State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Agriculture20

  • Can Soil Help Combat Climate Change?

    Can Soil Help Combat Climate Change?

    Soil naturally absorbs a huge amount of carbon. Some scientists think we can use it to our advantage in the fight against global warming.

  • Transparency and Community Empowerment around Land Investments in Cameroon

    Transparency and Community Empowerment around Land Investments in Cameroon

    Samuel Nguiffo, founder of Cameroon’s Centre for Environment and Development, explains how he uses OpenLandContracts.org, a unique tool created by the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment.

  • Justine Sylvester on Land Contract Transparency and OpenLandContracts.org

    Justine Sylvester on Land Contract Transparency and OpenLandContracts.org

    The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment speaks with Justine Sylvester of Village Focus International about land contract transparency in Laos and OpenLandContracts.org, a repository of publicly available investor-state contracts for large-scale land-based investments.

  • American Geophysical Union 2017: Key Events From the Earth Institute

    American Geophysical Union 2017: Key Events From the Earth Institute

    A chronological guide to key talks and other events presented by Columbia University’s Earth Institute at the American Geophysical Union 2017 meeting. 

  • Is There a Human Right to Land?

    Is There a Human Right to Land?

    For people around the world, land is a source of food, shelter, and livelihoods. Given their importance, land rights are surely human rights—right?

  • Swapping Where Crops are Grown Could Feed an Extra 825 Million People

    Swapping Where Crops are Grown Could Feed an Extra 825 Million People

    It could also reduce water stress, according to a new study that includes 14 major food crops from around the world.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • 3 Uses for OpenLandContracts.org

    3 Uses for OpenLandContracts.org

    Kaitlin Cordes from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment shares some of the ways she uses this repository of investor-state contracts.

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings

  • Can Soil Help Combat Climate Change?

    Can Soil Help Combat Climate Change?

    Soil naturally absorbs a huge amount of carbon. Some scientists think we can use it to our advantage in the fight against global warming.

  • Transparency and Community Empowerment around Land Investments in Cameroon

    Transparency and Community Empowerment around Land Investments in Cameroon

    Samuel Nguiffo, founder of Cameroon’s Centre for Environment and Development, explains how he uses OpenLandContracts.org, a unique tool created by the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment.

  • Justine Sylvester on Land Contract Transparency and OpenLandContracts.org

    Justine Sylvester on Land Contract Transparency and OpenLandContracts.org

    The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment speaks with Justine Sylvester of Village Focus International about land contract transparency in Laos and OpenLandContracts.org, a repository of publicly available investor-state contracts for large-scale land-based investments.

  • American Geophysical Union 2017: Key Events From the Earth Institute

    American Geophysical Union 2017: Key Events From the Earth Institute

    A chronological guide to key talks and other events presented by Columbia University’s Earth Institute at the American Geophysical Union 2017 meeting. 

  • Is There a Human Right to Land?

    Is There a Human Right to Land?

    For people around the world, land is a source of food, shelter, and livelihoods. Given their importance, land rights are surely human rights—right?

  • Swapping Where Crops are Grown Could Feed an Extra 825 Million People

    Swapping Where Crops are Grown Could Feed an Extra 825 Million People

    It could also reduce water stress, according to a new study that includes 14 major food crops from around the world.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • 3 Uses for OpenLandContracts.org

    3 Uses for OpenLandContracts.org

    Kaitlin Cordes from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment shares some of the ways she uses this repository of investor-state contracts.