State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

201511

  • International Conference on El Niño, Nov. 17-18

    International Conference on El Niño, Nov. 17-18

    A live-streamed international conference on El Niño takes place on Nov. 17 and 18 at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society.

  • Symbolic Politics, the Keystone Pipeline, and Climate Policy in the Real World

    The Clean Power Plan, the renewable energy tax credit, and state and local sustainability initiatives may not have the glamor of climate conferences in Paris or the media currency of the fight over the Keystone XL Pipeline, but they are the real, operational policies and programs that actually reduce fossil fuel use and speed the…

  • New Drought Atlas Maps 2,000 Years of Climate in Europe

    Completes the First Big-Picture View Across Northern Hemisphere

  • Rapid-Fire Cyclones over the North Indian Ocean

    Rapid-Fire Cyclones over the North Indian Ocean

    With Chapala’s destructive landfall in Yemen just a couple of days in the past, a second tropical cyclone, Megh, has just formed in the Arabian Sea. This one is not forecast to become anywhere near as intense as Chapala did—though we know intensity forecasts can be wrong, as they were at early stages for both…

  • ESP Alum Focuses on International Development and Conservation

    ESP Alum Focuses on International Development and Conservation

    Ashley Toombs, a 2015 graduate of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, recently joined BRAC USA, a poverty alleviation and international development organization founded in the 1970s in Bangladesh and now operating in 12 countries in Asia and Africa.

  • Getting Sustainability on the Agenda of Our Dysfunctional Federal Government

    What is needed politically and in reality is a positive vision of a sustainable society. In the case of this country it will need to be built on the traditional values that have always attracted people to America: freedom, rewarding individual achievement, a love of the new and novel, innovation, and acceptance (even if reluctantly)…

  • How to Have the Climate Change Conversation

    How to Have the Climate Change Conversation

    On Thursday, October 29, the Earth Institute and the School of International of Public Affairs hosted a panel on Sustainability and Climate Change in the 2016 Presidential Race. The panel was moderated by Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet the Press. The panelists discussed how to frame the climate change conversation in such a polarized political…

  • Faculty Profile: Kitty Kay Chan

    Faculty Profile: Kitty Kay Chan

    Master of Science in Sustainability Management professor Kitty Kay Chan was drawn to the program because she felt the curriculum’s interdisciplinary learning environment was the perfect catalyst for future sustainability managers to effect real change.

  • Teaching Assistant Positions for Spring 2016

    Teaching Assistant Positions for Spring 2016

    The Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development is currently accepting applications for spring 2016 teaching assistant positions.

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

  • International Conference on El Niño, Nov. 17-18

    International Conference on El Niño, Nov. 17-18

    A live-streamed international conference on El Niño takes place on Nov. 17 and 18 at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society.

  • Symbolic Politics, the Keystone Pipeline, and Climate Policy in the Real World

    The Clean Power Plan, the renewable energy tax credit, and state and local sustainability initiatives may not have the glamor of climate conferences in Paris or the media currency of the fight over the Keystone XL Pipeline, but they are the real, operational policies and programs that actually reduce fossil fuel use and speed the…

  • New Drought Atlas Maps 2,000 Years of Climate in Europe

    Completes the First Big-Picture View Across Northern Hemisphere

  • Rapid-Fire Cyclones over the North Indian Ocean

    Rapid-Fire Cyclones over the North Indian Ocean

    With Chapala’s destructive landfall in Yemen just a couple of days in the past, a second tropical cyclone, Megh, has just formed in the Arabian Sea. This one is not forecast to become anywhere near as intense as Chapala did—though we know intensity forecasts can be wrong, as they were at early stages for both…

  • ESP Alum Focuses on International Development and Conservation

    ESP Alum Focuses on International Development and Conservation

    Ashley Toombs, a 2015 graduate of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, recently joined BRAC USA, a poverty alleviation and international development organization founded in the 1970s in Bangladesh and now operating in 12 countries in Asia and Africa.

  • Getting Sustainability on the Agenda of Our Dysfunctional Federal Government

    What is needed politically and in reality is a positive vision of a sustainable society. In the case of this country it will need to be built on the traditional values that have always attracted people to America: freedom, rewarding individual achievement, a love of the new and novel, innovation, and acceptance (even if reluctantly)…

  • How to Have the Climate Change Conversation

    How to Have the Climate Change Conversation

    On Thursday, October 29, the Earth Institute and the School of International of Public Affairs hosted a panel on Sustainability and Climate Change in the 2016 Presidential Race. The panel was moderated by Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet the Press. The panelists discussed how to frame the climate change conversation in such a polarized political…

  • Faculty Profile: Kitty Kay Chan

    Faculty Profile: Kitty Kay Chan

    Master of Science in Sustainability Management professor Kitty Kay Chan was drawn to the program because she felt the curriculum’s interdisciplinary learning environment was the perfect catalyst for future sustainability managers to effect real change.

  • Teaching Assistant Positions for Spring 2016

    Teaching Assistant Positions for Spring 2016

    The Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development is currently accepting applications for spring 2016 teaching assistant positions.