Ecology73
-
Operational Coconut Yield Predictions
The Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka (CRI) has sustained an improved prediction scheme for national coconut production for the last four years. Coconuts are an important source of food and raw materials and also provide income to millions in the tropics. Coconuts are the most important food crop after rice in Sri Lanka and …
-
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…
-
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…
-
Biofuels, food security, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity
Biofuel use is one of the strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that has already been incorporated into policy and regulatory frameworks. However, it has become increasingly evident that biofuel production has unintended consequences that extend beyond national boundaries and beyond the energy sector. Chief among these are concerns for food security. The food…
-
Supporting Conservation in Latin America
Overbrook Fellows Will Study Forests, Watersheds and Seas
-
Learning How the ‘Unnatural’ Becomes Natural Through Restoration Ecology
The many natural respites in New York City — frequented by humans, migratory birds and other animals — are not natural at all, says Professor James Danoff-Burg of Columbia University, but the result of a post-industrial phenomenon called restoration ecology. “New York City is at the forefront of many restoration ecology projects and approaches,” says…
-
Report #3: I’m Not Here to Eat Your Birds!
By Justin Nobel, Columbia University Earth and Environmental Sciences Journalism Student My first impressions of Africa came from reading National Geographic articles like those in 2000 and 2001 chronicling ecologist Michael Fay’s African “megatransect.” His 2,000-mile, 456-day trek across the rainforests of the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Gabon described an impenetrable wilderness unspoiled…
-
Report #2: The Enchanting Tale of the Whydah Bird Tail
By Justin Nobel, Columbia University Earth and Environmental Sciences Journalism Student Sending a postcard home from Sauri requires four cinnamon-chested bee-eaters and one African fish eagle. Birds are popular in Kenya and their images are ubiquitous. Different species are featured on ten- and five-shilling stamps, appear in cell-phone advertisements and grace tourism posters in Nairobi’s…
-
Earth: Utilities Included
by Shahid Naeem, Professor of Ecology, Columbia University The day all utilities and service providers stop sending us bills would be a day of unparalleled celebration, with ticker-tape parades for the executives of utilities companies, and the naming of national heroes. Until that day comes, we have Earth Day. Our most vital utilities and services…
The first Earth Day in 1970 ignited a movement to stop polluting our planet. Today, our scientists and experts are tackling the most pressing challenges to achieve real-world impact. This Earth Day, join us in our commitment to realizing a just and sustainable future for our planet. Visit our Earth Day website for ideas, resources, and inspiration.