Author: Renée Cho23

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 »

What Happens to All That Plastic?

Americans discard about 33.6 million tons of plastic each year, but only 9.5 percent of it is recycled and 15 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy facilities. What happens to the rest of it?
Building NYC’s Resilience to Climate Change With Green Infrastructure

Climate change will impact New York City through more frequent heavy precipitation, sea level rise and rising temperatures. To strengthen its resilience, the city is planting trees and mini-parks, restoring wetlands and installing more permeable surfaces.
Restoring Damaged Ecosystems – The Challenge of Haiti

In 2010, almost two-thirds of the world’s ecosystems were deemed degraded due to human impacts and mismanagement, but fortunately ecosystems can be restored. The Earth Institute’s work in Haiti illustrates just how complicated ecosystem restoration can be.
Rethinking Our Food System to Combat Obesity

The Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab and MIT Collaborative Initiatives joined to investigate the issue of obesity through the prism of design. Their conclusion: “No single effort to curb childhood obesity will be sustainable or effective on a broad scale if the larger food system is not addressed.”
How You Can Help Earth Cope with 7 Billion

Earth’s population has more than doubled in the last 50 years to 7 billion. The numbers represent big challenges—feeding and providing for additional people on a planet already stressed by environmental damage and climate change. What can ordinary individuals do?
Vertical Farms: From Vision to Reality

Dr. Dickson Despommier believes vertical farming—the growing of crops indoors in multi-story urban buildings—can help feed the growing global population and undo the environmental damage caused by conventional agriculture.
Removing Dams and Restoring Rivers

On Sept. 17, 2011, the removal of two large hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River in Washington State, which have blocked migrating salmon from reaching their spawning grounds for almost 100 years, will begin. While this is the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, it is just one of several major dam removals planned…
Is Biomass Really Renewable?

Ninety percent of all existing biomass power plants use wood residue and there are currently 115 power plants in development that will burn biomass to generate electricity. But just how renewable is biomass energy?
Mountaintop Removal: Laying Waste to Streams and Forests

Mountaintop removal mining, an environmentally devastating form of coal mining that involves blowing off the tops of mountains, has already leveled over 500 mountains and buried 1,200 miles of streams in the Appalachians.

What Happens to All That Plastic?

Americans discard about 33.6 million tons of plastic each year, but only 9.5 percent of it is recycled and 15 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy facilities. What happens to the rest of it?
Building NYC’s Resilience to Climate Change With Green Infrastructure

Climate change will impact New York City through more frequent heavy precipitation, sea level rise and rising temperatures. To strengthen its resilience, the city is planting trees and mini-parks, restoring wetlands and installing more permeable surfaces.
Restoring Damaged Ecosystems – The Challenge of Haiti

In 2010, almost two-thirds of the world’s ecosystems were deemed degraded due to human impacts and mismanagement, but fortunately ecosystems can be restored. The Earth Institute’s work in Haiti illustrates just how complicated ecosystem restoration can be.
Rethinking Our Food System to Combat Obesity

The Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab and MIT Collaborative Initiatives joined to investigate the issue of obesity through the prism of design. Their conclusion: “No single effort to curb childhood obesity will be sustainable or effective on a broad scale if the larger food system is not addressed.”
How You Can Help Earth Cope with 7 Billion

Earth’s population has more than doubled in the last 50 years to 7 billion. The numbers represent big challenges—feeding and providing for additional people on a planet already stressed by environmental damage and climate change. What can ordinary individuals do?
Vertical Farms: From Vision to Reality

Dr. Dickson Despommier believes vertical farming—the growing of crops indoors in multi-story urban buildings—can help feed the growing global population and undo the environmental damage caused by conventional agriculture.
Removing Dams and Restoring Rivers

On Sept. 17, 2011, the removal of two large hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River in Washington State, which have blocked migrating salmon from reaching their spawning grounds for almost 100 years, will begin. While this is the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, it is just one of several major dam removals planned…
Is Biomass Really Renewable?

Ninety percent of all existing biomass power plants use wood residue and there are currently 115 power plants in development that will burn biomass to generate electricity. But just how renewable is biomass energy?
Mountaintop Removal: Laying Waste to Streams and Forests

Mountaintop removal mining, an environmentally devastating form of coal mining that involves blowing off the tops of mountains, has already leveled over 500 mountains and buried 1,200 miles of streams in the Appalachians.