State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate184

  • The Environment and the 2016 Elections

    The environment holds the potential to emerge as a political issue in the 2016 presidential election in part because it has gone from being a non-partisan consensus issue to a deeply partisan ideological issue. The battleground will be for the heart and mind of the independent voter.

  • Corals and Climate Change

    Corals and Climate Change

    Corals are already facing a host of stressors—from pollution and overfishing to tourism and coastal development—but climate change puts corals at risk from rising temperatures and ocean acidification. The decline of coral reefs will have devastating consequences for the ocean, and for us.

  • Hillary Clinton Is Right on Climate Change and the New York Times Is Wrong

    I would argue that given human behavior and organizational inertia it is better to subsidize something new than tax something old. A subsidy, like a sale, sometimes stimulates changed behavior. But a tax may or may not influence behavior.

  • What the World Thinks of Climate Change

    What the World Thinks of Climate Change

    We all know that climate change can generate great debate in the United States. But what about the rest of the world?

  • A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    Sea level rise from melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland threatens catastrophe for coastal cities within decades unless strong measures are taken to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels, argues climate scientist James Hansen.

  • Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    If you take a look at nearly any satellite image of clouds in the tropics, you’ll notice that the clouds tend to be organized into clusters. One specific type of cloud organization called “self-aggregation.” Self-aggregation is the tendency of tropical clouds to spontaneously clump together, solely due to interactions between the clouds and the surrounding…

  • Head for the Hills

    Head for the Hills

    While we spent much of our time examining corals and swamps, studying sea level and storms, we became fascinated by a simple question: How did the hills of Exuma form?

  • The Extreme Pacific Climate Now

    The Extreme Pacific Climate Now

    The climate over the tropical Pacific is in an extreme state at the moment. That explains some of the extreme anomalies affecting the United States right now. It also gives us a window through which we can glimpse how even more dramatic and long-term climates of the distant past might have worked.

  • Don’t Worry About Doomsday, Botanists Have a Plan

    Don’t Worry About Doomsday, Botanists Have a Plan

    A new initiative of the Smithsonian Institution is building a frozen library cataloging snippets of plant tissue from every species on the planet.

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

  • The Environment and the 2016 Elections

    The environment holds the potential to emerge as a political issue in the 2016 presidential election in part because it has gone from being a non-partisan consensus issue to a deeply partisan ideological issue. The battleground will be for the heart and mind of the independent voter.

  • Corals and Climate Change

    Corals and Climate Change

    Corals are already facing a host of stressors—from pollution and overfishing to tourism and coastal development—but climate change puts corals at risk from rising temperatures and ocean acidification. The decline of coral reefs will have devastating consequences for the ocean, and for us.

  • Hillary Clinton Is Right on Climate Change and the New York Times Is Wrong

    I would argue that given human behavior and organizational inertia it is better to subsidize something new than tax something old. A subsidy, like a sale, sometimes stimulates changed behavior. But a tax may or may not influence behavior.

  • What the World Thinks of Climate Change

    What the World Thinks of Climate Change

    We all know that climate change can generate great debate in the United States. But what about the rest of the world?

  • A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    Sea level rise from melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland threatens catastrophe for coastal cities within decades unless strong measures are taken to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels, argues climate scientist James Hansen.

  • Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    If you take a look at nearly any satellite image of clouds in the tropics, you’ll notice that the clouds tend to be organized into clusters. One specific type of cloud organization called “self-aggregation.” Self-aggregation is the tendency of tropical clouds to spontaneously clump together, solely due to interactions between the clouds and the surrounding…

  • Head for the Hills

    Head for the Hills

    While we spent much of our time examining corals and swamps, studying sea level and storms, we became fascinated by a simple question: How did the hills of Exuma form?

  • The Extreme Pacific Climate Now

    The Extreme Pacific Climate Now

    The climate over the tropical Pacific is in an extreme state at the moment. That explains some of the extreme anomalies affecting the United States right now. It also gives us a window through which we can glimpse how even more dramatic and long-term climates of the distant past might have worked.

  • Don’t Worry About Doomsday, Botanists Have a Plan

    Don’t Worry About Doomsday, Botanists Have a Plan

    A new initiative of the Smithsonian Institution is building a frozen library cataloging snippets of plant tissue from every species on the planet.