State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate158

  • Understanding Today’s Climate Politics

    Understanding Today’s Climate Politics

    The climate problem will be made less bad by technological, cultural, social and economic change that will force political change. Waiting for policy to be the change agent is an exercise in futility.

  • Christine McCarthy: A Cheerleader for the Physics of Ice

    Christine McCarthy: A Cheerleader for the Physics of Ice

    Christine McCarthy, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, scrunches blocks of ice between hunks of rock to study how ice behaves under pressure. Her work provides an important piece of the puzzle of how glaciers move, what makes them speed up, and how they are contributing to sea level rise as the climate warms.

  • Announcing the 2017 Center for Climate and Life Senior Fellows

    Announcing the 2017 Center for Climate and Life Senior Fellows

    The Center has awarded nearly $1 million to four scientists whose research will improve understanding of how climate change impacts the essentials of human sustainability.

  • Racing time to Explore Ocean Ecosystems: A Mother’s Work

    Racing time to Explore Ocean Ecosystems: A Mother’s Work

    Scientists like myself are in a race against time to understand the fundamental drivers of ocean ecosystems before climate change pushes them towards a new unknown state.

  • Malaria Risk Increases in Ethiopian Highlands as Temperatures Climb

    Malaria Risk Increases in Ethiopian Highlands as Temperatures Climb

    The highlands of Ethiopia are home to the majority of the country’s population, the cooler climate serving as a natural buffer against malaria transmission. New data now show that increasing temperatures over the past 35 years are eroding this buffer, allowing conditions more favorable for malaria to begin climbing into highland areas.

  • Palcacocha Icefalls Demonstrate Hazard Vulnerabilities in Peru

    Palcacocha Icefalls Demonstrate Hazard Vulnerabilities in Peru

    In the last week, calving events at Lake Palcacocha in the Peruvian Andes released masses of ice from a glacier on Mount Pucaranra, showing the weakness of the existing infrastructure designed to protect the region from floods.

  • Adam Sobel: Preparing for the Next Big Storm

    Adam Sobel: Preparing for the Next Big Storm

    Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call for a lot of people in New York City, including Adam Sobel, who’s spent more than two decades studying the physics of weather and climate.

  • Could Climate Change Shut Down the Gulf Stream?

    Could Climate Change Shut Down the Gulf Stream?

    In the 2004 disaster movie “The Day After Tomorrow,”, global warming accelerated the melting of polar ice, disrupting circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and triggering violent changes in the weather. Could climate change shut down the Gulf Stream?

  • How Will Climate Change Impact Water Resources?

    How Will Climate Change Impact Water Resources?

    Richard Seager and Park Williams, climate scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, discuss how water will be affected by warmer temperatures, and how their research increases understanding of these issues.

Banner with collage of ecosystems and the Empire State Building with text "Climate Week NYC: Columbia Climate School."

Columbia Climate School is bringing bold ideas, leading experts, and groundbreaking research to Climate Week NYC. Explore our events, stories, and updates as we help shape the conversation on climate action across New York City.

  • Understanding Today’s Climate Politics

    Understanding Today’s Climate Politics

    The climate problem will be made less bad by technological, cultural, social and economic change that will force political change. Waiting for policy to be the change agent is an exercise in futility.

  • Christine McCarthy: A Cheerleader for the Physics of Ice

    Christine McCarthy: A Cheerleader for the Physics of Ice

    Christine McCarthy, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, scrunches blocks of ice between hunks of rock to study how ice behaves under pressure. Her work provides an important piece of the puzzle of how glaciers move, what makes them speed up, and how they are contributing to sea level rise as the climate warms.

  • Announcing the 2017 Center for Climate and Life Senior Fellows

    Announcing the 2017 Center for Climate and Life Senior Fellows

    The Center has awarded nearly $1 million to four scientists whose research will improve understanding of how climate change impacts the essentials of human sustainability.

  • Racing time to Explore Ocean Ecosystems: A Mother’s Work

    Racing time to Explore Ocean Ecosystems: A Mother’s Work

    Scientists like myself are in a race against time to understand the fundamental drivers of ocean ecosystems before climate change pushes them towards a new unknown state.

  • Malaria Risk Increases in Ethiopian Highlands as Temperatures Climb

    Malaria Risk Increases in Ethiopian Highlands as Temperatures Climb

    The highlands of Ethiopia are home to the majority of the country’s population, the cooler climate serving as a natural buffer against malaria transmission. New data now show that increasing temperatures over the past 35 years are eroding this buffer, allowing conditions more favorable for malaria to begin climbing into highland areas.

  • Palcacocha Icefalls Demonstrate Hazard Vulnerabilities in Peru

    Palcacocha Icefalls Demonstrate Hazard Vulnerabilities in Peru

    In the last week, calving events at Lake Palcacocha in the Peruvian Andes released masses of ice from a glacier on Mount Pucaranra, showing the weakness of the existing infrastructure designed to protect the region from floods.

  • Adam Sobel: Preparing for the Next Big Storm

    Adam Sobel: Preparing for the Next Big Storm

    Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call for a lot of people in New York City, including Adam Sobel, who’s spent more than two decades studying the physics of weather and climate.

  • Could Climate Change Shut Down the Gulf Stream?

    Could Climate Change Shut Down the Gulf Stream?

    In the 2004 disaster movie “The Day After Tomorrow,”, global warming accelerated the melting of polar ice, disrupting circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and triggering violent changes in the weather. Could climate change shut down the Gulf Stream?

  • How Will Climate Change Impact Water Resources?

    How Will Climate Change Impact Water Resources?

    Richard Seager and Park Williams, climate scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, discuss how water will be affected by warmer temperatures, and how their research increases understanding of these issues.