State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Climate296

  • 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

  • Orange you glad we counted the carbon?

    There’s an article in today’s New York Times about PepsiCo’s effort to calculate the carbon footprint of its products, starting with Tropicana orange juice. A half-gallon of Tropicana represents the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. This is roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide emitted by a 5-mile drive to the grocery…

  • Antarctic Scientists Inaugurate ‘Ocean Station Obama’

    Far From Washington, Gathering Climate Data Under New President

  • Lonnie Thompson’s 7,000 Meters of Ice

    I’ve been meaning to blog about Lonnie Thompson’s visit to Lamont last week; I suppose it’s the frigid temperatures here in New York that have kept melting tropical glaciers on my own back burner. For those who don’t know, Lonnie Thompson runs the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group at the Ohio State’s Byrd Polar Research…

  • A Quick Guide to Obama’s Climate Picks, Part 1

    There’s been a lot of buzz lately (for example, here and here) about President-Elect Obama’s picks for key science and environment positions, many of who are advocates for a robust response to climate change. Who are these people and what will each of them be responsible for in the new administration? In part one of…

  • 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…

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

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“

  • 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

  • Orange you glad we counted the carbon?

    There’s an article in today’s New York Times about PepsiCo’s effort to calculate the carbon footprint of its products, starting with Tropicana orange juice. A half-gallon of Tropicana represents the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. This is roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide emitted by a 5-mile drive to the grocery…

  • Antarctic Scientists Inaugurate ‘Ocean Station Obama’

    Far From Washington, Gathering Climate Data Under New President

  • Lonnie Thompson’s 7,000 Meters of Ice

    I’ve been meaning to blog about Lonnie Thompson’s visit to Lamont last week; I suppose it’s the frigid temperatures here in New York that have kept melting tropical glaciers on my own back burner. For those who don’t know, Lonnie Thompson runs the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group at the Ohio State’s Byrd Polar Research…

  • A Quick Guide to Obama’s Climate Picks, Part 1

    There’s been a lot of buzz lately (for example, here and here) about President-Elect Obama’s picks for key science and environment positions, many of who are advocates for a robust response to climate change. Who are these people and what will each of them be responsible for in the new administration? In part one of…

  • 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…