined for use at a nearby state-owned cement plant.
FBI agents have boarded vessel managed by company whose other cargo ship collapsed Baltimore bridge
The FBI has confirmed that federal agents have boarded a vessel managed by the same company as a cargo ship that caused the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse. In statements Saturday, spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland confirmed that authorities have boarded the Maersk Saltoro.
A 'golden age' of rat research may be here. What the often unwanted companions can teach us about us
Rat and human lives have long intersected, but there's little relatively little research about them. Thanks to advances in genomics and paleoarcheology mean a lot more study may be on the horizon.
If you’re gonna keep a goat in St. Paul: What I learned about the mini farm animal craze
Americans are showing more interest in owning miniature cows, goats, alpacas and other diminutive farm animals. It is a trend driven by hobby farmers looking for easy-to-manage livestock and homesteaders who like the idea of having a petite pig or a scaled-down sheep as a pet.
Eating less beef is a climate solution. Here's why that's hard for some American men
Climate researchers have long grappled with how to get Americans to eat less beef, a food with a huge global warming impact. Now some are thinking about it through the lens of gender.
State bans on commercial food waste have been largely ineffective, study finds
Much of the food supply in the U.S. goes uneaten, which contributes to climate change. Some states have tried to cut food waste in landfills, but their efforts have fallen short, researchers found.
2 wildfires burn in Superior National Forest, closing some BWCA portages and campsites
After an extremely wet summer, Minnesota is trending drier. The U.S. Forest Service has closed 19 campsites and several portages in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.