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.

Thrills on the wing: Sandhill cranes fill the skies at a Minnesota wildlife refuge
For the past few weeks, there has been a distinctive rattling rising from the wetland around the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, about an hour’s drive north of the Twin Cities metro. It’s the sound of thousands of sandhill cranes gathering to rest and feed before migrating south for the winter.
First phase of massive Sherco Solar project now generating electricity
The first phase of the $1.1 billion Sherco Solar project was connected to the electrical grid in late October. When the next two phases are completed over the next two years, the project will produce enough energy to power about 150,000 homes.
EagleCam expansion: Minnesota DNR says new camera, new nesting pair will go live this week
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday announced its popular and beloved EagleCam feed will resume on Thursday at a new location, after the nest previously featured on camera fell in 2023.
Countries agreed to try to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Is that still possible?
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, most countries agreed to try hard to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Delay and inaction mean that goal is becoming harder to achieve by the day.
Innovative Iron Range landfill project tackles climate change, ‘forever chemicals’
A new project at a small landfill on Minnesota’s Iron Range is simultaneously helping to tackle two of society’s most vexing environmental problems — climate change and the treatment of so-called “forever chemicals.”
Biden marks his climate legacy during Amazon visit, asserting 'nobody' can reverse it
"Some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that's underway in America, but nobody — nobody — can reverse it," Biden said. But Trump has vowed to roll back those plans.
This soil is slowly burning, releasing CO2. The solution? Let water reclaim it
Peatlands, formed by ancient wetlands, store more carbon than the world's forests. But when they're drained for farming, they vent heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air.
Wisconsin agency issues first round of permits for Enbridge Line 5 reroute around reservation
About 12 miles of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline runs through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's reservation. Bad River tribal officials warned that the project calls for blasting, drilling and digging trenches that would devastate area wetlands and streams and endanger the tribe's wild rice beds.