State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

General213

  • Mayor Bloomberg's Persistent Sustainability Agenda

    The past several weeks we once again saw the Mayor at his best and at his worst. At his worst, he berated a NY Observer reporter who raised the issue of term limits. At his best, he demonstrated the political courage to experiment with banning cars from parts of Times Square and Herald Square, and…

  • Global Sustainability and the Class of 2009

    Here on Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus, at around Broadway and West 116th street, the surest signs of spring are all of the preparations for graduation now underway. Groundskeepers are planting new shrubs, and bleacher seats and tents are being assembled everywhere. Working in a place like this is both a joy and a privilege–…

  • Pondering the Deep

    Another world lies beneath the Hudson River, as scientists have shown using pulses of sound to map the bottom. In recent years, the bathymetry maps developed at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Stony Brook University have turned up hundreds of shipwrecks and a new channel off Battery Park City, drawing interest from treasure hunters and mariners…

  • Mudslides: Forecasting Risk

    Landslides kill thousands of people each year but because they’re often triggered by earthquakes or heavy rains, the danger remains poorly understood. “In densely populated areas, landslides take no prisoners,” said Art Lerner-Lam, a scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.  “They’ll wipe out an entire village at once. Even a small landslide can kill…

  • Torture: Ineffective, Illegal, and Unprincipled

    The issue of torture and security keeps reemerging in the news, as we debate matters of national survival and our core values. The issue is often posed in the following way: What if a terrorist had information about an urgent threat to American lives and the only way to obtain that information would be to…

  • Science, Technology and Economic Development

    On April 27th, President Obama gave an inspiring speech at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C about the importance of scientific research and education. He began by describing the threats to global sustainability and economic well being faced throughout the world and here in the United States. He observed that: “At such a…

  • The Geithner-Summers Plan is Even Worse Than We Thought

    Two weeks ago, I posted an article showing how the Geithner-Summers banking plan could potentially and unnecessarily transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth from taxpayers to banks. The same basic arithmetic was later described by Joseph Stiglitz in the New York Times (April 1) and by Peyton Young in the Financial Times (April…

  • Next G-20 Meeting is a Chance to Help Three Billion Living in Poverty

    The G-20 meeting in London, England, on April 2 will be watched by the entire world with urgency and with a yearning for hope, vision and programmatic clarity. The preparatory work is not adequate. The G-20 discussions do not move sufficiently beyond financial regulation. I would like to suggest the following main points for G-20…

  • Suburban Seismology

    Three minor earthquakes struck North Jersey last month. Yes, Jersey. Turns out the state known for its turnpikes and shopping malls also has a major geological landmark: the Ramapo Fault, which crosses into New York and Pennsylvania. “Earthquakes are not unexpected here,” seismologist Won-Young Kim told The New York Times. “It’s just an indication that…

  • Mayor Bloomberg's Persistent Sustainability Agenda

    The past several weeks we once again saw the Mayor at his best and at his worst. At his worst, he berated a NY Observer reporter who raised the issue of term limits. At his best, he demonstrated the political courage to experiment with banning cars from parts of Times Square and Herald Square, and…

  • Global Sustainability and the Class of 2009

    Here on Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus, at around Broadway and West 116th street, the surest signs of spring are all of the preparations for graduation now underway. Groundskeepers are planting new shrubs, and bleacher seats and tents are being assembled everywhere. Working in a place like this is both a joy and a privilege–…

  • Pondering the Deep

    Another world lies beneath the Hudson River, as scientists have shown using pulses of sound to map the bottom. In recent years, the bathymetry maps developed at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Stony Brook University have turned up hundreds of shipwrecks and a new channel off Battery Park City, drawing interest from treasure hunters and mariners…

  • Mudslides: Forecasting Risk

    Landslides kill thousands of people each year but because they’re often triggered by earthquakes or heavy rains, the danger remains poorly understood. “In densely populated areas, landslides take no prisoners,” said Art Lerner-Lam, a scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.  “They’ll wipe out an entire village at once. Even a small landslide can kill…

  • Torture: Ineffective, Illegal, and Unprincipled

    The issue of torture and security keeps reemerging in the news, as we debate matters of national survival and our core values. The issue is often posed in the following way: What if a terrorist had information about an urgent threat to American lives and the only way to obtain that information would be to…

  • Science, Technology and Economic Development

    On April 27th, President Obama gave an inspiring speech at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C about the importance of scientific research and education. He began by describing the threats to global sustainability and economic well being faced throughout the world and here in the United States. He observed that: “At such a…

  • The Geithner-Summers Plan is Even Worse Than We Thought

    Two weeks ago, I posted an article showing how the Geithner-Summers banking plan could potentially and unnecessarily transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth from taxpayers to banks. The same basic arithmetic was later described by Joseph Stiglitz in the New York Times (April 1) and by Peyton Young in the Financial Times (April…

  • Next G-20 Meeting is a Chance to Help Three Billion Living in Poverty

    The G-20 meeting in London, England, on April 2 will be watched by the entire world with urgency and with a yearning for hope, vision and programmatic clarity. The preparatory work is not adequate. The G-20 discussions do not move sufficiently beyond financial regulation. I would like to suggest the following main points for G-20…

  • Suburban Seismology

    Three minor earthquakes struck North Jersey last month. Yes, Jersey. Turns out the state known for its turnpikes and shopping malls also has a major geological landmark: the Ramapo Fault, which crosses into New York and Pennsylvania. “Earthquakes are not unexpected here,” seismologist Won-Young Kim told The New York Times. “It’s just an indication that…