State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

General128

  • Now Accepting Applications for Spring 2013 Sustainability Management Curriculum Grading Assistants

    Columbia University’s Columbia’s School of Continuing Education and the Earth Institute are seeking Curriculum and Grading Assistants (CGAs) for a number of Sustainability Management courses for the spring 2013 semester. CGAs are responsible for attending class sessions, holding weekly office hours for students, addressing student inquiries, reviewing course material with the instructor, and assisting in…

  • Cotopaxi Skies

    Cotopaxi Skies

    Because of Cotopaxi’s almost perfectly conic shape, the climb appears be a straight line to the top. It isn’t. In fact, the climb winds past spires of ice and vast blue crevasses the size of small canyons. Cotopaxi is a beautiful mountain.

  • Reflections on an Ecological Study Abroad Experience

    Reflections on an Ecological Study Abroad Experience

    “Everything is so alive in the forest. After a nice summer rain it teems with insects, birds and the famous coquis, Puerto Rico’s native frogs. The song of the coquis take a little getting used to, but they soon lull you to sleep in the humid nights,” says Jennifer Mendez, a student in the first…

  • Sachs Receives ‘Inspiration’ Award

    Sachs Receives ‘Inspiration’ Award

    Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, received the Dag Hammarskjold Inspiration Award of the Dag Hammarskjold Fund for Journalists at the United Nations on Nov. 13. He joins a list of recipients that includes UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, Her Majesty Queen Noor, and Mia Farrow, among others.

  • Map Publisher to Global Resource Manager

    Map Publisher to Global Resource Manager

    “Over the course of the last five years, I became more sensitive to the topographical changes and shifting cultural identities of the Caribbean countries that I was promoting. I sensed a deepening crisis regarding our natural resources and the use of them in the pursuit of development.” Current student Jessica Bensley joined the MPA in…

  • Getting Better Prepared for the Next Big Storm

    Getting Better Prepared for the Next Big Storm

    Super Storm Sandy was an unusually powerful and destructive storm because of a rare constellation of factors, but scientists predict that we can expect more extreme weather events due to the effects of climate change. Has the super storm made us take warnings about extreme weather more seriously?

  • Expanding Our Vision Brings the Big Picture Into Focus

    Expanding Our Vision Brings the Big Picture Into Focus

    1500 feet above the ground surface is where our suite of instruments normally operates, but for this flight we are taking them up higher, much higher, in fact over 20 times our normal range to 33,000 feet. Our flight plan is to repeat lines surveyed in a previous years by NASA’s Land, Vegetation Ice Sensor…

  • Next, Imbabura

    Next, Imbabura

    Today was a much longer climb up Imbabura, passing through more páramo until reaching our first Polylepis trees. Conveniently, they were marked by a little wooden sign. These are the trees that I hope to sample next week on Chimborazo.

  • Climbing Fuya Fuya

    Climbing Fuya Fuya

    After trudging through the paramo, our route becomes a high-altitude scramble on an exposed rocky granite spine with sheer drop-offs on either side. The surge of adrenaline keeps our minds off the thin air.

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • Now Accepting Applications for Spring 2013 Sustainability Management Curriculum Grading Assistants

    Columbia University’s Columbia’s School of Continuing Education and the Earth Institute are seeking Curriculum and Grading Assistants (CGAs) for a number of Sustainability Management courses for the spring 2013 semester. CGAs are responsible for attending class sessions, holding weekly office hours for students, addressing student inquiries, reviewing course material with the instructor, and assisting in…

  • Cotopaxi Skies

    Cotopaxi Skies

    Because of Cotopaxi’s almost perfectly conic shape, the climb appears be a straight line to the top. It isn’t. In fact, the climb winds past spires of ice and vast blue crevasses the size of small canyons. Cotopaxi is a beautiful mountain.

  • Reflections on an Ecological Study Abroad Experience

    Reflections on an Ecological Study Abroad Experience

    “Everything is so alive in the forest. After a nice summer rain it teems with insects, birds and the famous coquis, Puerto Rico’s native frogs. The song of the coquis take a little getting used to, but they soon lull you to sleep in the humid nights,” says Jennifer Mendez, a student in the first…

  • Sachs Receives ‘Inspiration’ Award

    Sachs Receives ‘Inspiration’ Award

    Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, received the Dag Hammarskjold Inspiration Award of the Dag Hammarskjold Fund for Journalists at the United Nations on Nov. 13. He joins a list of recipients that includes UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, Her Majesty Queen Noor, and Mia Farrow, among others.

  • Map Publisher to Global Resource Manager

    Map Publisher to Global Resource Manager

    “Over the course of the last five years, I became more sensitive to the topographical changes and shifting cultural identities of the Caribbean countries that I was promoting. I sensed a deepening crisis regarding our natural resources and the use of them in the pursuit of development.” Current student Jessica Bensley joined the MPA in…

  • Getting Better Prepared for the Next Big Storm

    Getting Better Prepared for the Next Big Storm

    Super Storm Sandy was an unusually powerful and destructive storm because of a rare constellation of factors, but scientists predict that we can expect more extreme weather events due to the effects of climate change. Has the super storm made us take warnings about extreme weather more seriously?

  • Expanding Our Vision Brings the Big Picture Into Focus

    Expanding Our Vision Brings the Big Picture Into Focus

    1500 feet above the ground surface is where our suite of instruments normally operates, but for this flight we are taking them up higher, much higher, in fact over 20 times our normal range to 33,000 feet. Our flight plan is to repeat lines surveyed in a previous years by NASA’s Land, Vegetation Ice Sensor…

  • Next, Imbabura

    Next, Imbabura

    Today was a much longer climb up Imbabura, passing through more páramo until reaching our first Polylepis trees. Conveniently, they were marked by a little wooden sign. These are the trees that I hope to sample next week on Chimborazo.

  • Climbing Fuya Fuya

    Climbing Fuya Fuya

    After trudging through the paramo, our route becomes a high-altitude scramble on an exposed rocky granite spine with sheer drop-offs on either side. The surge of adrenaline keeps our minds off the thin air.