Author: Columbia Climate School51
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Answers About the Earth’s Energy Imbalance by James E. Hansen, Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Below are answers to typical questions about this research topic and its implications provided by James E. Hansen, director, NASA’s Goddard Insittute for Space Studies. Hansen was lead author on a paper published by Science in April 2005 on this topic. What is the direct significance of the energy imbalance found by the authors in…
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In Rwanda, Clever Use of Technology Helps a Little Go a Long Way, and Faster
In a country that made headlines for a brutal genocide that left an estimated 800,000 dead, Rwanda now counts itself among several African nations battling with another devastating enemy: AIDS. According to government estimates, about 4 percent of adults living in rural areas and as many as 13 percent in Kigali, the country’s capital, are…
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Seeing the Forest and the Trees
Study finds that loss of tree diversity affects the ability of tropical forests to sequester carbon
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Reducing the Impact of Mother Nature
During live Q&A, expert in natural disasters explains ways to mitigate damage
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More Than 1,000 to Get Their Feet Wet in Hudson Estuary Project
For many residents of New York City and upstate communities, the Hudson River is such a constant presence that it can sometimes fade into the background of daily life. On Wednesday, October 12, however, Earth Institute researchers contributed to the efforts of volunteers and students from Troy to Brooklyn in putting the Hudson front-and-center by…
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Devastating Droughts in the American West Not Isolated Events
Droughts that last several years are a recurring feature of the American West. They are also potentially costly natural disasters with impacts ranging from declining agricultural production, reduced water availability, increased forest fires, variable river flows, and declining fisheries. The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s, which was memorialized in some of the greatest works…
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Emerging Scientists Set Sights on Fixing World’s Problems
In 2002, Christian Webersik spent months on and off in war-torn Somalia, conducting interviews with both the elite and the layperson for his research on the link between armed conflict and natural resources. “You can see how different political sides tried to monopolize natural resources to finance their militia,” says Webersik. His work suggests it…
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How an Ecologist Moved to the Center of Sustainable Development
Economists, physicians and a range of social scientists have long found an easy place at the table when it comes to promoting sustainable development in the poorest areas of the world. But an agroecologist? “Agroecologists always feel a little outcast when working on development issues,” says Fabrice De Clerck, an Earth Institute Fellow with the…
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Mapping the Risks of Hurricane Disasters
The Natural Disaster Hotspots report released earlier this year showed that the U.S. Gulf Coast is among the world’s most at-risk regions in terms of human mortality and economic loss due to storms like Katrina and Rita. The study, which was produced by researchers from the Center for Hazards and Risk Research, The International Research…