Natural Disasters56
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Climate Services: No need to wait for disasters to happen
“We need climate information to be able to see disasters coming ahead of time, not just hours, but also weeks, months, and even decades in terms of trends.” — Maarten Van Aalst, the Director of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre talks about the importance of climate services for humanitarian operations planning and preparedness, for…
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Enabling Change: Training Development Practitioners in Jordan
The citizens of Jordan, and elsewhere in the Middle East, must confront challenges of rapid population growth, climate change, poverty, inequality and environmental degradation. A new program run jointly by the Earth Institute and the Institute of Sustainable Development Practice in Amman is helping policymakers and others involved learn the techniques of sustainable development to…
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East Africa Drought Is “Exceptional”
Climate scientist Simon Mason talks about the drought and the role of climate information in disaster preparedness and response.
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From Development Practitioner to National Leader: Lessons from Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille met with students and scientists of the Earth Institute to explore core issues of Haiti’s growth and development.
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Natural Disasters: The Upside
Floods, volcanoes, earthquakes–really, very little good news comes out of this sort of thing. Maybe the occasional feel-good story about, say, a child miraculously dug from the rubble days later, tired but unharmed and in good spirits, having survived on a cache of crackers and Coke. Actually, says John Mutter, an Earth Institute professor of sustainability studies, disasters can sometimes…
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Under the Dead Sea, Warnings on Climate and Earthquakes
An international team of scientists drilling deep under the bed of the Dead Sea has found evidence that the sea may have dried up during a past warm period analogous to scenarios for climate change in coming decades. With nations in the volatile region already running short on water, the finding could be a…
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The Sustainable Development Seminar Series Returns
“Natural and Manmade Disasters: Lessons for the Future” kicked off the seminar series on October 18 with presentations about the Haiti Earthquake of 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico of 2010, and the 2011 tsunami and earthquake that damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
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Climate Services event at COP-17
A side event hosted by the IRI at this year’s U.N. climate conference will discuss a new Climate Services Partnership.
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Farmers, Flames and Climate: Are We Entering an Age of ‘Mega-Fires’?
For millennia, people have set fires to clear land for cultivation, pastures or hunting; so-called slash-and-burn agriculture is still common across much of tropical Africa, Asia and South America. It has been a useful strategy–but …
By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings“
