State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Renée Cho19

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  • Just How Effective is Green Infrastructure?

    Just How Effective is Green Infrastructure?

    Over the next 18 years, New York City’s 2010 Green Infrastructure Plan will spend $2.4 billion on green infrastructure— green roofs, tree plantings, and increased vegetation— to combat coastal pollution. But how does green infrastructure work and how effective is it really?

  • The Intensifying Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods

    The Intensifying Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods

    Genetically modified foods contain organisms that have had DNA from a non-related species transferred into their genes via biotechnology to imbue them with specific traits. The debate over whether or not they are safe is intensifying as more GM foods show up in our supermarkets, and the movement to label GM food grows.

  • What’s the Real Story With Clean Coal?

    What’s the Real Story With Clean Coal?

    The Obama administration will propose new rules to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. But is “clean coal” technology up to the job?

  • Finding Solutions to Environmental Conflict: Q&A With Josh Fisher

    Finding Solutions to Environmental Conflict: Q&A With Josh Fisher

    In a rapidly warming world, conflicts inevitably arise between those affected by dwindling resources and changing climate conditions. Josh Fisher’s work centers on trying to avert conflict and provide opportunities for cooperation through understanding the relationships between conflict, environment and development.

  • Making Green Behavior Automatic

    Making Green Behavior Automatic

    A default is defined as an option that applies if the chooser does nothing. The good news is that setting greener choices as defaults can automatically nudge people into more sustainable behavior.

  • A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    When architect Fernando Arias first arrived in Kumasi, Ghana last year, he saw unpaved roads, trash burning, garbage everywhere, and shoeless children running all around. He knew he needed to act on their behalf.

  • Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Mothers, carbon, trash, vanishing ice and “secret lives”: Watch a movie for Earth Day and learn.

  • Phosphorus: Essential to Life—Are We Running Out?

    Phosphorus: Essential to Life—Are We Running Out?

    Phosphorus is essential to human health and vital for food production. But are we using up phosphorus faster than we can economically extract it?

  • NY State Prepares for Natural Disasters: A Q&A with Cynthia Rosenzweig

    NY State Prepares for Natural Disasters: A Q&A with Cynthia Rosenzweig

    Cynthia Rosenzweig of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies talks about the work of the New York State Ready Commission, set up after Hurricane Sandy to study how the state can better prepare for natural disasters.

  • Just How Effective is Green Infrastructure?

    Just How Effective is Green Infrastructure?

    Over the next 18 years, New York City’s 2010 Green Infrastructure Plan will spend $2.4 billion on green infrastructure— green roofs, tree plantings, and increased vegetation— to combat coastal pollution. But how does green infrastructure work and how effective is it really?

  • The Intensifying Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods

    The Intensifying Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods

    Genetically modified foods contain organisms that have had DNA from a non-related species transferred into their genes via biotechnology to imbue them with specific traits. The debate over whether or not they are safe is intensifying as more GM foods show up in our supermarkets, and the movement to label GM food grows.

  • What’s the Real Story With Clean Coal?

    What’s the Real Story With Clean Coal?

    The Obama administration will propose new rules to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. But is “clean coal” technology up to the job?

  • Finding Solutions to Environmental Conflict: Q&A With Josh Fisher

    Finding Solutions to Environmental Conflict: Q&A With Josh Fisher

    In a rapidly warming world, conflicts inevitably arise between those affected by dwindling resources and changing climate conditions. Josh Fisher’s work centers on trying to avert conflict and provide opportunities for cooperation through understanding the relationships between conflict, environment and development.

  • Making Green Behavior Automatic

    Making Green Behavior Automatic

    A default is defined as an option that applies if the chooser does nothing. The good news is that setting greener choices as defaults can automatically nudge people into more sustainable behavior.

  • A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    When architect Fernando Arias first arrived in Kumasi, Ghana last year, he saw unpaved roads, trash burning, garbage everywhere, and shoeless children running all around. He knew he needed to act on their behalf.

  • Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Green Films for Earth Day 2013

    Mothers, carbon, trash, vanishing ice and “secret lives”: Watch a movie for Earth Day and learn.

  • Phosphorus: Essential to Life—Are We Running Out?

    Phosphorus: Essential to Life—Are We Running Out?

    Phosphorus is essential to human health and vital for food production. But are we using up phosphorus faster than we can economically extract it?

  • NY State Prepares for Natural Disasters: A Q&A with Cynthia Rosenzweig

    NY State Prepares for Natural Disasters: A Q&A with Cynthia Rosenzweig

    Cynthia Rosenzweig of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies talks about the work of the New York State Ready Commission, set up after Hurricane Sandy to study how the state can better prepare for natural disasters.