State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Month: June 20115

  • Integrating Treatment for AIDS and Other Neglected Tropical Diseases

    Integrating Treatment for AIDS and Other Neglected Tropical Diseases

    Thirty years after AIDS was first reported, the United Nations will meet today to discuss next-steps toward controlling the disease. Developing countries in Africa are still the hardest hit by AIDS, but progress is being made through the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, which calls for a reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS in…

  • Making Room for Rivers: A Different Approach to Flood Control

    Making Room for Rivers: A Different Approach to Flood Control

    Over time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal engineering and construction agency, has spent over $123 billion on flood control infrastructure that hasn’t always adequately protected us. Now, with the devastation of the spring floods in the Midwest, some are calling for a new approach to flood control that makes room for our…

  • A Right, a Need, or an Economic Good? Debating our Relationship to Water

    A Right, a Need, or an Economic Good? Debating our Relationship to Water

    Debates about the human right to water, and the role of the state or private companies in ensuring access, illustrate that water provision is anything but apolitical.

  • Rhone Glacier Finely Tuned to Climate Changes

    Rhone Glacier Finely Tuned to Climate Changes

    By chiseling hunks of stone from recently exposed bedrock near the edge of the Rhone Glacier, scientists were able to decipher the comings and goings of the ice over the past 11,000 years. That should help predict what will happen to glaciers in the warming world to come.

  • New working paper: India’s Decade of Development II

    In 2000 Drs. Sachs and Bajpai called for a ‘Decade of Development’ in India. Now in 2011, a new working paper reflects on progress and propose strategies for strengthening India’s growth in the next 20 years.

  • The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    Since he arrived at the Columbia Water Center at its founding in 2008, Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy has been unswervingly focused on two questions. First, how will groundwater depletion and climate change affect agriculture in India? And given the dire nature of the crisis, what can we do to help people adapt?

  • Integrating Treatment for AIDS and Other Neglected Tropical Diseases

    Integrating Treatment for AIDS and Other Neglected Tropical Diseases

    Thirty years after AIDS was first reported, the United Nations will meet today to discuss next-steps toward controlling the disease. Developing countries in Africa are still the hardest hit by AIDS, but progress is being made through the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, which calls for a reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS in…

  • Making Room for Rivers: A Different Approach to Flood Control

    Making Room for Rivers: A Different Approach to Flood Control

    Over time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal engineering and construction agency, has spent over $123 billion on flood control infrastructure that hasn’t always adequately protected us. Now, with the devastation of the spring floods in the Midwest, some are calling for a new approach to flood control that makes room for our…

  • A Right, a Need, or an Economic Good? Debating our Relationship to Water

    A Right, a Need, or an Economic Good? Debating our Relationship to Water

    Debates about the human right to water, and the role of the state or private companies in ensuring access, illustrate that water provision is anything but apolitical.

  • Rhone Glacier Finely Tuned to Climate Changes

    Rhone Glacier Finely Tuned to Climate Changes

    By chiseling hunks of stone from recently exposed bedrock near the edge of the Rhone Glacier, scientists were able to decipher the comings and goings of the ice over the past 11,000 years. That should help predict what will happen to glaciers in the warming world to come.

  • New working paper: India’s Decade of Development II

    In 2000 Drs. Sachs and Bajpai called for a ‘Decade of Development’ in India. Now in 2011, a new working paper reflects on progress and propose strategies for strengthening India’s growth in the next 20 years.

  • The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    Since he arrived at the Columbia Water Center at its founding in 2008, Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy has been unswervingly focused on two questions. First, how will groundwater depletion and climate change affect agriculture in India? And given the dire nature of the crisis, what can we do to help people adapt?