State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Ecology70

  • Green Tip & Trade

    Green Tip & Trade

    The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation is now featured in an initiative called: “Green Tip & Trade: How to save the environmental one change at a time,” created by the Marketplace Sustainability Desk from American Public Radio.

  • Courtship Rituals in The Animal World

    Courtship Rituals in The Animal World

    Courtship, or the process by which an individual selects and fights for his or her partner to reproduce with, is one of the most remarkable processes in the ecological world.

  • Migration – A Movement of Marvel

    Migration – A Movement of Marvel

    From Monarch Butterflies that journey from Eastern North America to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico to Atlantic Salmon that travel between the freshwater and the salty ocean, moving long distances in search of a new habitat is truly a remarkable behavior.

  • Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    One of the greatest challenges to sustaining 1.8 million people in an extremely arid locale is water, which in the coastal city of Dubai is abundant but not potable.

  • Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

  • How Bloodthirsty Creatures of The Night See

    How Bloodthirsty Creatures of The Night See

    Beyond their eerie exterior and misunderstood persona, bats play complex, diverse and vital roles in the functioning of the world’s ecosystems.

  • Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    For a vast majority of the past fifty years, oil and its abundance defined the Middle East. In coming years, however, that part of the world may well be defined by the dearth of a different natural resource: water.

  • Welcome to Eco-Matters

    Welcome to Eco-Matters

    Welcome to Eco-Matters, a new blog born out of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation from the Earth Institute, Columbia University.

  • Drugs in Our Drinking Water: An Update

    Drugs in Our Drinking Water: An Update

    The 2008 Associated Press report that drugs had been found in the drinking water supplies of 41 million Americans was alarming. What is the state of pharmaceuticals in our water today?

Overhead view of Columbia campus with text Columbia Climate School Class Day 2026: Congratulations Graduates

Congratulations to our Columbia Climate School Class of 2026 and all of our 2026 Columbia University graduates! Learn more about our May 15 Climate School Class Day celebration. 💙 #Columbia2026 #ColumbiaClimate2026

  • Green Tip & Trade

    Green Tip & Trade

    The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation is now featured in an initiative called: “Green Tip & Trade: How to save the environmental one change at a time,” created by the Marketplace Sustainability Desk from American Public Radio.

  • Courtship Rituals in The Animal World

    Courtship Rituals in The Animal World

    Courtship, or the process by which an individual selects and fights for his or her partner to reproduce with, is one of the most remarkable processes in the ecological world.

  • Migration – A Movement of Marvel

    Migration – A Movement of Marvel

    From Monarch Butterflies that journey from Eastern North America to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico to Atlantic Salmon that travel between the freshwater and the salty ocean, moving long distances in search of a new habitat is truly a remarkable behavior.

  • Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    One of the greatest challenges to sustaining 1.8 million people in an extremely arid locale is water, which in the coastal city of Dubai is abundant but not potable.

  • Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

  • How Bloodthirsty Creatures of The Night See

    How Bloodthirsty Creatures of The Night See

    Beyond their eerie exterior and misunderstood persona, bats play complex, diverse and vital roles in the functioning of the world’s ecosystems.

  • Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    For a vast majority of the past fifty years, oil and its abundance defined the Middle East. In coming years, however, that part of the world may well be defined by the dearth of a different natural resource: water.

  • Welcome to Eco-Matters

    Welcome to Eco-Matters

    Welcome to Eco-Matters, a new blog born out of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation from the Earth Institute, Columbia University.

  • Drugs in Our Drinking Water: An Update

    Drugs in Our Drinking Water: An Update

    The 2008 Associated Press report that drugs had been found in the drinking water supplies of 41 million Americans was alarming. What is the state of pharmaceuticals in our water today?