State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Natural Disasters59

  • Climate Services event at COP-17

    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.

  • Farmers, Flames and Climate: Are We Entering an Age of ‘Mega-Fires’?

    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 …

  • PhD. Ode to a Tree

    PhD. Ode to a Tree

    “I was deeply saddened by the loss of one of our most beautiful trees on campus during the last storm. It had perfect symmetry and such a beautiful color display late in the fall,” wrote geochemist Martin Stute, after a highly unusual heavy October snow felled a 22-year-old Bradford pear at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where he…

  • Health Risks From Famine Likely to Persist

    Health Risks From Famine Likely to Persist

    Video Short: IRI’s Madeleine Thomson discusses the short- and long-term health risks of the East Africa famine

  • Unsettled by Climate Change

    Unsettled by Climate Change

    Climate change already laps at the edges of some communities, disrupting local economies and habitat, and forcing resettlement. But a new study notes that any efforts to offset the effects of shifting climate could lead to even more displacement and disruption for many people, particularly the poor.

  • Scientific Publisher to Provide Easy Access to Study Data

    Scientific Publisher to Provide Easy Access to Study Data

    Modern society is awash in data. By one estimate, as much information today is created in 48 hours as was produced in the last 30,000 years. The challenge now is making all those megabytes public. This month, Elsevier, publisher of The Lancet and Cell, announced that it would establish reciprocal linking between its geochemistry journals…

  • Migration in the Face of Global Environmental Change

    Migration in the Face of Global Environmental Change

    Over the past 40 years, coastal and inland water ecosystems experienced the greatest levels of net in-migration, vs. mountain, forest, cultivated, and dryland ecosystems, which experienced the greatest levels of net out-migration, says a new report.

  • Open House: Earth Institute Graduate Programs

    The Environmental and Sustainable Development Programs Open House is a wonderful opportunity for you to find out more about Columbia’s cutting-edge graduate degrees in sustainable development and environmental studies. We invite you to come explore our diverse offering of programs, have your application questions answered, and meet with current Columbia students and faculty. Attend the…

  • Partnership in Action: Lessons Learned Following Haiti Floods

    Partnership in Action: Lessons Learned Following Haiti Floods

    Flood relief efforts, immediate needs assessments, and coordinated damage assessments in Haiti’s Côte Sud region are underway following the rains and flooding that began October 9 and continued through October 11. The Earth Institute Haiti team, working through the CSI partnership, Millennium Village Project (MVP) sector leads, and with the Government of Haiti, are jointly…

Banner with images representing environmental issues and text "You Asked: Our Scientists and Experts Answer Your Burning Questions."

You Asked invites you to share your most pressing questions about climate, science, and sustainability. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School experts will respond with clear, evidence-based answers. Pose your questions and story ideas!

  • Climate Services event at COP-17

    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.

  • Farmers, Flames and Climate: Are We Entering an Age of ‘Mega-Fires’?

    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 …

  • PhD. Ode to a Tree

    PhD. Ode to a Tree

    “I was deeply saddened by the loss of one of our most beautiful trees on campus during the last storm. It had perfect symmetry and such a beautiful color display late in the fall,” wrote geochemist Martin Stute, after a highly unusual heavy October snow felled a 22-year-old Bradford pear at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where he…

  • Health Risks From Famine Likely to Persist

    Health Risks From Famine Likely to Persist

    Video Short: IRI’s Madeleine Thomson discusses the short- and long-term health risks of the East Africa famine

  • Unsettled by Climate Change

    Unsettled by Climate Change

    Climate change already laps at the edges of some communities, disrupting local economies and habitat, and forcing resettlement. But a new study notes that any efforts to offset the effects of shifting climate could lead to even more displacement and disruption for many people, particularly the poor.

  • Scientific Publisher to Provide Easy Access to Study Data

    Scientific Publisher to Provide Easy Access to Study Data

    Modern society is awash in data. By one estimate, as much information today is created in 48 hours as was produced in the last 30,000 years. The challenge now is making all those megabytes public. This month, Elsevier, publisher of The Lancet and Cell, announced that it would establish reciprocal linking between its geochemistry journals…

  • Migration in the Face of Global Environmental Change

    Migration in the Face of Global Environmental Change

    Over the past 40 years, coastal and inland water ecosystems experienced the greatest levels of net in-migration, vs. mountain, forest, cultivated, and dryland ecosystems, which experienced the greatest levels of net out-migration, says a new report.

  • Open House: Earth Institute Graduate Programs

    The Environmental and Sustainable Development Programs Open House is a wonderful opportunity for you to find out more about Columbia’s cutting-edge graduate degrees in sustainable development and environmental studies. We invite you to come explore our diverse offering of programs, have your application questions answered, and meet with current Columbia students and faculty. Attend the…

  • Partnership in Action: Lessons Learned Following Haiti Floods

    Partnership in Action: Lessons Learned Following Haiti Floods

    Flood relief efforts, immediate needs assessments, and coordinated damage assessments in Haiti’s Côte Sud region are underway following the rains and flooding that began October 9 and continued through October 11. The Earth Institute Haiti team, working through the CSI partnership, Millennium Village Project (MVP) sector leads, and with the Government of Haiti, are jointly…