Agriculture45
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The Middle East Dries Up—Another Case Study in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
As seductive as it is, depleting non-renewable aquifers to grow food is fundamentally unsustainable for the long term, as Saudi Arabia and other nations are finding out. According to a recent article by Lester Brown, in the 1970s the world’s largest oil producer realized it could use oil-drilling technology to tap deep underwater aquifers and—amazingly,…
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Growing Up: Water Efficiency and Sunless Farming
As Earth’s population continues to grow and a dynamic global climate shifts our expectations of where and when food can be grown, scientists are trying to find new ways to get more from less.
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Informing Farmers and Combating Drought in Mali
A new case study authored by scientists at Mali’s national meteorological service and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society chronicles a success story of linking farmers to climate information in response to the 1972-1984 drought.
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To Burn, or Not to Burn
A new report by the World Resources Institute showcases IRI’s efforts to get decision makers in Indonesia to change their fire policy, so that it was based on seasonal climate information.
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Insuring the World’s Poorest Farmers
Index insurance could help small-scale farmers build wealth and cope with climate change, but more accurate weather and climate data is needed for index insurance to catch on, writes Daniel Osgood, a scientist at Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). In a new piece in Nature Geoscience, Osgood and colleagues outline…
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Improving Climate Prediction in Africa
Africa lags the developed world in weather stations but still produces a surprising amount of data. Too bad few people are using it. Scientists at Columbia University and a growing number of others—among them Bill Gates and the charity arm of Google—are pushing to open Africa’s climate archive to the world by making it free.…
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Climate Change to Exacerbate Rising Food Prices
Despite all human provisions to maintain a steady and even increasing food supply, post-Green-Revolution agriculture remains heavily dependent on seasonal weather. Just in the past few years, weather extremes caused significant jumps in food prices, causing social, economic, and political disturbances in both developing and developed countries. Between 2006 and 2008, world average prices rose…
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White Paper Release: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India
In honor of World Water Day, Columbia Water Center is releasing a new White Paper: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India. The paper presents the results of Columbia Water Center’s study of the severe groundwater crisis in the Mehsana region of Northern Gujarat, India. The study concludes that the current pattern of groundwater exploitation…
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Ethanol’s Impacts on Our Water Resources
Ninety-five percent of ethanol in the U.S. comes from corn, but corn-based ethanol is controversial because of the amount of land required to grow the crops, and because of its effect on food prices and water resources.
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“
