News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Renée Cho22

Renee Cho is a regular contributor to the Columbia Climate School. She has written over 200 articles for State of the Planet on a broad range of topics. She was previously published by www.insideclimatenews.com, and other environmental magazines. Renee was Communications Coordinator for Riverkeeper, the Hudson River environmental organization. She received the Executive Education Certificate in Conservation and Sustainability from the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability. Follow me on Twitter: @ReneeCho_ Visit website »

Getting Better Prepared for the Next Big Storm

Super Storm Sandy was an unusually powerful and destructive storm because of a rare constellation of factors, but scientists predict that we can expect more extreme weather events due to the effects of climate change. Has the super storm made us take warnings about extreme weather more seriously?
Composting—Turning Garbage into Black Gold

Forty percent of our food is wasted, but through composting, food waste can be turned into black gold—so called because compost, the mixture of decayed organic matter, is valuable as a nutrient-rich soil additive. In the United States, however, less than 3 percent of food waste is composted.
Rare Earth Metals: Will We Have Enough?

Cell phones, iPads, laptops, televisions, hybrid cars, wind turbines, solar cells and many more products depend on rare earth metals to function. Will there be enough for us to continue our high-tech lifestyle and transition to a renewable energy economy?
How Green is Local Food?

Local food proponents often claim that food grown close to home helps prevent global warming because it requires less fossil fuels to transport, generating fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally produced food. But just how green is local food?
Preparing for a Future of Perpetual Drought

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that droughts will likely increase in central North America this century. How can we prepare for a future of perpetual drought?
Turning Concern into Action: 12 Ways to Combat Climate Change

With the incidence of extreme weather on the increase, concern about global warming is also growing. This concern needs to be turned into action—whether local, regional or national. Here are a dozen ways to take action.
Connecting the Dots: Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Professor Ben Orlove, anthropologist and co-director of the Earth Institute’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions discusses the connection between extreme weather and global warming, and public perception of climate change.
The Double-Edged Sword of Geoengineering

Shooting sulfur particles into the stratosphere to reflect the sun? Dumping iron into the ocean to boost the absorption of carbon dioxide? Could these far-fetched and dangerous-sounding schemes—geoengineering—help avert potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, or would they exacerbate conditions on our ever warming planet?
Why Soil Matters

Soil is the source of all life. Yet “we know more about soils of Mars than about soils of Africa,” says Pedro Sanchez, director of the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program. To remedy this situation, the Earth Institute is taking part in an ambitious undertaking to map the world’s soils.

Getting Better Prepared for the Next Big Storm

Super Storm Sandy was an unusually powerful and destructive storm because of a rare constellation of factors, but scientists predict that we can expect more extreme weather events due to the effects of climate change. Has the super storm made us take warnings about extreme weather more seriously?
Composting—Turning Garbage into Black Gold

Forty percent of our food is wasted, but through composting, food waste can be turned into black gold—so called because compost, the mixture of decayed organic matter, is valuable as a nutrient-rich soil additive. In the United States, however, less than 3 percent of food waste is composted.
Rare Earth Metals: Will We Have Enough?

Cell phones, iPads, laptops, televisions, hybrid cars, wind turbines, solar cells and many more products depend on rare earth metals to function. Will there be enough for us to continue our high-tech lifestyle and transition to a renewable energy economy?
How Green is Local Food?

Local food proponents often claim that food grown close to home helps prevent global warming because it requires less fossil fuels to transport, generating fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally produced food. But just how green is local food?
Preparing for a Future of Perpetual Drought

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that droughts will likely increase in central North America this century. How can we prepare for a future of perpetual drought?
Turning Concern into Action: 12 Ways to Combat Climate Change

With the incidence of extreme weather on the increase, concern about global warming is also growing. This concern needs to be turned into action—whether local, regional or national. Here are a dozen ways to take action.
Connecting the Dots: Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Professor Ben Orlove, anthropologist and co-director of the Earth Institute’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions discusses the connection between extreme weather and global warming, and public perception of climate change.
The Double-Edged Sword of Geoengineering

Shooting sulfur particles into the stratosphere to reflect the sun? Dumping iron into the ocean to boost the absorption of carbon dioxide? Could these far-fetched and dangerous-sounding schemes—geoengineering—help avert potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, or would they exacerbate conditions on our ever warming planet?
Why Soil Matters

Soil is the source of all life. Yet “we know more about soils of Mars than about soils of Africa,” says Pedro Sanchez, director of the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program. To remedy this situation, the Earth Institute is taking part in an ambitious undertaking to map the world’s soils.