State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate233

  • Climate Services: A Regional Perspective

    Climate Services: A Regional Perspective

    “But we unfortunately are in one of the areas in which climate prediction is very difficult because we’re in the middle of two big oceans, and on the fringe between the interaction of Northern Hemisphere systems and Southern Hemisphere systems.” — Costa Rica’s Patricia Ramirez on the value of shared climate services across Central America…

  • Year Without a Winter?

    Year Without a Winter?

    No, of course not. Do not suggest anything like that to Alaskans, or Europeans where hundreds have died, or Inner Mongolians, or Koreans. But, turning the clock back to December and January for the New York City region, it was not apparent that winter would arrive as it ‘normally’ does. Yes, we have had significant…

  • Climate Services: Think Local

    Climate Services: Think Local

    “I think we have to get a lot more humble about what we can do with our science, and what is actually going to be useful with our science.” — US AID’s Edward Carr talks about the importance of climate services to local communities, for the first in a series of video interviews.

  • Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Russian scientists this week finished penetrating more than two miles through the Antarctic ice sheet to Lake Vostok, a huge freshwater lake that has been buried under the ice for millions of years. But they won’t know what they’ve found until next year.

  • Sustainable Development Seniors Put Their Knowledge into Practice

    Seniors in the Sustainable Development program gained real life experience as consultants through their work on projects with the Natural Resource Defense Council, Population Council and Partnership for Parks, while at the same time providing these clients with fresh and innovative ideas.

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 2/2

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 2/2

    NASA: Global warming caused mostly by humans USA Today, 1/31 The space agency published new calculations showing that the Earth absorbed more energy from the sun than it returned to space despite the low solar activity from 2005 to 2010. Availability of better measurements of ocean temperatures helped the research team improve their estimates of…

  • A Cup of Joe for #1000

    A Cup of Joe for #1000

    IRI is offering a token of thanks for helping us reach a Twitter milestone. Care to help us get there?

  • Richard Seager

    Richard Seager

    “What I like,” says Richard Seager, “is the fact that the Earth Institute has so many people working on the climate change and variability issue – from people like me doing the straight climate research to others working on how to build resilience to climate variability and change, to others working on how to prevent…

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 1/22

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 1/22

    Signs of New Life as U.N. Searches for a Climate Accord, New York Times, Jan 24 The recently concluded meeting in Durban, South Africa, which established a new mandate for concluding a binding agreement of some sort by 2015, has given the process new life and hushed many of its critics. Christina Figueres, the Costa…

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 Services: A Regional Perspective

    Climate Services: A Regional Perspective

    “But we unfortunately are in one of the areas in which climate prediction is very difficult because we’re in the middle of two big oceans, and on the fringe between the interaction of Northern Hemisphere systems and Southern Hemisphere systems.” — Costa Rica’s Patricia Ramirez on the value of shared climate services across Central America…

  • Year Without a Winter?

    Year Without a Winter?

    No, of course not. Do not suggest anything like that to Alaskans, or Europeans where hundreds have died, or Inner Mongolians, or Koreans. But, turning the clock back to December and January for the New York City region, it was not apparent that winter would arrive as it ‘normally’ does. Yes, we have had significant…

  • Climate Services: Think Local

    Climate Services: Think Local

    “I think we have to get a lot more humble about what we can do with our science, and what is actually going to be useful with our science.” — US AID’s Edward Carr talks about the importance of climate services to local communities, for the first in a series of video interviews.

  • Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Russian scientists this week finished penetrating more than two miles through the Antarctic ice sheet to Lake Vostok, a huge freshwater lake that has been buried under the ice for millions of years. But they won’t know what they’ve found until next year.

  • Sustainable Development Seniors Put Their Knowledge into Practice

    Seniors in the Sustainable Development program gained real life experience as consultants through their work on projects with the Natural Resource Defense Council, Population Council and Partnership for Parks, while at the same time providing these clients with fresh and innovative ideas.

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 2/2

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 2/2

    NASA: Global warming caused mostly by humans USA Today, 1/31 The space agency published new calculations showing that the Earth absorbed more energy from the sun than it returned to space despite the low solar activity from 2005 to 2010. Availability of better measurements of ocean temperatures helped the research team improve their estimates of…

  • A Cup of Joe for #1000

    A Cup of Joe for #1000

    IRI is offering a token of thanks for helping us reach a Twitter milestone. Care to help us get there?

  • Richard Seager

    Richard Seager

    “What I like,” says Richard Seager, “is the fact that the Earth Institute has so many people working on the climate change and variability issue – from people like me doing the straight climate research to others working on how to build resilience to climate variability and change, to others working on how to prevent…

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 1/22

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 1/22

    Signs of New Life as U.N. Searches for a Climate Accord, New York Times, Jan 24 The recently concluded meeting in Durban, South Africa, which established a new mandate for concluding a binding agreement of some sort by 2015, has given the process new life and hushed many of its critics. Christina Figueres, the Costa…