State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate272

  • Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Russell Sticklor with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program in Washington, DC. recently contacted me requesting my thoughts on a number of issues for an article he is writing on global population growth and water scarcity for the magazine, Outdoor America. I thought some of the comments might be interesting to our blog…

  • Climate News Roundup — Week of 7/26

    In an effort to save fuel, money, and reduce carbon emissions, modern cargo ships are reducing their speeds from near 25 knots to as low as 12 or 13 knots, or about 14 mph. Super-slow steaming, as the practice is known, reduces the speed of cargo boats to less than that of 19th-century clipper ships.…

  • Climate Change and the PR Problem

    Climate Change and the PR Problem

    On Friday, July 9, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sent a letter to the individuals who will contribute to the group’s Fifth Assessment Report. Part of the memo instructed researchers how to interact with the media, largely in response to growing criticism of the IPCC’s process and reporting.…

  • Scary Water Study from the NRDC

    Scary Water Study from the NRDC

    A fascinating and frightening recent study from the National Resources Defense Council unveiled serious threats to water sustainability in the United States over the coming decades. In an era of rapidly unfolding climate change, the Council’s research found that more than 1,100 counties, or one third of all counties in the lower 48 states, face…

  • Amazonians Have Shot at Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Says Study

    Amazonians Have Shot at Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Says Study

    The huge Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso will cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by more than half if it sticks with current plans to reduce deforestation substantially by 2020, says a new study. The research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses 105 years of historical data…

  • Core of the Matter

    Core of the Matter

    A final note (for now) on the expedition to recover ice cores from the top of Puncak Jaya in Papua, Indonesia: the cores arrived safely on Thursday, July 22, at Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, and are now in a special freezer. In coming months, the team hopes to extract and interpret climatic…

  • Converging Weather Patterns Caused Last Winter’s Huge Snows

    A Warming World Can Still See Severe Storms

  • Climate News Roundup – Week of 7/12

    Climate News Roundup – Week of 7/12

    Solar-Powered Light Promises Safe, Kerosene-free Lighting for Millions, The Denver Post A Denver-based inventor has taken an idea for a solar-powered light bulb and scaled up to a model designed to make electric light available for millions of people around the world, whose main lighting is produced by kerosene lamp. The bulb is powered by…

  • The Glaciers Disappear: The Startling Photos of David Breashears

    The Glaciers Disappear: The Startling Photos of David Breashears

    Mountaineer, photographer and documentary filmmaker David Breashears is obviously a tough man—he has, after all, reached the summit of Mount Everest over five times, one of the very few people in the world to even attempt such a feat. In person, though, the soft-spoken Breashears comes off less like an indomitable mountain conqueror than like…

Columbia Climate School is bringing bold ideas, leading experts, and groundbreaking research to Climate Week NYC. Explore our events, stories, and updates as we help shape the conversation on climate action across New York City.

  • Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Russell Sticklor with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program in Washington, DC. recently contacted me requesting my thoughts on a number of issues for an article he is writing on global population growth and water scarcity for the magazine, Outdoor America. I thought some of the comments might be interesting to our blog…

  • Climate News Roundup — Week of 7/26

    In an effort to save fuel, money, and reduce carbon emissions, modern cargo ships are reducing their speeds from near 25 knots to as low as 12 or 13 knots, or about 14 mph. Super-slow steaming, as the practice is known, reduces the speed of cargo boats to less than that of 19th-century clipper ships.…

  • Climate Change and the PR Problem

    Climate Change and the PR Problem

    On Friday, July 9, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sent a letter to the individuals who will contribute to the group’s Fifth Assessment Report. Part of the memo instructed researchers how to interact with the media, largely in response to growing criticism of the IPCC’s process and reporting.…

  • Scary Water Study from the NRDC

    Scary Water Study from the NRDC

    A fascinating and frightening recent study from the National Resources Defense Council unveiled serious threats to water sustainability in the United States over the coming decades. In an era of rapidly unfolding climate change, the Council’s research found that more than 1,100 counties, or one third of all counties in the lower 48 states, face…

  • Amazonians Have Shot at Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Says Study

    Amazonians Have Shot at Reducing Greenhouse Gases, Says Study

    The huge Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso will cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by more than half if it sticks with current plans to reduce deforestation substantially by 2020, says a new study. The research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses 105 years of historical data…

  • Core of the Matter

    Core of the Matter

    A final note (for now) on the expedition to recover ice cores from the top of Puncak Jaya in Papua, Indonesia: the cores arrived safely on Thursday, July 22, at Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, and are now in a special freezer. In coming months, the team hopes to extract and interpret climatic…

  • Converging Weather Patterns Caused Last Winter’s Huge Snows

    A Warming World Can Still See Severe Storms

  • Climate News Roundup – Week of 7/12

    Climate News Roundup – Week of 7/12

    Solar-Powered Light Promises Safe, Kerosene-free Lighting for Millions, The Denver Post A Denver-based inventor has taken an idea for a solar-powered light bulb and scaled up to a model designed to make electric light available for millions of people around the world, whose main lighting is produced by kerosene lamp. The bulb is powered by…

  • The Glaciers Disappear: The Startling Photos of David Breashears

    The Glaciers Disappear: The Startling Photos of David Breashears

    Mountaineer, photographer and documentary filmmaker David Breashears is obviously a tough man—he has, after all, reached the summit of Mount Everest over five times, one of the very few people in the world to even attempt such a feat. In person, though, the soft-spoken Breashears comes off less like an indomitable mountain conqueror than like…