State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate Change Stopped the Next Ice Age

New research shows that 2,000 years ago, remnants of a once-vast Arctic ice sheet began growing again, marking the start of a new glacial period—what we commonly call an ice age. But by the 1960s, global warming had raised summer temperatures enough to reverse that growth.

Margin of the Barnes Ice Cap. Bedrock has only become exposed sometime over the last decade.

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Columbia Climate School Giving Day on October 28, 2026, featuring students and renewable energy imagery

October 28, 2026 is Columbia Giving Day! Your gift to Columbia Climate School helps advance interdisciplinary research, educate the next generation of leaders, and transform bold ideas into real-world solutions for climate, Earth, and society.

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  1. Reading this ten years later, the most durable idea may be that batteries and solar fuels are complements rather than…


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