State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate288

  • Oil sands on Obama’s Canada agenda

    President Obama visits Canada today, and climate change is expected to be on the agenda. In Canada, the big issue is the development of the Albertan oil sands, which promise greater energy independence from the Middle East (a longtime U.S. goal) but also greater emissions as a result of the energy-intensive process of extracting oil from…

  • Watch out GHGs: the Clean Air Act is coming to get you!

    It took two years and a new administration, but the EPA is finally going to formally consider regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. In the 2007 case Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that the Clean Air Act (CAA) was capable of regulating CO2 and ordered the EPA to give good reasons…

  • When will we see a sea level rise of three feet?

    Recently, the Columbia Climate Center had the chance to participate in an event aiming to improve public awareness on climate change.  On the weekend of the 6th and 7th of February, the CCC had a table in the Polar Fair in the International Polar Weekend at the American Museum of Natural History. It was a…

  • Interdisciplinary Work: Big Challenge, But Not Impossible

    Health professionals, epidemiologists, health management workers and health policymakers are increasingly concerned about the potential impact that climate variability and climate change could have on public health. However, many public health professionals are not yet aware of the ways in which climate information can help them manage the impacts of climate on their work. At…

  • Arctic Sea Ice in a Warmer Climate

    Dr. Jennifer Kay, a post doc at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), was  at Lamont recently to give a talk entitled “Mechanisms for Recent Sea Loss.” Kay’s talk offered a detailed explanation of recent sea loss in the Arctic, including the all-time low experienced in 2007. Kay also outlined mechanisms that may have…

  • Low-cost water management in Ethiopia

    Water capture and storage for irrigation has been an ongoing theme of research in Columbia’s earth and environmental engineering department, but Professor Upmanu Lall has recently taken things a step further. With funding from the Pulitzer family, Lall challenged a group of students in his senior engineering course to design a low-cost system of water…

  • McKinsey’s New GHG Abatement Curve

    McKinsey & Company has just released a new study outlining the potential costs of climate change mitigation. The report, which revises work originally published in 2007, evaluates 200 greenhouse gas abatement opportunities across 10 sectors and 21 world regions. It concludes that greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 35-40% below 1990 levels by 2030 are achievable…

  • Emissions standards to get Californicated

    Less than a week into his presidency, Barack Obama is poised to take his first step on the long road to averting climate catastrophe. The Times reports that Obama will allow California to raise automobile emissions standards for greenhouse gases above the national level. (OK, technically Obama has only ordered the EPA to review California’s…

  • Nearly All of Antarctica Is Warming

    New Study Shows Steady 50-Year Rise

  • Oil sands on Obama’s Canada agenda

    President Obama visits Canada today, and climate change is expected to be on the agenda. In Canada, the big issue is the development of the Albertan oil sands, which promise greater energy independence from the Middle East (a longtime U.S. goal) but also greater emissions as a result of the energy-intensive process of extracting oil from…

  • Watch out GHGs: the Clean Air Act is coming to get you!

    It took two years and a new administration, but the EPA is finally going to formally consider regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. In the 2007 case Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that the Clean Air Act (CAA) was capable of regulating CO2 and ordered the EPA to give good reasons…

  • When will we see a sea level rise of three feet?

    Recently, the Columbia Climate Center had the chance to participate in an event aiming to improve public awareness on climate change.  On the weekend of the 6th and 7th of February, the CCC had a table in the Polar Fair in the International Polar Weekend at the American Museum of Natural History. It was a…

  • Interdisciplinary Work: Big Challenge, But Not Impossible

    Health professionals, epidemiologists, health management workers and health policymakers are increasingly concerned about the potential impact that climate variability and climate change could have on public health. However, many public health professionals are not yet aware of the ways in which climate information can help them manage the impacts of climate on their work. At…

  • Arctic Sea Ice in a Warmer Climate

    Dr. Jennifer Kay, a post doc at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), was  at Lamont recently to give a talk entitled “Mechanisms for Recent Sea Loss.” Kay’s talk offered a detailed explanation of recent sea loss in the Arctic, including the all-time low experienced in 2007. Kay also outlined mechanisms that may have…

  • Low-cost water management in Ethiopia

    Water capture and storage for irrigation has been an ongoing theme of research in Columbia’s earth and environmental engineering department, but Professor Upmanu Lall has recently taken things a step further. With funding from the Pulitzer family, Lall challenged a group of students in his senior engineering course to design a low-cost system of water…

  • McKinsey’s New GHG Abatement Curve

    McKinsey & Company has just released a new study outlining the potential costs of climate change mitigation. The report, which revises work originally published in 2007, evaluates 200 greenhouse gas abatement opportunities across 10 sectors and 21 world regions. It concludes that greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 35-40% below 1990 levels by 2030 are achievable…

  • Emissions standards to get Californicated

    Less than a week into his presidency, Barack Obama is poised to take his first step on the long road to averting climate catastrophe. The Times reports that Obama will allow California to raise automobile emissions standards for greenhouse gases above the national level. (OK, technically Obama has only ordered the EPA to review California’s…

  • Nearly All of Antarctica Is Warming

    New Study Shows Steady 50-Year Rise