Author: Columbia Climate School48
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Gore, Sachs Address Way Forward on Climate Change
On February 20, 2007, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore spoke to a packed house in Columbia’s Low Library Rotunda to address the next steps needed to mitigate the global climate crisis. Gore called upon younger generations to speak up and demand change…
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Companies Lay Out Global Framework to Fight Climate Change
As a significant step toward tackling climate change, an unprecedented group of companies and organizations from around the world have endorsed a bold post-Kyoto framework for affecting change at the levels of policy and industry, particularly in regard to creating sustainable energy systems necessary for achieving economic growth. Signatories of The Path to Climate Sustainability: A…
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Mapping Poverty for Better Development Planning
This remarkable map of Latin America portrays infant mortality rates, a widely used proxy measure of poverty. It demonstrates clearly that although Latin America has generally low infant mortality rates, overall poverty is very unevenly distributed throughout the region. Moreover, the relationship between this pattern of human well-being and broader geographic constraints is also clear.…
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Climate Information Can Be Used to Improve Lives of Most Vulnerable, Says New Publication
In Africa, millions rely directly on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods; climate-sensitive diseases are a major public health problem; and climate-related disasters regularly threaten development gains. Yet climate information often fails to reach them. The partners behind the publication Climate Risk Management in Africa: Learning from Practice would like to see this change. Case studies in this…
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University Launches New Climate Center
Columbia University has established its first center focused on bringing together the scientists, engineers, public health experts, foreign policy specialists and others who are working on the pressing challenges of climate change. The Columbia Climate Center, part of the Earth Institute but encompassing other parts of the University, is an outgrowth of Columbia’s leadership in…
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Q&A with Akong Charles Ndika, M.A. in Climate and Society Alumnus
Q&A with Akong Charles Ndika, M.A. in Climate and Society Alumnus Akong Charles Ndika was a student in the first Climate and Society class to graduate in 2005. Prior to beginning the Climate and Society program, Ndika worked as an environmental and energy policy journalist and activist with Global Village, and NGO in his home country of…
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Scientists Urge Revised Policies to Address Arsenic Problem in Bangladesh
An international group of scientists are suggesting new priorities for the next government of Bangladesh to advance the country’s fight against naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater. In an article entitled “Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in Bangladesh,” they urge a major revision of government policy following upcoming elections. Their work appeared in the December 15 issue…
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Mapping Socioeconomic Data Reveals Trends
In October 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the nation’s population had reached 300 million people — a number that has tripled since 1915. This milestone raises critical questions regarding where people live —or don’t live — in the U.S. that help feed high-level decisions on where to allocate government resources on education, health…
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In Philippines, El Niño Means Drought
Casey Brown arrived in Manila in early November on the heels of Typhoon Cimaron, a “super typhoon” that clocked 125-mile-per-hour winds. It was the second deadliest typhoon to hit the island nation since 1998. But for Manila, home to more than 10 million people, it is drought — not typhoons — that has led to…