State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Agriculture42

  • Insuring Against Drought

    Insuring Against Drought

    Research economist Dan Osgood discusses index insurance and how it is helping some poor rural communities reduce hardships caused by drought in East Africa.

  • A Famine Foretold

    A Famine Foretold

    Climate and food security expert Jim Hansen lays out the root causes of food insecurity in East Africa.

  • Getting to the Root of Africa’s Agriculture Challenges: TropAg and AfSIS Partner to Improve Soil Fertility

    Getting to the Root of Africa’s Agriculture Challenges: TropAg and AfSIS Partner to Improve Soil Fertility

    Agrium Incorporated and The Mosaic Company have partnered with the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program (TropAg) to improve soil measurement and fertility throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.  The program will link the Millennium Villages Project to the African Soil and Information Systems Project (AfSIS) with the aim of assessing nutrient depletion in soil and…

  • Water Scarcity: A Shared Problem With a World of Solutions

    Water Scarcity: A Shared Problem With a World of Solutions

    Columbia scientists and affiliates from four continents came together for the first time last week to discuss global water scarcity, present solutions from their own countries, transfer knowledge and present next steps to scale up current projects.

  • Wasting Food = Wasting Water

    Wasting Food = Wasting Water

    The world is teetering on the edge of a food crisis due to the growing population, soaring food prices, and water scarcity, yet a shocking one third of the food produced around the world goes to waste.

  • Climate-Ready Crops: The Pros and Cons

    Climate-Ready Crops: The Pros and Cons

    “If crops don’t adapt to climate change, neither will agriculture, and neither will we,” said Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust at the 2009 TED conference. Climate change is already affecting food supplies around the world as heat waves and drought reduce grain harvests and food prices soar. For every 1˚ C rise above…

  • Climate Information Crucial to Help Reduce Disaster Risk

    Climate Information Crucial to Help Reduce Disaster Risk

    Forecasts can play an invaluable role in helping humanitarian agencies and governments plan for and prevent disasters, according to a new report published by Earth Institute’s IRI and its international partners.

  • Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    To those who have never been, the Golden State is known for luxurious palm tree-lined avenues, sun-drenched beaches, and picturesque mountains. But not all parts of California were created equal. The state’s San Joaquin Valley hosts a scene entirely different from the images of Malibu beaches depicted in travel brochures. It is the non-glittering core…

  • 17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference

    17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference

    “We have in the world today two dangerously different views of the future,” the view of natural scientists and the view of economists, says Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and a keynote speaker at the 17th annual International Sustainable Development Conference.

  • Insuring Against Drought

    Insuring Against Drought

    Research economist Dan Osgood discusses index insurance and how it is helping some poor rural communities reduce hardships caused by drought in East Africa.

  • A Famine Foretold

    A Famine Foretold

    Climate and food security expert Jim Hansen lays out the root causes of food insecurity in East Africa.

  • Getting to the Root of Africa’s Agriculture Challenges: TropAg and AfSIS Partner to Improve Soil Fertility

    Getting to the Root of Africa’s Agriculture Challenges: TropAg and AfSIS Partner to Improve Soil Fertility

    Agrium Incorporated and The Mosaic Company have partnered with the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program (TropAg) to improve soil measurement and fertility throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.  The program will link the Millennium Villages Project to the African Soil and Information Systems Project (AfSIS) with the aim of assessing nutrient depletion in soil and…

  • Water Scarcity: A Shared Problem With a World of Solutions

    Water Scarcity: A Shared Problem With a World of Solutions

    Columbia scientists and affiliates from four continents came together for the first time last week to discuss global water scarcity, present solutions from their own countries, transfer knowledge and present next steps to scale up current projects.

  • Wasting Food = Wasting Water

    Wasting Food = Wasting Water

    The world is teetering on the edge of a food crisis due to the growing population, soaring food prices, and water scarcity, yet a shocking one third of the food produced around the world goes to waste.

  • Climate-Ready Crops: The Pros and Cons

    Climate-Ready Crops: The Pros and Cons

    “If crops don’t adapt to climate change, neither will agriculture, and neither will we,” said Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust at the 2009 TED conference. Climate change is already affecting food supplies around the world as heat waves and drought reduce grain harvests and food prices soar. For every 1˚ C rise above…

  • Climate Information Crucial to Help Reduce Disaster Risk

    Climate Information Crucial to Help Reduce Disaster Risk

    Forecasts can play an invaluable role in helping humanitarian agencies and governments plan for and prevent disasters, according to a new report published by Earth Institute’s IRI and its international partners.

  • Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    To those who have never been, the Golden State is known for luxurious palm tree-lined avenues, sun-drenched beaches, and picturesque mountains. But not all parts of California were created equal. The state’s San Joaquin Valley hosts a scene entirely different from the images of Malibu beaches depicted in travel brochures. It is the non-glittering core…

  • 17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference

    17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference

    “We have in the world today two dangerously different views of the future,” the view of natural scientists and the view of economists, says Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and a keynote speaker at the 17th annual International Sustainable Development Conference.