201524
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Corals and Climate Change
Corals are already facing a host of stressors—from pollution and overfishing to tourism and coastal development—but climate change puts corals at risk from rising temperatures and ocean acidification. The decline of coral reefs will have devastating consequences for the ocean, and for us.
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Research Assistant Openings for Grad Students
The Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management at the Earth Institute is seeking several graduate-level research assistants for fall 2015, to assist with the program’s various research projects. Read more about the various openings for research in sustainability metrics, sustainable finance, sustainable tourism, and ecosystem services. Applications due August 14, 2015.
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Hillary Clinton Is Right on Climate Change and the New York Times Is Wrong
I would argue that given human behavior and organizational inertia it is better to subsidize something new than tax something old. A subsidy, like a sale, sometimes stimulates changed behavior. But a tax may or may not influence behavior.
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The Growing Groundwater Crisis
Groundwater is being depleted at alarming rates, not only in drought-stricken California, but around the world. When groundwater is depleted, it can take tens to hundreds of years to for it to reestablish its sustainable level, if at all. What can be done to avert a water crisis?
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Educated Girls Uncover Unmet Design Needs
Flip through any fashionable design annual, and you’ll read of something called “Human Centered Design.” The practice of HCD places emphasis on user testing, interviews, field research and high-touch iterations to solve problems. As contemporary design, and especially sustainable design, increasingly comes to rely on HCD-inspired techniques, greater attention is being paid to social features.
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Post-Sandy Rebuilding for Resiliency: Lessons From Long Beach, NY
It is not that people have gotten amnesia and don’t remember the damage of Hurricane Sandy. Some homes are still being rebuilt and some people are still displaced. Moreover, the people who lead the shore towns in Long Island and New Jersey are speaking the language of climate resiliency.
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What the World Thinks of Climate Change
We all know that climate change can generate great debate in the United States. But what about the rest of the world?
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Undergraduates Will Develop Green Geodatabase for University
An undergraduate course in the Sustainable Development Program recently received a Course Support grant from the Earth Institute to conduct a special fieldwork project to develop the Columbia University Green Geodatabase.
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A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change
Sea level rise from melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland threatens catastrophe for coastal cities within decades unless strong measures are taken to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels, argues climate scientist James Hansen.
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
