Author: Columbia Climate School48
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G. Michael Purdy Awarded 2006 Maurice Ewing Medal
Honor by the American Geophysical Union recognizes more than 30-year commitment as a researcher, administrator and innovator in the earth sciences
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Water shortages in Northeast Linked to Human Activity
Recent water shortages in Rockland County, N.Y., reveal an increasing mismatch between water demand and supply following rapid growth in the Northeast during period of abnormally high precipitation. With the summer approaching, new research has shown that recent water emergencies in the Northeast have resulted from more than just dry weather. Instead, researchers from The…
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Researchers Assess Risks Associated with Living in Low-Lying Coastal Areas
For many, sea-level rise is a remote and distant threat faced by people like the residents of the Tuvalu Islands in the South Pacific, where the highest point of land is only 5 meters (15 feet) above sea level and tidal floods occasionally cover their crops in seawater. Now, however, a recently published study by…
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Earth: Utilities Included
by Shahid Naeem, Professor of Ecology, Columbia University The day all utilities and service providers stop sending us bills would be a day of unparalleled celebration, with ticker-tape parades for the executives of utilities companies, and the naming of national heroes. Until that day comes, we have Earth Day. Our most vital utilities and services…
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Movement to End Poverty Goes Urban in Africa
Sustainable development demands that two disparate systems — urban and rural — equally meet the needs of their inhabitants without overburdening natural resources. The sustainability of agriculturally based villages, for example, depends on the health and well being of cities for access to large markets and services. Put simply, the sustainable development of one requires…
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Tough Environmental Policy Question? Bring in the MPAs
One hundred million personal computers were disposed of in 2004, and they are not benign — computers contain hazardous materials harmful to human health and the environment, and no policy exists to manage this e-waste. Is anyone working on this problem? Bring in the MPAs. This semester, a group studying to get their Masters’ in…
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Could Reducing Global Dimming Mean a Hotter, Dryer World?
Despite concerns over global warming, scientists have discovered something that may have actually limited the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in recent years by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth. In research they published last year in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team led by Beate Liepert…
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Despite Complexities, Test for TB Could Increase Rapid Diagnoses in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa shoulders 27 percent of the 8 million new annual tuberculosis cases. The current diagnostic for TB (Acid-fast Smear) used in much of Africa only works in half of all cases, leaving millions of people without treatment and many more susceptible to infection. Yanis Ben Amor, an Earth Institute Fellow, is hoping to reverse…
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Breaking the Bottlenecks to Fighting Malaria in Africa
Imagine drawing up the blueprints to save millions of lives, yet without the means or the currency to make those plans a reality. This is a fundamental problem faced by many countries ravaged by malaria, which kills an estimated 3 million annually. Countries are formulating robust and achievable plans to effectively prevent and treat malaria,…