State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate155

  • In High Sierras, Remnants of Ice Age Tell a Tale of Future Climate

    In High Sierras, Remnants of Ice Age Tell a Tale of Future Climate

    Aaron Putnam’s research in the California Sierras is part of an effort to study glaciers around the world—in Europe’s Alps, the Himalayas, Mongolia, Patagonia, New Zealand. He’s working on an important piece of the worldwide climate puzzle that can help us understand what’s ahead in a warming world.

  • Renewable Energy With or Without Climate Change

    Renewable Energy With or Without Climate Change

    While renewable energy will go a long way to addressing the climate change issue, its development does not require a concern for climate change. The argument for renewable energy is that it is the logical next phase of technological development.

  • Indonesian Corals Shed Light on Climate System

    Indonesian Corals Shed Light on Climate System

    A new coral salinity record shows that the location of the most significant hydroclimatic feature in the Southern Hemisphere, the South Pacific Convergence Zone, influences a major Pacific Ocean current.

  • Shifting Monsoon Altered Early Cultures in China, Study Says

    Shifting Monsoon Altered Early Cultures in China, Study Says

    The annual summer monsoon that drops rain onto East Asia has shifted dramatically, at times moving northward by as much as 400 km and doubling rainfall in that northern reach. The monsoon’s changes over the past 10,000 years likely altered the course of early human cultures in China, say the authors of a new study.

  • Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Up to now, it has been a mystery why much of the fresh water resulting from the melting of Antarctic ice shelves ends up in the depths instead of floating above saltier, denser ocean waters. Scientists working along one major ice shelf believe they have found the answer.

  • Ideology and Environmental Protection

    Ideology and Environmental Protection

    With the phrase “climate change” disappearing from U.S. federal government websites and increased talk of regulatory overreach, it is obvious that protecting the environment will continue to be a fault line in American political ideology. However, though ideology will shape the nature and speed of response, the environmental problem is real and cannot be ignored.

  • Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is launching a new tool to identify and explain the efforts taken by the incoming administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

  • ‘Tail Risk’: a Chat with Scientist Radley Horton

    ‘Tail Risk’: a Chat with Scientist Radley Horton

    We’re talking to experts around the Earth Institute about what they’re working on, what they would like people to know about it, and what inspired them to go into their field.

  • Two Who Enabled El Niño Forecasts Win 2017 Vetlesen Prize

    Warning Signs Now Applied Globally to Farming, Health, Water Issues

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

  • In High Sierras, Remnants of Ice Age Tell a Tale of Future Climate

    In High Sierras, Remnants of Ice Age Tell a Tale of Future Climate

    Aaron Putnam’s research in the California Sierras is part of an effort to study glaciers around the world—in Europe’s Alps, the Himalayas, Mongolia, Patagonia, New Zealand. He’s working on an important piece of the worldwide climate puzzle that can help us understand what’s ahead in a warming world.

  • Renewable Energy With or Without Climate Change

    Renewable Energy With or Without Climate Change

    While renewable energy will go a long way to addressing the climate change issue, its development does not require a concern for climate change. The argument for renewable energy is that it is the logical next phase of technological development.

  • Indonesian Corals Shed Light on Climate System

    Indonesian Corals Shed Light on Climate System

    A new coral salinity record shows that the location of the most significant hydroclimatic feature in the Southern Hemisphere, the South Pacific Convergence Zone, influences a major Pacific Ocean current.

  • Shifting Monsoon Altered Early Cultures in China, Study Says

    Shifting Monsoon Altered Early Cultures in China, Study Says

    The annual summer monsoon that drops rain onto East Asia has shifted dramatically, at times moving northward by as much as 400 km and doubling rainfall in that northern reach. The monsoon’s changes over the past 10,000 years likely altered the course of early human cultures in China, say the authors of a new study.

  • Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Up to now, it has been a mystery why much of the fresh water resulting from the melting of Antarctic ice shelves ends up in the depths instead of floating above saltier, denser ocean waters. Scientists working along one major ice shelf believe they have found the answer.

  • Ideology and Environmental Protection

    Ideology and Environmental Protection

    With the phrase “climate change” disappearing from U.S. federal government websites and increased talk of regulatory overreach, it is obvious that protecting the environment will continue to be a fault line in American political ideology. However, though ideology will shape the nature and speed of response, the environmental problem is real and cannot be ignored.

  • Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is launching a new tool to identify and explain the efforts taken by the incoming administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

  • ‘Tail Risk’: a Chat with Scientist Radley Horton

    ‘Tail Risk’: a Chat with Scientist Radley Horton

    We’re talking to experts around the Earth Institute about what they’re working on, what they would like people to know about it, and what inspired them to go into their field.

  • Two Who Enabled El Niño Forecasts Win 2017 Vetlesen Prize

    Warning Signs Now Applied Globally to Farming, Health, Water Issues