News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Kevin Krajick3

Kevin Krajick was from 2007-2025 the senior editor for science news at the Earth Institute and the Columbia Climate School. He grew up in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, where he worked at his high-school newspaper. He has since reported from all 50 U.S. states and 30-some countries, writing about science, medicine, crime, immigration and other issues. His work has appeared in National Geographic, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Science, Smithsonian and many other publications. He was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Public Service for his reporting on organized crime’s links to the toxic waste-disposal industry. He is two-time winner of the American Geophysical Union’s Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and his work has been featured repeatedly in the yearly book “Best American Science and Nature Writing.” His 2001 book “Barren Lands” is the true account of how two prospectors discovered vast deposits of diamonds in Canada’s remote far north. Krajick holds degrees in comparative literature and journalism from Columbia University. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his family.

Key Ocean Current Contains a Warning on Climate

A new study shows that a giant current circling Antarctica has speeded up during past warm periods, eating away at the polar ice. It’s doing it again now.
High in a Cloud Forest, Tapping Into the Breathing of a Volcanic Beast

On Costa Rica’s active Poás volcano, scientists install geophysical instruments that can monitor the underground in real time.
How Best to Educate People About Climate Change?

A new primer from the Earth Institute explores best practices for educating people of all ages about climate change.
A Volcanic Explosion 520,000 Years Ago Dwarfed One That Devastated the Minoan Civilization

An undersea eruption a half million years ago was much larger than nearly anything recorded in human time.
Bottled Water Can Contain Hundreds of Thousands of Previously Uncounted Tiny Plastic Bits, Study Finds

Using a new technique, scientists have been able to identify extremely minute plastic fragments in bottled water, 10 times more than previously counted.
A New 66 Million-Year History of Carbon Dioxide Offers Little Comfort for Today

Scientists have produced a new curve of how atmospheric carbon dioxide affects climate. It makes clear that its effects can be long lasting.
American Geophysical Union 2023: Key Research From the Columbia Climate School

A guide to notable research to be presented at the world’s largest gathering of earth and space scientists.
In Many Major Crop Regions, Workers Plant and Harvest in Spiraling Heat and Humidity

The ability of farmworkers to cultivate major crops including rice and maize may be compromised if climate trends continue.
She’s on a Mission to Plumb the Secrets of New York’s Disappearing Wetlands

Botanist and climate scientist Dorothy Peteet has been in the business digging deep into bogs, marshes and fens for more than 40 years, revealing natural and human histories going back thousands of years, and their role in changing climate. A final frontier: the obscure remains of New York City’s once widespread coastal wetlands.

Key Ocean Current Contains a Warning on Climate

A new study shows that a giant current circling Antarctica has speeded up during past warm periods, eating away at the polar ice. It’s doing it again now.
High in a Cloud Forest, Tapping Into the Breathing of a Volcanic Beast

On Costa Rica’s active Poás volcano, scientists install geophysical instruments that can monitor the underground in real time.
How Best to Educate People About Climate Change?

A new primer from the Earth Institute explores best practices for educating people of all ages about climate change.
A Volcanic Explosion 520,000 Years Ago Dwarfed One That Devastated the Minoan Civilization

An undersea eruption a half million years ago was much larger than nearly anything recorded in human time.
Bottled Water Can Contain Hundreds of Thousands of Previously Uncounted Tiny Plastic Bits, Study Finds

Using a new technique, scientists have been able to identify extremely minute plastic fragments in bottled water, 10 times more than previously counted.
A New 66 Million-Year History of Carbon Dioxide Offers Little Comfort for Today

Scientists have produced a new curve of how atmospheric carbon dioxide affects climate. It makes clear that its effects can be long lasting.
American Geophysical Union 2023: Key Research From the Columbia Climate School

A guide to notable research to be presented at the world’s largest gathering of earth and space scientists.
In Many Major Crop Regions, Workers Plant and Harvest in Spiraling Heat and Humidity

The ability of farmworkers to cultivate major crops including rice and maize may be compromised if climate trends continue.
She’s on a Mission to Plumb the Secrets of New York’s Disappearing Wetlands

Botanist and climate scientist Dorothy Peteet has been in the business digging deep into bogs, marshes and fens for more than 40 years, revealing natural and human histories going back thousands of years, and their role in changing climate. A final frontier: the obscure remains of New York City’s once widespread coastal wetlands.