State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate210

  • Climate in the Peruvian Andes:  From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Climate in the Peruvian Andes: From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Twice humans have witnessed the wasting of snow and ice from Peru’s tallest volcano, Nevado Coropuna—In the waning of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago, and today, as industrial carbon dioxide in the air raises temperatures again. As in the past, Coropuna’s retreating glaciers figure prominently in the lives of people below. In…

  • The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    Understanding the Middle East conflict is not an easy task, and adding an environmental component to the puzzle doesn’t make it any easier. Students in the Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East program, having gone through 16 days of an 18-day trip to the region, now see clearly how complex the issues actually are.…

  • Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont-Doherty scientist Hugh Ducklow is featured in a documentary due out next summer on climate change and the West Antarctic Peninsula. Catch a preview in this newly-released trailer.

  • Red to Dead: Not As Simple As It Seems

    Red to Dead: Not As Simple As It Seems

    The Dead Sea is shrinking as a result of mining for raw materials and the loss of fresh water inflow from the diversion of the Jordan River for drinking water by Syria, Israel and Jordan. This shrinkage is problematic for economic, environmental and cultural reasons for both Jordan and Israel, the two countries which share…

  • What Anthropologists Can Do About Climate

    What Anthropologists Can Do About Climate

    How can the full range of the social sciences be brought into research on climate change and the search for solutions? The roles of economics and political science seem crucial, since pricing mechanisms and policies are needed to promote mitigation and to support adaptation. Psychology explores the ways to make this problem, often seen as…

  • A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    I returned to New York on Monday, but Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack remain working in Barrow, Alaska for another week. They’ll continue to collect data and samples in a race against deteriorating Arctic sea ice conditions as the onset of summer causes the ice to thin and break up.

  • Unpacking Preconceptions

    Unpacking Preconceptions

    After a late arrival in Amman, Jordan on Sunday night, students in the Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East program hit the ground running on Monday morning. An orientation at the Columbia University Middle East Center was followed by presentations at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature office.

  • Arctic Current Flowed Under Deep Freeze of Last Ice Age, Study Says

    Evidence Retrieved from Sediments in Remote Polar Basins

  • Science, Creativity and Isopods

    Science, Creativity and Isopods

    It’s near midnight and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack, and Arizona State’s Kyle Kinzler are gathered around a table in their lab at the Barrow Arctic Research Consortium discussing the best way to catch an isopod.

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

  • Climate in the Peruvian Andes:  From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Climate in the Peruvian Andes: From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Twice humans have witnessed the wasting of snow and ice from Peru’s tallest volcano, Nevado Coropuna—In the waning of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago, and today, as industrial carbon dioxide in the air raises temperatures again. As in the past, Coropuna’s retreating glaciers figure prominently in the lives of people below. In…

  • The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    The Environment as a Tool for Peace in the Middle East

    Understanding the Middle East conflict is not an easy task, and adding an environmental component to the puzzle doesn’t make it any easier. Students in the Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East program, having gone through 16 days of an 18-day trip to the region, now see clearly how complex the issues actually are.…

  • Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont-Doherty scientist Hugh Ducklow is featured in a documentary due out next summer on climate change and the West Antarctic Peninsula. Catch a preview in this newly-released trailer.

  • Red to Dead: Not As Simple As It Seems

    Red to Dead: Not As Simple As It Seems

    The Dead Sea is shrinking as a result of mining for raw materials and the loss of fresh water inflow from the diversion of the Jordan River for drinking water by Syria, Israel and Jordan. This shrinkage is problematic for economic, environmental and cultural reasons for both Jordan and Israel, the two countries which share…

  • What Anthropologists Can Do About Climate

    What Anthropologists Can Do About Climate

    How can the full range of the social sciences be brought into research on climate change and the search for solutions? The roles of economics and political science seem crucial, since pricing mechanisms and policies are needed to promote mitigation and to support adaptation. Psychology explores the ways to make this problem, often seen as…

  • A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    I returned to New York on Monday, but Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack remain working in Barrow, Alaska for another week. They’ll continue to collect data and samples in a race against deteriorating Arctic sea ice conditions as the onset of summer causes the ice to thin and break up.

  • Unpacking Preconceptions

    Unpacking Preconceptions

    After a late arrival in Amman, Jordan on Sunday night, students in the Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East program hit the ground running on Monday morning. An orientation at the Columbia University Middle East Center was followed by presentations at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature office.

  • Arctic Current Flowed Under Deep Freeze of Last Ice Age, Study Says

    Evidence Retrieved from Sediments in Remote Polar Basins

  • Science, Creativity and Isopods

    Science, Creativity and Isopods

    It’s near midnight and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack, and Arizona State’s Kyle Kinzler are gathered around a table in their lab at the Barrow Arctic Research Consortium discussing the best way to catch an isopod.