State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate182

  • A Game of Strategy and Survival in the High Arctic

    A Game of Strategy and Survival in the High Arctic

    EcoChains: Arctic Crisis is a card game for ages 10 and up that challenges players to strategically manage the Arctic marine ecosystem as climate changes, while they learn about the potential impacts of future changes.

  • Horn of Africa Drying in Sync With Climate

    Study Suggests Worsening Future for Troubled Region

  • Growing Up in an Era of Extreme Events: What We Need to Know Now

    NEW YORK (October 7, 2015)—The recent flooding in South Carolina is yet another reminder of just how much destruction natural disasters can cause and how ill prepared communities throughout the US continue to be. Extreme events such as flooding, drought, and storms are leading to not only short-term economic and health impacts but are setting…

  • Joaquin? There’s No Perfect Forecast, So Stay Tuned

    Joaquin? There’s No Perfect Forecast, So Stay Tuned

    What will Hurricane Joaquin do? The science of predicting that is getting better, but still uncertain. The debate today is over whether there will be a U.S. landfall now in five or more days’ time or not; 30 years ago there would have been no point in even having that discussion.

  • How Superstorm Sandy Inspired an Award-Winning Book

    How Superstorm Sandy Inspired an Award-Winning Book

    “A lot of the challenge is understanding what we as a species should do, because the disasters are getting more prevalent. In the last hundred years, both in human and financial costs, damages are skyrocketing. Most of that is just more people living in dangerous places, but climate change will be more of a factor…

  • Tropical Rainfall from Hours to Millennia

    Tropical Rainfall from Hours to Millennia

    Most of Earth’s rainfall occurs in a tropical zonal band that circles the Earth. Understanding how this band will responds to climate change requires us to combine time scales from hours to millennia.

  • The Climate of Things

    The Climate of Things

    In his talk on “The Climate of Things,” Professor Dan Rabinowitz of Tel Aviv University argued that the magnitude of climate change warrants a reexamination of modernist social science. Rather than using other disciplines to guide knowledge of the universe, his “fifth environmental paradigm” uses the climate crisis to reexamine the validity of those other…

  • Ancient Pollen Points to Mega-Droughts in California Thousands of Years Ago

    Ancient Pollen Points to Mega-Droughts in California Thousands of Years Ago

    Ancient pollen spores that were in the air when mammoths roamed Southern California are providing new insights into historic droughts in the region, including how a series of mega droughts 25,500 to 27,500 years ago changed the ecological landscape.

  • One-Two Punch of Rising Seas, Bigger Storms May Greatly Magnify U.S. East Coast Floods

    New Study Quantifies Synergy of Two Climate Hazards

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

  • A Game of Strategy and Survival in the High Arctic

    A Game of Strategy and Survival in the High Arctic

    EcoChains: Arctic Crisis is a card game for ages 10 and up that challenges players to strategically manage the Arctic marine ecosystem as climate changes, while they learn about the potential impacts of future changes.

  • Horn of Africa Drying in Sync With Climate

    Study Suggests Worsening Future for Troubled Region

  • Growing Up in an Era of Extreme Events: What We Need to Know Now

    NEW YORK (October 7, 2015)—The recent flooding in South Carolina is yet another reminder of just how much destruction natural disasters can cause and how ill prepared communities throughout the US continue to be. Extreme events such as flooding, drought, and storms are leading to not only short-term economic and health impacts but are setting…

  • Joaquin? There’s No Perfect Forecast, So Stay Tuned

    Joaquin? There’s No Perfect Forecast, So Stay Tuned

    What will Hurricane Joaquin do? The science of predicting that is getting better, but still uncertain. The debate today is over whether there will be a U.S. landfall now in five or more days’ time or not; 30 years ago there would have been no point in even having that discussion.

  • How Superstorm Sandy Inspired an Award-Winning Book

    How Superstorm Sandy Inspired an Award-Winning Book

    “A lot of the challenge is understanding what we as a species should do, because the disasters are getting more prevalent. In the last hundred years, both in human and financial costs, damages are skyrocketing. Most of that is just more people living in dangerous places, but climate change will be more of a factor…

  • Tropical Rainfall from Hours to Millennia

    Tropical Rainfall from Hours to Millennia

    Most of Earth’s rainfall occurs in a tropical zonal band that circles the Earth. Understanding how this band will responds to climate change requires us to combine time scales from hours to millennia.

  • The Climate of Things

    The Climate of Things

    In his talk on “The Climate of Things,” Professor Dan Rabinowitz of Tel Aviv University argued that the magnitude of climate change warrants a reexamination of modernist social science. Rather than using other disciplines to guide knowledge of the universe, his “fifth environmental paradigm” uses the climate crisis to reexamine the validity of those other…

  • Ancient Pollen Points to Mega-Droughts in California Thousands of Years Ago

    Ancient Pollen Points to Mega-Droughts in California Thousands of Years Ago

    Ancient pollen spores that were in the air when mammoths roamed Southern California are providing new insights into historic droughts in the region, including how a series of mega droughts 25,500 to 27,500 years ago changed the ecological landscape.

  • One-Two Punch of Rising Seas, Bigger Storms May Greatly Magnify U.S. East Coast Floods

    New Study Quantifies Synergy of Two Climate Hazards