State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

201613

  • An Admiral Assesses Climate Change

    An Admiral Assesses Climate Change

    Columbia University’s Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate hosted its biggest seminar to date. David Titley presented a talk entitled Climate Risk and National Security: People not Polar Bears. Titley, a retired U.S. rear admiral and now a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, brought humor to a serious topic and how it affects…

  • Pressure Mounts for Developing Countries to Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground

    Pressure Mounts for Developing Countries to Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground

    Calls are intensifying to phase out fossil fuels, and that is now beginning to occur in many developed countries. This shift will have profound implications for the developing world, which has vast untapped fossil fuel resources, but may be unable to realize their value.

  • Land, Resource Investments and Climate Change: 3 Key Takeaways

    Land, Resource Investments and Climate Change: 3 Key Takeaways

    Any discussion on climate change and sustainable investment in natural resources must grapple with land—a complicated yet crucial component of the search for equitable climate change solutions.

  • From Climate Science to Climate Service

    From Climate Science to Climate Service

    What makes for good climate services? A new commentary in the journal Science outlines three considerations.

  • Rhino Number 100 and World Rhino Day

    Rhino Number 100 and World Rhino Day

    The sound of a chainsaw rises discordantly above all natural sounds, disrupting the quiet of a warm African winters’ day, a destructive sound at odds with the African wilderness. But it is not a tree that is being felled. It is the horn of a rhino.

  • Exploring Obama’s Seafloor Canyons by Mini Submarine

    Exploring Obama’s Seafloor Canyons by Mini Submarine

    Only a few people have ever explored deep inside the seafloor canyons that President Obama just designated a national marine monument. Bill Ryan is one of them. In this podcast he describes what his team saw and learned.

  • Harnessing Soil to Rebuild Rural Nepal

    Harnessing Soil to Rebuild Rural Nepal

    Within weeks of a devastating earthquake in Nepal, governments and private groups pledged $4 billion in aid. And something else emerged from the rubble: a grassroots movement to rebuild rural Nepal safely and sustainably.

  • Opening Up Land Contracts and Land Data … With Caution

    Opening Up Land Contracts and Land Data … With Caution

    Transparency isn’t an end goal, but greater transparency over certain types of land-related information can lead to better outcomes: for example, more informed decision-making and improved accountability.

  • New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City is always in the global media and the images of this place are the inescapable backdrop of the emerging global culture. And that culture does not require the luxury consumer goods that are now available in all of the world’s major cities. Its core culture values a place that is safe to…

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

  • An Admiral Assesses Climate Change

    An Admiral Assesses Climate Change

    Columbia University’s Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate hosted its biggest seminar to date. David Titley presented a talk entitled Climate Risk and National Security: People not Polar Bears. Titley, a retired U.S. rear admiral and now a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, brought humor to a serious topic and how it affects…

  • Pressure Mounts for Developing Countries to Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground

    Pressure Mounts for Developing Countries to Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground

    Calls are intensifying to phase out fossil fuels, and that is now beginning to occur in many developed countries. This shift will have profound implications for the developing world, which has vast untapped fossil fuel resources, but may be unable to realize their value.

  • Land, Resource Investments and Climate Change: 3 Key Takeaways

    Land, Resource Investments and Climate Change: 3 Key Takeaways

    Any discussion on climate change and sustainable investment in natural resources must grapple with land—a complicated yet crucial component of the search for equitable climate change solutions.

  • From Climate Science to Climate Service

    From Climate Science to Climate Service

    What makes for good climate services? A new commentary in the journal Science outlines three considerations.

  • Rhino Number 100 and World Rhino Day

    Rhino Number 100 and World Rhino Day

    The sound of a chainsaw rises discordantly above all natural sounds, disrupting the quiet of a warm African winters’ day, a destructive sound at odds with the African wilderness. But it is not a tree that is being felled. It is the horn of a rhino.

  • Exploring Obama’s Seafloor Canyons by Mini Submarine

    Exploring Obama’s Seafloor Canyons by Mini Submarine

    Only a few people have ever explored deep inside the seafloor canyons that President Obama just designated a national marine monument. Bill Ryan is one of them. In this podcast he describes what his team saw and learned.

  • Harnessing Soil to Rebuild Rural Nepal

    Harnessing Soil to Rebuild Rural Nepal

    Within weeks of a devastating earthquake in Nepal, governments and private groups pledged $4 billion in aid. And something else emerged from the rubble: a grassroots movement to rebuild rural Nepal safely and sustainably.

  • Opening Up Land Contracts and Land Data … With Caution

    Opening Up Land Contracts and Land Data … With Caution

    Transparency isn’t an end goal, but greater transparency over certain types of land-related information can lead to better outcomes: for example, more informed decision-making and improved accountability.

  • New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City is always in the global media and the images of this place are the inescapable backdrop of the emerging global culture. And that culture does not require the luxury consumer goods that are now available in all of the world’s major cities. Its core culture values a place that is safe to…