Climate247
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To the tip of the Andes
In the semi-arid Andes, glaciers store water and control the runoff of mountain rivers. They feed water to big cities such as Lima and Arequipa and irrigate the surrounding lowlands. But as the planet warms, mountain glaciers in the tropics are receding steadily. Despite their paramount importance, we don’t know the scale and the rate…
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17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference
“We have in the world today two dangerously different views of the future,” the view of natural scientists and the view of economists, says Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and a keynote speaker at the 17th annual International Sustainable Development Conference.
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Climate Change Threatens Fragile Ecosystem in the Andes
A new audio slideshow about the páramo ecosystem in the Andes, at risk of becoming drier because of changing climate conditions
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Climate and Health Workshop Photo Wrap Up
Check out some pictures from IRI’s recently concluded Summer Institute on Climate Information for Public Health.
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Climate News Roundup: Week of 5/30 and 6/6
IEA Sees Record CO2 Emissions in 2010, Reuters, May 30 2010 saw that highest level ever seen of world-wide CO2 emissions, driven in large part by economic growth in coal-heavy countries, including China and India. Increased consumption of oil and natural gas were the next largest contributors to emissions levels. The Fukushima disaster and ensuing…
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The Indiana Jones of Climate Modeling
By JD Capuano Benjamin Cook is a climate modeler at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Cook completed his Ph.D. in environmental science at the University of Virginia in 2007. He was among a select group of scientists awarded a Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship by the National Oceanic…
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Making Room for Rivers: A Different Approach to Flood Control
Over time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal engineering and construction agency, has spent over $123 billion on flood control infrastructure that hasn’t always adequately protected us. Now, with the devastation of the spring floods in the Midwest, some are calling for a new approach to flood control that makes room for our…
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Rhone Glacier Finely Tuned to Climate Changes
By chiseling hunks of stone from recently exposed bedrock near the edge of the Rhone Glacier, scientists were able to decipher the comings and goings of the ice over the past 11,000 years. That should help predict what will happen to glaciers in the warming world to come.
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The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy
Since he arrived at the Columbia Water Center at its founding in 2008, Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy has been unswervingly focused on two questions. First, how will groundwater depletion and climate change affect agriculture in India? And given the dire nature of the crisis, what can we do to help people adapt?
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“
