State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Agriculture35

  • New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    Two new programs in Ethiopia and Tanzania will adapt modern technology such as an innovative “lab-in-a-box,” smartphones and web-based communications, along with training for agricultural extension workers, to broaden the reach of Africa’s “Green Revolution.”

  • New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    Earth Institute Projects to Help Farmers Boost Food Production

  • Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    by Kaci Fowler “Environmental politics is a part of who I am,” said Robert Eshelman, an aspiring journalist in Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Robert used an Earth Institute travel grant to learn and write about sustainability in his senior thesis. “I am telling stories that will have a true impact on the environment.” Robert…

  • Video: Is Drought In East Africa The New Normal?

    Video: Is Drought In East Africa The New Normal?

    A video interview with climate scientist Bradfield Lyon, who explains his latest research on what’s driving rainfall patterns in parts of East Africa.

  • Pedro Sanchez Elected into the National Academy of Sciences

    Pedro Sanchez Elected into the National Academy of Sciences

    For more than 50 years, Sanchez has worked on agriculture and hunger issues throughout the developing world. Since 2005, he has helped to establish and direct the Millennium Villages Project to promote policies to bring a green revolution to Africa and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

  • Drill Down into Africa Soils Projects

    Drill Down into Africa Soils Projects

    The Africa Soil Information Service has upgraded its website with a new layout, easier navigation and updates on project activities. A growing set of features provides information for managing soil and land in Africa, including an interactive map tool that allows you to choose layers and areas of interest that can be downloaded.

  • Fossil Teeth, Traces of Climate & Evolution

    Fossil Teeth, Traces of Climate & Evolution

    From fossil teeth to carbon traces of plants in the soil, scientists are studying how changes in climate may have influenced early human evolution in Africa. Researchers from around the world gathered for a symposium held recently at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Watch the videos.

  • New Course Offered on Global Food Systems

    The Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development will offer a course in Global Food Systems (SDEV W3200) in Fall 2012, taught by Dr. Cheryl Palm. Concerns about food shortages, land use, climate change and biodiversity have created an urgent need for interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners and policy-makers focused on agriculture. Developing sound solutions that improve agricultural production…

  • Why Soil Matters

    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.

  • New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    Two new programs in Ethiopia and Tanzania will adapt modern technology such as an innovative “lab-in-a-box,” smartphones and web-based communications, along with training for agricultural extension workers, to broaden the reach of Africa’s “Green Revolution.”

  • New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    Earth Institute Projects to Help Farmers Boost Food Production

  • Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    by Kaci Fowler “Environmental politics is a part of who I am,” said Robert Eshelman, an aspiring journalist in Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Robert used an Earth Institute travel grant to learn and write about sustainability in his senior thesis. “I am telling stories that will have a true impact on the environment.” Robert…

  • Video: Is Drought In East Africa The New Normal?

    Video: Is Drought In East Africa The New Normal?

    A video interview with climate scientist Bradfield Lyon, who explains his latest research on what’s driving rainfall patterns in parts of East Africa.

  • Pedro Sanchez Elected into the National Academy of Sciences

    Pedro Sanchez Elected into the National Academy of Sciences

    For more than 50 years, Sanchez has worked on agriculture and hunger issues throughout the developing world. Since 2005, he has helped to establish and direct the Millennium Villages Project to promote policies to bring a green revolution to Africa and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

  • Drill Down into Africa Soils Projects

    Drill Down into Africa Soils Projects

    The Africa Soil Information Service has upgraded its website with a new layout, easier navigation and updates on project activities. A growing set of features provides information for managing soil and land in Africa, including an interactive map tool that allows you to choose layers and areas of interest that can be downloaded.

  • Fossil Teeth, Traces of Climate & Evolution

    Fossil Teeth, Traces of Climate & Evolution

    From fossil teeth to carbon traces of plants in the soil, scientists are studying how changes in climate may have influenced early human evolution in Africa. Researchers from around the world gathered for a symposium held recently at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Watch the videos.

  • New Course Offered on Global Food Systems

    The Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development will offer a course in Global Food Systems (SDEV W3200) in Fall 2012, taught by Dr. Cheryl Palm. Concerns about food shortages, land use, climate change and biodiversity have created an urgent need for interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners and policy-makers focused on agriculture. Developing sound solutions that improve agricultural production…

  • Why Soil Matters

    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.