5 things Minnesota got right since Earth Day 1970

I still remember the first Earth Day in 1970. It was big news across America.

I was a third grader at Deephaven Elementary School in the western Twin Cities. Our teachers explained the concept of the first Earth Day. We had events around and on that date, Wednesday, April 22,1970.

One of many events that spawned the creation of Earth Day was when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire in 1969. It was so polluted it caught fire several times since the 1950s.

Those of us of a certain age can never forget this classic 1970 commercial:

Minnesotans have always had a special affinity for our beautiful environment, but there was a lot of work to be done to keep our state clean and our environment healthy.

With Earth Day 2025 on Tuesday, here are 5 things I see that Minnesota has done right since the first Earth Day in 1970.

1) Cleaner water

Many of Minnesota’s lakes and rivers were in rough shape in the 1960s and 1970s. Lake Minnetonka in the western Twin Cities was “horribly polluted,” according to Dick Osgood, who served as head of the Lake Minnetonka Association.

In the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2009, he wrote:

In the 1960s and 1970s Lake Minnetonka experienced horrible pollution. There were six sewage treatment plants discharging their effluent directly to Lake Minnetonka and, after years of operation, the lake had become so polluted that algae caked the water surface and as it rotted, it stunk to high heaven. This was bad.

Lake Minnetonka had become a local cause celebre and the community response, which mirrored a national and international response to similar problems elsewhere, corrected the problem. As a result of many local and national efforts, we now have the Environmental Protection Agency, we no longer discharge sewage effluent into Lake Minnetonka and when sewage is discharged into the nation’s waterways, it is treated.

Lake Minnetonka’s water quality has gotten steadily and significantly better over the past several decades as a direct result of removing sewage discharges. 

And it’s not just Twin Cities lakes that were polluted. From 2002 to 2022 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency checked about 3,500 lakes and found 20 percent qualified as impaired:

The article, Twenty years of lake nutrient impairment: Delistings in Minnesota, describes how lake monitoring, assessment, and repair work are relatively recent ideals. From 2002 to 2022, the MPCA used scientific standards to check the health of about 3,500 lakes and found about 20% of them qualified as “impaired.”

When the MPCA categorizes a lake as impaired, that typically means it has too much phosphorus and algae that make it unsuitable for recreation. The MPCA then compiles a list of impaired bodies of water in the state and sends it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency every other year.  

Since 2004, 64 lakes that made the journey onto that list were able to get back off it, including 15 lakes that the MPCA removed from the list in 2024. In late April, with the EPA’s approval of that list, the MPCA marked the 100th total body of water — including lakes, streams, and rivers — that it removed from the list since the agency started it.

The overall health of Minnesota’s lakes and rivers has improved significantly since the first Earth Day 1970, but it requires a concerted and persistent effort.

2) Cleaner air

The Clean Air Act of 1970 started an effort to clean up air quality nationwide. But efforts in Minnesota have also improved air quality over time. Here are some highlights from the MPCA:

Since 1997, total emissions of air pollution have dropped almost 50% while the economy has continued to grow.1 This decrease in emissions has come from every segment of the economy. Today the transportation sector is the third leading source of air pollution accounting for one fifth of all emissions. Pollutants from motor vehicles have decreased due to regulations and better engine technology. However, this decrease in pollution has not been as robust or consistent as other sectors of the economy.

Air quality has improved most notably from technology advances, increased emission regulations and to a lesser extent, changes in travel behavior in urban areas. A new diesel engine sold today produces 97% less air pollutant emissions than a similar older (pre-2006) vehicle. Personal vehicles sold in 2019 are more efficient, getting 32% higher gas mileage on average than a vehicle sold in 2004.2 To reduce travel by single occupant vehicles and improve air quality through reduced vehicle miles travelled, cities, counties and MnDOT are investing in infrastructure for people walking, bicycling, rolling and taking transit.

3) Recycling boom

Minnesota has been one of the fastest adopters of the reduce, reuse, recycle trend. Minnesota ranks seventh in the nation by some recycling and waste management metrics. The MPCA reports these data points on recycling in Minnesota:

• In 2023, Minnesota posted a combined recycling rate of 45.3 percent, which is the highest rate in the history of the SCORE program.

• Municipal solid waste tonnage increased by 3.3 percent.

• Minnesota counties reported 33,998 tons of reuse in 2023. Tracking reuse separately from recycling allows the MPCA to represent environmental benefits from waste management decisions more accurately.

• Minnesota saved about the equivalent of 4.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide due to waste management practices, which is roughly the annual emissions of 1 million passenger vehicles. Reducing, reusing, or recycling waste reduces greenhouse gas emissions while adding to landfills increases them.

4) Renewable energy boom

Minnesota has made tremendous progress in the development and adoption of renewable and carbon-free energy for the production of electricity.

Here are some details form Minnesota’s Energy Fact Sheet:

• For the fifth year in a row, zero-carbon sources supplied the majority of Minnesota’s electricity. In 2024, 53 percent of the state’s power came from renewable and nuclear energy, outpacing the national average of 42 percent.

• Minnesota’s power sector hit a new record low in carbon emissions, cutting another 4 percent between 2023 and 2024. Emissions are now 52 percent below 2005 levels, well beyond the national reduction of 38 percent.

• Renewable energy held steady, generating one-third of Minnesota’s electricity in 2024. In the past decade, coal’s share has dropped from 43 percent to 20 percent, while renewables and zero-carbon sources have risen.

5) Growing climate change awareness

I’m honored to work in the space reporting climate change science, news, and solutions. In 2013, I created MPR News Climate Cast.

Each week for the past 12 years I’ve reported on the latest climate science and trends to our Minnesota audience.

We’ve produced more than 600 episodes on topics ranging from the latest greenhouse gas emissions trends, to powerful economic solutions right here in Minnesota and around the planet. I’ve interviewed everyone from corporate energy CEOs to forestry experts, to former vice presidents.

I have watched as Minnesotans have become increasingly aware of climate changes and supportive of solutions. The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows the number of Americans concerned or alarmed about climate change has risen to the highest levels on record.

And Minnesotans have taken action as climate change trends become more apparent in our state. Our winters are warming faster then most of the nation.

So Minnesotans have become increasingly aware about our changing climate and the impacts on all of us.

Here in Minnesota we can see many environmental success stories in Minnesota since the first Earth Day in 1970.

Happy Earth Day, Minnesota!