State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

201124

  • Community Health Workers: Spokes of Change

    Community Health Workers: Spokes of Change

    Three years ago, Irene Gaundi was living with her parents in the Millennium Village of Bonsaaso, in Ghana.  She had completed her last year of secondary school, moved home, and was helping her mother sell second hand clothes. Each day, Irene and her mother walked along the rust-colored roads, beneath the hot sun, balancing clothes…

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/07

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/07

    Climate Bonds to Fund Clean Energy Development, While Providing Fixed Income, Sustainable Business, Aug 9 In 2009, an international think tank decided the global bond market could play a central role in financing clean energy projects, while providing attractive fixed income returns to investors. The International Network for Sustainable Financial Markets launched the Climate Bonds Initiative to foster…

  • Atmospheric Scientists Win Early Career Awards

    Atmospheric Scientists Win Early Career Awards

    Two scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have been recognized for early-career achievement in the atmospheric sciences by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the world’s largest earth-sciences organization. Tiffany Shaw, 31, is a physicist who uses computer models and mathematical equations to study the basic dynamics of the atmosphere and climate, for instance, how the jet…

  • Mountaintop Removal: Laying Waste to Streams and Forests

    Mountaintop Removal: Laying Waste to Streams and Forests

    Mountaintop removal mining, an environmentally devastating form of coal mining that involves blowing off the tops of mountains, has already leveled over 500 mountains and buried 1,200 miles of streams in the Appalachians.

  • Sewage Still Plagues Hudson River

    Sewage Still Plagues Hudson River

    People are swimming in the Hudson again, and while clumps of sewage rarely float by anymore, the water is not reliably clean, says a report released this week from the environmental group Riverkeeper. Four years of testing by Riverkeeper and Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, show recurring hot spots, especially after rain, when overwhelmed sewers divert…

  • Climate Underpinnings of East Africa Drought

    Climate Underpinnings of East Africa Drought

    Watch a video interview of climate scientist Brad Lyon on the conditions leading up to the ongoing drought in East Africa. He says there’s a chance of La Niña forming later in the year, which could have devastating consequences for a region already plagued by widespread famine.

  • In a First, Scientists Successfully Forecast Undersea Eruption

    Lava Flow Is Spotted Off Oregon

  • Returning From Sea to Dutch Harbor

    Returning From Sea to Dutch Harbor

    At 6:30 am on August 5, the R/V Langseth pulled into port in Dutch Harbor, marking the end of our very successful research cruise. Our steam into port from our study area involved a trip through Unimak pass and beautiful views of Aleutian volcanoes, including majestic Shishaldin. Many things are required to make a research…

  • End of the Line – Good Byes to a Great Field Season in Peru

    End of the Line – Good Byes to a Great Field Season in Peru

    After more than six weeks trawling the Peruvian Andes in search of palaeoclimate clues, our field team is visiting the last site, a potential calibration sites near Coropuna. The objective of that ongoing work is to refine the cosmogenic surface-exposure method for the tropics, thereby improving the precision of new and existing datasets.

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • Community Health Workers: Spokes of Change

    Community Health Workers: Spokes of Change

    Three years ago, Irene Gaundi was living with her parents in the Millennium Village of Bonsaaso, in Ghana.  She had completed her last year of secondary school, moved home, and was helping her mother sell second hand clothes. Each day, Irene and her mother walked along the rust-colored roads, beneath the hot sun, balancing clothes…

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/07

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/07

    Climate Bonds to Fund Clean Energy Development, While Providing Fixed Income, Sustainable Business, Aug 9 In 2009, an international think tank decided the global bond market could play a central role in financing clean energy projects, while providing attractive fixed income returns to investors. The International Network for Sustainable Financial Markets launched the Climate Bonds Initiative to foster…

  • Atmospheric Scientists Win Early Career Awards

    Atmospheric Scientists Win Early Career Awards

    Two scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have been recognized for early-career achievement in the atmospheric sciences by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the world’s largest earth-sciences organization. Tiffany Shaw, 31, is a physicist who uses computer models and mathematical equations to study the basic dynamics of the atmosphere and climate, for instance, how the jet…

  • Mountaintop Removal: Laying Waste to Streams and Forests

    Mountaintop Removal: Laying Waste to Streams and Forests

    Mountaintop removal mining, an environmentally devastating form of coal mining that involves blowing off the tops of mountains, has already leveled over 500 mountains and buried 1,200 miles of streams in the Appalachians.

  • Sewage Still Plagues Hudson River

    Sewage Still Plagues Hudson River

    People are swimming in the Hudson again, and while clumps of sewage rarely float by anymore, the water is not reliably clean, says a report released this week from the environmental group Riverkeeper. Four years of testing by Riverkeeper and Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, show recurring hot spots, especially after rain, when overwhelmed sewers divert…

  • Climate Underpinnings of East Africa Drought

    Climate Underpinnings of East Africa Drought

    Watch a video interview of climate scientist Brad Lyon on the conditions leading up to the ongoing drought in East Africa. He says there’s a chance of La Niña forming later in the year, which could have devastating consequences for a region already plagued by widespread famine.

  • In a First, Scientists Successfully Forecast Undersea Eruption

    Lava Flow Is Spotted Off Oregon

  • Returning From Sea to Dutch Harbor

    Returning From Sea to Dutch Harbor

    At 6:30 am on August 5, the R/V Langseth pulled into port in Dutch Harbor, marking the end of our very successful research cruise. Our steam into port from our study area involved a trip through Unimak pass and beautiful views of Aleutian volcanoes, including majestic Shishaldin. Many things are required to make a research…

  • End of the Line – Good Byes to a Great Field Season in Peru

    End of the Line – Good Byes to a Great Field Season in Peru

    After more than six weeks trawling the Peruvian Andes in search of palaeoclimate clues, our field team is visiting the last site, a potential calibration sites near Coropuna. The objective of that ongoing work is to refine the cosmogenic surface-exposure method for the tropics, thereby improving the precision of new and existing datasets.