Climate217
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Visualizing Malaria from Space
Public health professionals are increasingly concerned about the impact climate variability and change can have on infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and bacterial meningitis. However, in order to study the relationships between climate and …
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If You’re Not Going to San Francisco
Keep an eye on State of the Planet over the next week for updates on the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
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This Week’s Forecast: Sunny with a 40 Percent Chance of Flu
New computer model takes a page from weather forecasting to predict regional peaks in influenza outbreaks.
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What Hurricane Sandy Was Not
“It is often said that generals always prepare to fight the last war. We need to be sure that we do not just prepare for the last disaster, and put all of our limited resources in guarding against that one, without thinking about the other things that could happen.”
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Tree Rings to Investigate Chimborazo’s Past Climate
The landscape around Chimborazo resembles the high desert in parts of the western United States. The terrain approaching Chimborazo is arid and rocky in appearance, with mostly small grassy and shrub-like vegetation growing on it. Finding trees large enough to sample above 4000 meters was, needless to say, a bit of a challenge, but they…
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We Don’t Know All About Hurricanes–But We Know Enough to Act
Sandy instantly brought a new kind of national media attention to the influence of global warming on weather disasters. After several years of near-silence on climate from our political leaders and the mainstream media, the renewed attention is profoundly welcome.
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Cotopaxi Skies
Because of Cotopaxi’s almost perfectly conic shape, the climb appears be a straight line to the top. It isn’t. In fact, the climb winds past spires of ice and vast blue crevasses the size of small canyons. Cotopaxi is a beautiful mountain.
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Food Security in the Face of Changing Climate
An interview with James Hansen, an agricultural scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society who also has a prominent role in the world’s largest research program focused specifically on climate change and food security.
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Sleepless in Cayambe
The night is spent enduring the constant pinging of text messages, music and lights being turned on in the sleeping area every time someone comes or leaves. One thing to avoid before an Alpine Start (12.30am) is a night without sleep.

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“
