State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate289

  • It’s 2025. Where Do Most People Live?

    Researchers at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), a part of The Earth Institute, have developed a high-resolution map of projected population change for the year 2025. The innovative map shows a world with large areas of population loss in parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, but significant gains elsewhere. The work, Mapping the…

  • The Earth Institute and the University of Iceland Sign Agreement to Promote Research Cooperation and Academic Exchange

    The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the University of Iceland signed an agreement on June 13, 2006 endorsing increased academic exchange, scholarly collaboration and research between the two institutions. The agreement sets the stage for future cooperation on global climate change, sustainable development and technological responses to climate change. The Memorandum of Understanding was…

  • Researchers Assess Risks Associated with Living in Low-Lying Coastal Areas

    For many, sea-level rise is a remote and distant threat faced by people like the residents of the Tuvalu Islands in the South Pacific, where the highest point of land is only 5 meters (15 feet) above sea level and tidal floods occasionally cover their crops in seawater. Now, however, a recently published study by…

  • Tough Environmental Policy Question? Bring in the MPAs

    One hundred million personal computers were disposed of in 2004, and they are not benign — computers contain hazardous materials harmful to human health and the environment, and no policy exists to manage this e-waste. Is anyone working on this problem? Bring in the MPAs. This semester, a group studying to get their Masters’ in…

  • Could Reducing Global Dimming Mean a Hotter, Dryer World?

    Despite concerns over global warming, scientists have discovered something that may have actually limited the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in recent years by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth. In research they published last year in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team led by Beate Liepert…

  • Reining in Carbon Dioxide Levels Imperative but Possible

    Business-as-usual approach threatens world energy supplies and environment, but affordable, effective solutions appear within reach

  • Climate Forecasting Systems Help Predict Malaria Risk in Africa

    A recent study published in Nature shows that climate forecasts can help predict malaria epidemics many months in advance. These predictions can alert health service managers to changes in epidemic risk five months before the peak malaria season and four months earlier than predictions based on actual rainfall. The study appears in the February 2…

  • Researchers Confirm Role of Massive Flood in Climate Change

    Flood of fresh water disrupted ocean circulation and Earth’s climate; simulations validated by climate proxy record

  • Second GROCC Meets Amid Changing World

    More than 200 participants from nearly 150 corporations and other institutions from around the world met November 14 and 15 at Columbia University for the second session of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change (GROCC). With 2005 on pace to becoming the warmest year on record, as well as the most active for hurricanes, and…

  • It’s 2025. Where Do Most People Live?

    Researchers at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), a part of The Earth Institute, have developed a high-resolution map of projected population change for the year 2025. The innovative map shows a world with large areas of population loss in parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, but significant gains elsewhere. The work, Mapping the…

  • The Earth Institute and the University of Iceland Sign Agreement to Promote Research Cooperation and Academic Exchange

    The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the University of Iceland signed an agreement on June 13, 2006 endorsing increased academic exchange, scholarly collaboration and research between the two institutions. The agreement sets the stage for future cooperation on global climate change, sustainable development and technological responses to climate change. The Memorandum of Understanding was…

  • Researchers Assess Risks Associated with Living in Low-Lying Coastal Areas

    For many, sea-level rise is a remote and distant threat faced by people like the residents of the Tuvalu Islands in the South Pacific, where the highest point of land is only 5 meters (15 feet) above sea level and tidal floods occasionally cover their crops in seawater. Now, however, a recently published study by…

  • Tough Environmental Policy Question? Bring in the MPAs

    One hundred million personal computers were disposed of in 2004, and they are not benign — computers contain hazardous materials harmful to human health and the environment, and no policy exists to manage this e-waste. Is anyone working on this problem? Bring in the MPAs. This semester, a group studying to get their Masters’ in…

  • Could Reducing Global Dimming Mean a Hotter, Dryer World?

    Despite concerns over global warming, scientists have discovered something that may have actually limited the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in recent years by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth. In research they published last year in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team led by Beate Liepert…

  • Reining in Carbon Dioxide Levels Imperative but Possible

    Business-as-usual approach threatens world energy supplies and environment, but affordable, effective solutions appear within reach

  • Climate Forecasting Systems Help Predict Malaria Risk in Africa

    A recent study published in Nature shows that climate forecasts can help predict malaria epidemics many months in advance. These predictions can alert health service managers to changes in epidemic risk five months before the peak malaria season and four months earlier than predictions based on actual rainfall. The study appears in the February 2…

  • Researchers Confirm Role of Massive Flood in Climate Change

    Flood of fresh water disrupted ocean circulation and Earth’s climate; simulations validated by climate proxy record

  • Second GROCC Meets Amid Changing World

    More than 200 participants from nearly 150 corporations and other institutions from around the world met November 14 and 15 at Columbia University for the second session of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change (GROCC). With 2005 on pace to becoming the warmest year on record, as well as the most active for hurricanes, and…