State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate283

  • Around the world: Canada, Part II

    First off,  I apologize for the inexcusably long time between posts.  From now on I hope to post at least once a week (still not good enough, I know).  This is Part II of our look at the climate change reduction efforts (or lack thereof) of Canada, our fascinating yet sometimes forgotten neighbor to the…

  • Wallace Broecker Wins (Yet Another) Top Prize

    Climate Scientist Who Sounded Early Warnings Is Still At Work

  • Arctic Sea Ice Retreat: When Will the Arctic Ocean be Ice-Free During Summer?

    Researchers have long recognized the Arctic as a region that shows early and amplified signals of anthropogenically-driven global climate change (e.g., IPCC 2001; Technical Basis, p. 807). Among the most dramatic and most widely watched changes in this region each summer is the retreat of the Arctic sea ice extent. Since it first became possible…

  • Wally Broecker wins prestigious BBVA Foundation award for Climate Research

    Earlier today it was announced that Wallace S. Broecker, Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, has received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change Research. In announcing the award, the jury cited Wally for his seminal research on ocean chemistry and for pioneering the development of Earth System…

  • Columbia Climate Center Launches its Website

    This blog, Climate Matters @ Columbia, is brought to you by the Columbia Climate Center, created in 2007 by the Earth Institute, Columbia University. The mission of the Columbia Climate Center is to integrate climate related research throughout Columbia University and to build upon it to address the challenges of understanding, predicting, adapting to, and…

  • China, coal liquefaction, and more…

    The NYT’s Andy Revkin notes that China opened its first large-scale coal-to-liquid (CTL) facility on December 30. CTL technology, which converts coal into liquid fuel such as gasoline or diesel, has been around since the early 20th century, but has only been widely used twice – in Germany during World War II and in South…

  • Obama’s Stimulus Plan and Climate Change

    By George Deodatis Although not officially announced yet, it is almost certain that the eagerly anticipated stimulus plan of Obama’s new administration will include hundreds of billions of dollars in a wide range of civil infrastructure works, as commented by Anne Polansky’s

  • Volcanoes Cool the Tropics, Say Researchers

    But Global Warming May Have Helped Override Some Recent Eruptions

  • Using Insurance in Adaptation Efforts

    If the recent Conference of the Parties in Poznan, Poland was any indication, next year’s buzzword in the climate-change community will be climate risk insurance. “Dealing with insurance is of fundamental importance in order to meet adaptation objectives,” said UNFCCC Secretary General Yvo de Boer. “If you can’t get insurance because climate change makes you…

  • Around the world: Canada, Part II

    First off,  I apologize for the inexcusably long time between posts.  From now on I hope to post at least once a week (still not good enough, I know).  This is Part II of our look at the climate change reduction efforts (or lack thereof) of Canada, our fascinating yet sometimes forgotten neighbor to the…

  • Wallace Broecker Wins (Yet Another) Top Prize

    Climate Scientist Who Sounded Early Warnings Is Still At Work

  • Arctic Sea Ice Retreat: When Will the Arctic Ocean be Ice-Free During Summer?

    Researchers have long recognized the Arctic as a region that shows early and amplified signals of anthropogenically-driven global climate change (e.g., IPCC 2001; Technical Basis, p. 807). Among the most dramatic and most widely watched changes in this region each summer is the retreat of the Arctic sea ice extent. Since it first became possible…

  • Wally Broecker wins prestigious BBVA Foundation award for Climate Research

    Earlier today it was announced that Wallace S. Broecker, Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, has received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change Research. In announcing the award, the jury cited Wally for his seminal research on ocean chemistry and for pioneering the development of Earth System…

  • Columbia Climate Center Launches its Website

    This blog, Climate Matters @ Columbia, is brought to you by the Columbia Climate Center, created in 2007 by the Earth Institute, Columbia University. The mission of the Columbia Climate Center is to integrate climate related research throughout Columbia University and to build upon it to address the challenges of understanding, predicting, adapting to, and…

  • China, coal liquefaction, and more…

    The NYT’s Andy Revkin notes that China opened its first large-scale coal-to-liquid (CTL) facility on December 30. CTL technology, which converts coal into liquid fuel such as gasoline or diesel, has been around since the early 20th century, but has only been widely used twice – in Germany during World War II and in South…

  • Obama’s Stimulus Plan and Climate Change

    By George Deodatis Although not officially announced yet, it is almost certain that the eagerly anticipated stimulus plan of Obama’s new administration will include hundreds of billions of dollars in a wide range of civil infrastructure works, as commented by Anne Polansky’s

  • Volcanoes Cool the Tropics, Say Researchers

    But Global Warming May Have Helped Override Some Recent Eruptions

  • Using Insurance in Adaptation Efforts

    If the recent Conference of the Parties in Poznan, Poland was any indication, next year’s buzzword in the climate-change community will be climate risk insurance. “Dealing with insurance is of fundamental importance in order to meet adaptation objectives,” said UNFCCC Secretary General Yvo de Boer. “If you can’t get insurance because climate change makes you…