State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

General214

  • 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…

  • Laptops and MTV in Rural Kenyan School

    Flashback for a second. Though it may seem like long time ago, it’s been a mere 2 months since Obama took the oath. A lot has changed since. On the evening of January 20, the President and the First Lady whirled through his new backyard stopping off at several different parties, one of which was…

  • Pole of Inaccessibility

    Hidden beneath 2.5 miles of ice, the Gamburtsev Mountains in eastern Antarctica are the most mysterious peaks on Earth. Michael Studinger, a scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, helped lead a recent expedition to map these invisible mountains using geophysical instruments. He will speak this Sunday about his trip. He answers a few questions here: Q:…

  • Jeffrey Sachs on African Aid

    Jeffrey Sachs speaks with BBC Africa Slowdown at the IMF conference in Dar es Salaam.

  • What Was That Big Bang?

    Iran seems to be moving toward an atomic bomb; North Korea reportedly could build a half dozen; and terrorist attacks have revived the specter of a faceoff between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India. Yet the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, forbidding  nuclear testing, has failed to win ratification from the U.S. Senate and lawmakers of some other nations. Opponents say scientists cannot reliably detect clandestine tests: Why should…

  • Welcome to the Earth Institute Blog

    With over 800 scientists, researchers, students and staff representing the Earth Institute on every ocean and every continent, the full scope of our work is practically impossible to grasp in any single medium. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try. From expeditions through the Southern Ocean to cramped labs in Manhattan, something new is being discovered each…

  • JM Eagle and Earth Institute Bring Cleaner, Safer Water to Thousands in Rural Senegal

    Rural villagers in one of the poorest and driest parts of Senegal are turning on their taps for the first time and seeing water flow freely from the ground into their containers. JM Eagle, the world’s largest plastic pipe manufacturer, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University announced on January 14 the official completion of…

  • Haiti Quake and Reconstruction Resources

    Earth Institute scientists are involved in long-term projects to study continued earthquake risk in Haiti and surrounding countries, and to aid reconstruction and development. Our Haiti Earthquake pages: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/blog/tag/haiti-earthquake/ contain continually updated resources for journalists. Seismologists, natural-disaster experts and others continue to provide interviews, images and essays on the implications and outlook. These include assessments…

  • New Report Assesses Foreign Direct Investment in 82 Countries to 2010

    On September 5, the Columbia Program on International Investment (CPII) and the Economist Intelligence Unit, a member of The Economist Group, released the World Investment Prospects to 2010: Boom or Backlash? The volume (304 pages) is dedicated to the assessment of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows during 2005-2010. It also examines various factors that suggest…

  • 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…

  • Laptops and MTV in Rural Kenyan School

    Flashback for a second. Though it may seem like long time ago, it’s been a mere 2 months since Obama took the oath. A lot has changed since. On the evening of January 20, the President and the First Lady whirled through his new backyard stopping off at several different parties, one of which was…

  • Pole of Inaccessibility

    Hidden beneath 2.5 miles of ice, the Gamburtsev Mountains in eastern Antarctica are the most mysterious peaks on Earth. Michael Studinger, a scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, helped lead a recent expedition to map these invisible mountains using geophysical instruments. He will speak this Sunday about his trip. He answers a few questions here: Q:…

  • Jeffrey Sachs on African Aid

    Jeffrey Sachs speaks with BBC Africa Slowdown at the IMF conference in Dar es Salaam.

  • What Was That Big Bang?

    Iran seems to be moving toward an atomic bomb; North Korea reportedly could build a half dozen; and terrorist attacks have revived the specter of a faceoff between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India. Yet the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, forbidding  nuclear testing, has failed to win ratification from the U.S. Senate and lawmakers of some other nations. Opponents say scientists cannot reliably detect clandestine tests: Why should…

  • Welcome to the Earth Institute Blog

    With over 800 scientists, researchers, students and staff representing the Earth Institute on every ocean and every continent, the full scope of our work is practically impossible to grasp in any single medium. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try. From expeditions through the Southern Ocean to cramped labs in Manhattan, something new is being discovered each…

  • JM Eagle and Earth Institute Bring Cleaner, Safer Water to Thousands in Rural Senegal

    Rural villagers in one of the poorest and driest parts of Senegal are turning on their taps for the first time and seeing water flow freely from the ground into their containers. JM Eagle, the world’s largest plastic pipe manufacturer, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University announced on January 14 the official completion of…

  • Haiti Quake and Reconstruction Resources

    Earth Institute scientists are involved in long-term projects to study continued earthquake risk in Haiti and surrounding countries, and to aid reconstruction and development. Our Haiti Earthquake pages: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/blog/tag/haiti-earthquake/ contain continually updated resources for journalists. Seismologists, natural-disaster experts and others continue to provide interviews, images and essays on the implications and outlook. These include assessments…

  • New Report Assesses Foreign Direct Investment in 82 Countries to 2010

    On September 5, the Columbia Program on International Investment (CPII) and the Economist Intelligence Unit, a member of The Economist Group, released the World Investment Prospects to 2010: Boom or Backlash? The volume (304 pages) is dedicated to the assessment of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows during 2005-2010. It also examines various factors that suggest…