State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

General141

  • Press-Ewing Seismograph on Jeopardy!

    Press-Ewing Seismograph on Jeopardy!

    An important piece of earthquake-science history popped up a few weeks ago on Jeopardy!: “The Press-Ewing was an early seismograph, recording waves from these events. If you didn’t know a Press-Ewing from a French press, you were in luck. For $200, all you needed to know to formulate the question is what a seismograph measures.…

  • High-Value Resources: The Other Side of the Coin

    High-Value Resources: The Other Side of the Coin

    High-value resources such as diamonds have been linked to civil conflict. But they can also contribute to promoting development in post-conflict countries. This possibility was explored during an all-day conference, “Identifying Lessons for Natural Resource Management in Post-Conflict Peace-building,” held at Columbia University on April 25.

  • Clothing and Textile Recycling in New York City

    Clothing and Textile Recycling in New York City

    Many of us have clothing, accessories, and linens that we haven’t used in years. Instead of letting them take up valuable storage space in your home, help them find a second home through recycling.

  • MPA Student Complements Classroom Learning with Hydrofracking Policy Experience: Part III

    MPA Student Complements Classroom Learning with Hydrofracking Policy Experience: Part III

    “I strongly recommend that policy students and professionals make an effort to get to know the language and structure of environmental law and that law students and lawyers reciprocate.” MPA in Environmental Science and Policy Class of 2012 member Josh Garrett reflects on his role this past semester as a volunteer policy analyst at the…

  • Brownfields: Untold Stories, Unrealized Value

    Brownfields: Untold Stories, Unrealized Value

    Across the country, in distressed urban centers, hundreds of thousands of industrial sites have been left lying fallow. These properties, known as brownfields, embody the story of America’s twentieth-century industrial might and bear the mark of that period’s unenlightened practices. Their closing and subsequent abandonment culminated in the loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs, the creation…

  • Climate Scientist to World: “Ask me Anything”

    Climate Scientist to World: “Ask me Anything”

    “After the warm winter, is this summer going to be insanely hot?”

  • Renewed Effort Underway to Better Understand Challenges to Peacebuilding

    Renewed Effort Underway to Better Understand Challenges to Peacebuilding

    Lessons learned regarding the management of natural resources in peacebuilding efforts were the focus of several activities recently, including a book launch of the first in a six-volume series, a conference, and curriculum-building workshop.

  • MPA in Environmental Science and Policy Welcomes the Class of 2013

    MPA in Environmental Science and Policy Welcomes the Class of 2013

    On Tuesday, May 29, the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program hosted an orientation day to welcome its eleventh cohort of students.

  • The Art of Flying

    The Art of Flying

    Flying. It is something we are almost all familiar with, and yet I expect few of us have really sat back to appreciate the actual science of it. For the past 10 weeks we have been flying, not just a day or two a week but five or six days a week depending on the…

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

  • Press-Ewing Seismograph on Jeopardy!

    Press-Ewing Seismograph on Jeopardy!

    An important piece of earthquake-science history popped up a few weeks ago on Jeopardy!: “The Press-Ewing was an early seismograph, recording waves from these events. If you didn’t know a Press-Ewing from a French press, you were in luck. For $200, all you needed to know to formulate the question is what a seismograph measures.…

  • High-Value Resources: The Other Side of the Coin

    High-Value Resources: The Other Side of the Coin

    High-value resources such as diamonds have been linked to civil conflict. But they can also contribute to promoting development in post-conflict countries. This possibility was explored during an all-day conference, “Identifying Lessons for Natural Resource Management in Post-Conflict Peace-building,” held at Columbia University on April 25.

  • Clothing and Textile Recycling in New York City

    Clothing and Textile Recycling in New York City

    Many of us have clothing, accessories, and linens that we haven’t used in years. Instead of letting them take up valuable storage space in your home, help them find a second home through recycling.

  • MPA Student Complements Classroom Learning with Hydrofracking Policy Experience: Part III

    MPA Student Complements Classroom Learning with Hydrofracking Policy Experience: Part III

    “I strongly recommend that policy students and professionals make an effort to get to know the language and structure of environmental law and that law students and lawyers reciprocate.” MPA in Environmental Science and Policy Class of 2012 member Josh Garrett reflects on his role this past semester as a volunteer policy analyst at the…

  • Brownfields: Untold Stories, Unrealized Value

    Brownfields: Untold Stories, Unrealized Value

    Across the country, in distressed urban centers, hundreds of thousands of industrial sites have been left lying fallow. These properties, known as brownfields, embody the story of America’s twentieth-century industrial might and bear the mark of that period’s unenlightened practices. Their closing and subsequent abandonment culminated in the loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs, the creation…

  • Climate Scientist to World: “Ask me Anything”

    Climate Scientist to World: “Ask me Anything”

    “After the warm winter, is this summer going to be insanely hot?”

  • Renewed Effort Underway to Better Understand Challenges to Peacebuilding

    Renewed Effort Underway to Better Understand Challenges to Peacebuilding

    Lessons learned regarding the management of natural resources in peacebuilding efforts were the focus of several activities recently, including a book launch of the first in a six-volume series, a conference, and curriculum-building workshop.

  • MPA in Environmental Science and Policy Welcomes the Class of 2013

    MPA in Environmental Science and Policy Welcomes the Class of 2013

    On Tuesday, May 29, the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program hosted an orientation day to welcome its eleventh cohort of students.

  • The Art of Flying

    The Art of Flying

    Flying. It is something we are almost all familiar with, and yet I expect few of us have really sat back to appreciate the actual science of it. For the past 10 weeks we have been flying, not just a day or two a week but five or six days a week depending on the…