State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Year: 20112

  • Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    As holidays approach and we plan our ‘seasonal’ migrations to see our families, many other species are making their own migrations — though with a few more snafus than we humans might hit.

  • The Shock of the New

    The Shock of the New

    During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a host of naturalist-explorers traveled around the globe in a quest to identify new species. We interview science writer Richard Conniff, who evokes this grand age of discovery in The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth, just released in paperback.

  • A Changing Climate for Small Island States

    A Changing Climate for Small Island States

    Small island states are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of their geography and socioeconomic characteristics. As the physical impacts of climate change interact with social and economic vulnerabilities, climate change poses a significant threat to the islands’ physical, social, and economic well-being.

  • Critical Urban Issues Addressed in Sustainability Management Spring Courses

    Critical Urban Issues Addressed in Sustainability Management Spring Courses

    The Sustainability Management program’s newly developed courses for Spring 2012, The Science of Urban Ecology and Sustainable Cities, focus on innovative solutions to the sustainability challenges facing the world’s rapidly growing urban centers, from issues of land use and biodiversity to congestion management and climate adaptation policies.

  • A Former Marketing Professional Tackles Environmental Issues

    A Former Marketing Professional Tackles Environmental Issues

    Brazilian native, Patricia Grossi Reis, came from London with a non-profit background, to join the MPA in Environmental Science & Policy Class of 2012. Patricia plans to combine her experience in direct marketing for a non-profit organization with her new knowledge of environmental policy to make a career change she has long been considering. For…

  • A Chat With Shahid Naeem, CERC’s Director of Science

    A Chat With Shahid Naeem, CERC’s Director of Science

    In candid conversation, wrought with his usual humor and wit, Dr. Shahid Naeem, CERC’s Director of Science, discusses topics ranging from the critical role of life on Earth and trends in sustainability to Taylor Swift, his own personal “Science Hall of Fame” and being called a tree-hugger.

  • Earth Institute Science in Spotlight

    Earth Institute Science in Spotlight

    Research presented by Earth Institute scientists at the 2011 American Geophysical Union fall conference generated a lot of attention from the media. Much of it came from a press conference held to discuss findings by Steve Goldstein from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and his colleagues on the potential for future drying up of the Dead…

  • Sustainability Management Faculty Member on the Relationship between Science and Journalism

    Claudia Dreifus, instructor of the Writing about Global Science for the International Media class in the MS in Sustainability Management program, recently spoke at forum on science and journalism at the University of South Florida highlighting the importance of the scientific community to be well-versed in communicating scientific issues.

  • Challenges at the Cutting Edge of Fighting Global Poverty

    The Millennium Village Project (MVP) was launched in 2005-6 in order to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in the poorest regions of rural Africa. A dozen clusters of villages around Africa have adopted bold and novel strategies to overcome poverty, hunger, and disease. Halfway through the ten-year project, the results are very exciting:…

  • Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    Crash Land Home for the Holidays

    As holidays approach and we plan our ‘seasonal’ migrations to see our families, many other species are making their own migrations — though with a few more snafus than we humans might hit.

  • The Shock of the New

    The Shock of the New

    During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a host of naturalist-explorers traveled around the globe in a quest to identify new species. We interview science writer Richard Conniff, who evokes this grand age of discovery in The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth, just released in paperback.

  • A Changing Climate for Small Island States

    A Changing Climate for Small Island States

    Small island states are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of their geography and socioeconomic characteristics. As the physical impacts of climate change interact with social and economic vulnerabilities, climate change poses a significant threat to the islands’ physical, social, and economic well-being.

  • Critical Urban Issues Addressed in Sustainability Management Spring Courses

    Critical Urban Issues Addressed in Sustainability Management Spring Courses

    The Sustainability Management program’s newly developed courses for Spring 2012, The Science of Urban Ecology and Sustainable Cities, focus on innovative solutions to the sustainability challenges facing the world’s rapidly growing urban centers, from issues of land use and biodiversity to congestion management and climate adaptation policies.

  • A Former Marketing Professional Tackles Environmental Issues

    A Former Marketing Professional Tackles Environmental Issues

    Brazilian native, Patricia Grossi Reis, came from London with a non-profit background, to join the MPA in Environmental Science & Policy Class of 2012. Patricia plans to combine her experience in direct marketing for a non-profit organization with her new knowledge of environmental policy to make a career change she has long been considering. For…

  • A Chat With Shahid Naeem, CERC’s Director of Science

    A Chat With Shahid Naeem, CERC’s Director of Science

    In candid conversation, wrought with his usual humor and wit, Dr. Shahid Naeem, CERC’s Director of Science, discusses topics ranging from the critical role of life on Earth and trends in sustainability to Taylor Swift, his own personal “Science Hall of Fame” and being called a tree-hugger.

  • Earth Institute Science in Spotlight

    Earth Institute Science in Spotlight

    Research presented by Earth Institute scientists at the 2011 American Geophysical Union fall conference generated a lot of attention from the media. Much of it came from a press conference held to discuss findings by Steve Goldstein from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and his colleagues on the potential for future drying up of the Dead…

  • Sustainability Management Faculty Member on the Relationship between Science and Journalism

    Claudia Dreifus, instructor of the Writing about Global Science for the International Media class in the MS in Sustainability Management program, recently spoke at forum on science and journalism at the University of South Florida highlighting the importance of the scientific community to be well-versed in communicating scientific issues.

  • Challenges at the Cutting Edge of Fighting Global Poverty

    The Millennium Village Project (MVP) was launched in 2005-6 in order to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in the poorest regions of rural Africa. A dozen clusters of villages around Africa have adopted bold and novel strategies to overcome poverty, hunger, and disease. Halfway through the ten-year project, the results are very exciting:…