State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Guest125


  • Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Tornadoes are rare at any one location, but out of anywhere in the United States, the central Oklahoma area has the greatest risk—and this day would prove no exception.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    Every indication is that thermal expansion will not dominate rates of sea-level rise in the future. As Earth’s climate marches toward equilibration with present-day CO2 levels, the climate will continue to warm. And this warming threatens the stability of a potentially much, much larger source for sea-level rise — the world’s remaining ice sheets.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    Why should society care that CO2 is now as high as 400 ppm? The reasons are multiple, but all trace back to the relationship between CO2 and temperature.

  • The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    Understanding the Middle East conflict is not an easy task, and adding an environmental component to the puzzle doesn’t make it any easier. Students in the Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East program, having gone through 16 days of an 18-day trip to the region, now see clearly how complex the issues actually are.…

  • M.S. Students Propose Solution to Urban Food Waste

    M.S. Students Propose Solution to Urban Food Waste

    Four students have teamed up to create re:HARVEST, a food-sharing website and companion mobile application allowing users to notify each other when they have food available for pickup that would otherwise be wasted.

  • Identifying Capacity Building Needs for the Government of Haiti

    Identifying Capacity Building Needs for the Government of Haiti

    The Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development welcomed two distinguished speakers as part of the Spring 2013 Haiti Dialogue Series to discuss government capacity building and national monitoring systems for government funded programs.

  • Students Work on Net Zero Energy to Adaptation Planning Projects

    By Noah Morgenstein This past May, seniors in the Capstone Workshop in Sustainable Development delivered their final presentations to fellow students and faculty at Columbia University. The workshop is a required course for students in the Sustainable Development major or special concentration. Unlike traditional courses, the workshop requires students to work collaboratively on a client project…

  • M.S. Student Learns the Importance of Form and Function through Sustainable Design Courses

    M.S. Student Learns the Importance of Form and Function through Sustainable Design Courses

    Being able to model solutions visually is a critical component for managers’ intent for solving environmental problems. For that reason, perhaps, advancing the way we design the built environment has always been my keenest interest. Sustainable design requires more than just the ability to create spatially: it requires expansive considerations—materials, energy, water-use, financial feasibility, new…

  • Measuring the Effect of China’s Arctic Interests

    Measuring the Effect of China’s Arctic Interests

    Of non-Arctic states, China has shown the most interest in the Arctic as climate change opens up the region to new economic development. The ways in which China attempts to balance its economic interests and environmental responsibilities within its energy policy may provide a predictor of its future behavior in the Arctic.

  • Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Tornadoes are rare at any one location, but out of anywhere in the United States, the central Oklahoma area has the greatest risk—and this day would prove no exception.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    Every indication is that thermal expansion will not dominate rates of sea-level rise in the future. As Earth’s climate marches toward equilibration with present-day CO2 levels, the climate will continue to warm. And this warming threatens the stability of a potentially much, much larger source for sea-level rise — the world’s remaining ice sheets.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    Why should society care that CO2 is now as high as 400 ppm? The reasons are multiple, but all trace back to the relationship between CO2 and temperature.

  • The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    Understanding the Middle East conflict is not an easy task, and adding an environmental component to the puzzle doesn’t make it any easier. Students in the Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East program, having gone through 16 days of an 18-day trip to the region, now see clearly how complex the issues actually are.…

  • M.S. Students Propose Solution to Urban Food Waste

    M.S. Students Propose Solution to Urban Food Waste

    Four students have teamed up to create re:HARVEST, a food-sharing website and companion mobile application allowing users to notify each other when they have food available for pickup that would otherwise be wasted.

  • Identifying Capacity Building Needs for the Government of Haiti

    Identifying Capacity Building Needs for the Government of Haiti

    The Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development welcomed two distinguished speakers as part of the Spring 2013 Haiti Dialogue Series to discuss government capacity building and national monitoring systems for government funded programs.

  • Students Work on Net Zero Energy to Adaptation Planning Projects

    By Noah Morgenstein This past May, seniors in the Capstone Workshop in Sustainable Development delivered their final presentations to fellow students and faculty at Columbia University. The workshop is a required course for students in the Sustainable Development major or special concentration. Unlike traditional courses, the workshop requires students to work collaboratively on a client project…

  • M.S. Student Learns the Importance of Form and Function through Sustainable Design Courses

    M.S. Student Learns the Importance of Form and Function through Sustainable Design Courses

    Being able to model solutions visually is a critical component for managers’ intent for solving environmental problems. For that reason, perhaps, advancing the way we design the built environment has always been my keenest interest. Sustainable design requires more than just the ability to create spatially: it requires expansive considerations—materials, energy, water-use, financial feasibility, new…

  • Measuring the Effect of China’s Arctic Interests

    Measuring the Effect of China’s Arctic Interests

    Of non-Arctic states, China has shown the most interest in the Arctic as climate change opens up the region to new economic development. The ways in which China attempts to balance its economic interests and environmental responsibilities within its energy policy may provide a predictor of its future behavior in the Arctic.