This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Magnolia Montgomery, age 12, peered into a rectangular enclosure covered with white mesh.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Laurie Stanek shovels hay in front of a group of young, black and white Holstein cows. “We’re out here at 5 o’clock every morning to get started feeding the babies,” she said.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Planters — those big boxes that hold ornamental plants — are a staple of many downtowns, often used to beautify the streets. In Traverse City, they’re also the basis for a citizen science program to count pollinators.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership with Grist and Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan. Like many buildings in this part of rural northern Michigan, the Tsuber Auto garage in the Village of Mesick is heated with propane, delivered by truck once or twice a month to the tank outside. On a recent morning, owner Vyacheslav Tsuber was sitting behind the counter of a small, brightly lit lobby with his son — one of eight kids.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Wildfires in western and central Canada spread rapidly this week, with smoke sweeping into the Midwest and triggering air quality alerts in several states. For some, it was a reminder of last year’s smoky conditions.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel plans to sue fossil fuel companies for knowingly causing climate change, harming the state’s economy and ways of life. The department is asking outside lawyers to submit proposals to help with the case, which Nessel said could potentially bring billions to the state to help address damages from climate change.