News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Kevin Krajick44

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.

Why Copenhagen Will, and Should, Fail

One of the main scientists who convinced world leaders to take note of climate change says that the Copenhagen talks are so flawed, it would be better if they collapse so the process can resume from scratch. James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (an Earth Institute affiliate) told The Guardian newspaper,…
Oceans’ Uptake of Manmade Carbon May Be Slowing

First Year-by-Year Study, 1765-2008, Shows Proportion Declining
Stalled Economy or Not, Record Year for CO2 Emissions

People Still Consumed More Per Capita in 2008
How Does the Mind Grasp Climate Change?

A Research-Based Guide Tries to Narrow a Communication Gap
‘Killer’ Southeast Drought Low on Scale, Says Study

Others Were Far Worse; Population, Planning Are the Real Problems
Shaking Out Some Money

That rumbling you feel is not necessarily a passing subway. New York City and the surrounding region gets a surprising number of small earthquakes, and a 2008 study from the region’s network of seismographs, run by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, suggests that the risk of a damaging one is not negligible. This week, the federal government announced a major upgrade…
Warming Climate May Devastate Major U.S. Crops

Study Suggests Tipping Points for Corn, Soybeans, Cotton
Latest Korean Blast Outdid 2006 Nuke Test

Seismologists, Pinpointing Location, See Telltale Images of Bomb
Down by the River, Running Out of Water

Too little water for too many people is a growing problem in poor countries–and in thriving suburban Rockland County, N.Y., just north of New York City. A new website, Water Resources in Rockland County, lays out the case, and neatly puts it into global context. The site is run by the Earth Institute’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network…

Why Copenhagen Will, and Should, Fail

One of the main scientists who convinced world leaders to take note of climate change says that the Copenhagen talks are so flawed, it would be better if they collapse so the process can resume from scratch. James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (an Earth Institute affiliate) told The Guardian newspaper,…
Oceans’ Uptake of Manmade Carbon May Be Slowing

First Year-by-Year Study, 1765-2008, Shows Proportion Declining
Stalled Economy or Not, Record Year for CO2 Emissions

People Still Consumed More Per Capita in 2008
How Does the Mind Grasp Climate Change?

A Research-Based Guide Tries to Narrow a Communication Gap
‘Killer’ Southeast Drought Low on Scale, Says Study

Others Were Far Worse; Population, Planning Are the Real Problems
Shaking Out Some Money

That rumbling you feel is not necessarily a passing subway. New York City and the surrounding region gets a surprising number of small earthquakes, and a 2008 study from the region’s network of seismographs, run by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, suggests that the risk of a damaging one is not negligible. This week, the federal government announced a major upgrade…
Warming Climate May Devastate Major U.S. Crops

Study Suggests Tipping Points for Corn, Soybeans, Cotton
Latest Korean Blast Outdid 2006 Nuke Test

Seismologists, Pinpointing Location, See Telltale Images of Bomb
Down by the River, Running Out of Water

Too little water for too many people is a growing problem in poor countries–and in thriving suburban Rockland County, N.Y., just north of New York City. A new website, Water Resources in Rockland County, lays out the case, and neatly puts it into global context. The site is run by the Earth Institute’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network…