State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Poverty / Development14

  • Tiger Footprints and Dhaka

    Tiger Footprints and Dhaka

    We finished our time in the Sundarbans with a silent boat ride in a tidal creek. The highlight was sets of fresh tiger footprints. We then had a long sail back to Dhaka with only one stop at a village. We then had a whirlwind tour of Old Dhaka with enough shopping to send the…

  • Salt Kilns and Landscape Change in the Sundarbans

    Salt Kilns and Landscape Change in the Sundarbans

    Leaving Hiron Point, we headed east through the Sundarbans to Kotka. At Kotka the students had walks through the forest seeing deer, wild boar and monkeys, while a smaller group also sampled near a set of 300 year old salt making kilns for OSL dating. We managed to finish while the tide inundated the site.…

  • Polder 32 and Hiron Point

    Polder 32 and Hiron Point

    We visited Polder 32, an embanked island in the delta that was flooded for almost two years when the embankment failed in several places during Cyclone Aila. In addition to the problem of increased subsidence due to the embankment, the area struggles for fresh water. Then we sailed to Hiron Point, a forest station in…

  • Working in the Bangladeshi Countryside

    Working in the Bangladeshi Countryside

    After traveling by boat for two days, including crossing the Sundarban Mangrove Forest, we finally arrived in Khulna. We drove to the site of our compaction meter and separated into teams servicing the instruments, investigating agricultural practices, measuring arsenic in the well water and taking sediment samples for dating. We had finally started our work…

  • Remote Data Team Helped Put Haiti Back on the Map

    Remote Data Team Helped Put Haiti Back on the Map

    Before the Haiti earthquake, few publicly available maps of the country existed. When the earthquake hit in 2010, some of the little data that existed was destroyed. Then a team at Tufts University went into action, and from afar, helped build updated maps of roads and earthquake damage to help humanitarian organizations deal with the…

  • Intractable Conflict: Can We End ‘Endless’ Wars?

    Intractable Conflict: Can We End ‘Endless’ Wars?

    Intractable conflicts such as the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East or long-term civil wars in central Africa are among the world’s most destructive social ills, and the most difficult to solve. Over the past decade, Peter Coleman, director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, has been…

  • 2015 Internships at Center for Sustainable Investment

    2015 Internships at Center for Sustainable Investment

    The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment is accepting applications for internship positions for the spring 2015 and summer 2015 semesters. Interns are staffed to one or more specific research projects depending on the background and interests of the particular applicant. Internships are generally unpaid, though some paid opportunities are available. Select work-study administrative positions are…

  • Linking Climate, Security and Development to Fragility in Haiti

    Linking Climate, Security and Development to Fragility in Haiti

    As part of the Fall 2014 Haiti Dialogue Series organized by the Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program, a group of faculty, researchers, students and policymakers gathered to discuss the latest research linking climate change, natural hazards, development and fragility in Haiti.

  • Matching Funds Boost Contributions through Dec. 31

    Matching Funds Boost Contributions through Dec. 31

    The Earth Institute will benefit this holiday season from a matching gift from dedicated donor Betsee Parker, who will match your contributions dollar for dollar up to $300,000 this holiday season.

  • Tiger Footprints and Dhaka

    Tiger Footprints and Dhaka

    We finished our time in the Sundarbans with a silent boat ride in a tidal creek. The highlight was sets of fresh tiger footprints. We then had a long sail back to Dhaka with only one stop at a village. We then had a whirlwind tour of Old Dhaka with enough shopping to send the…

  • Salt Kilns and Landscape Change in the Sundarbans

    Salt Kilns and Landscape Change in the Sundarbans

    Leaving Hiron Point, we headed east through the Sundarbans to Kotka. At Kotka the students had walks through the forest seeing deer, wild boar and monkeys, while a smaller group also sampled near a set of 300 year old salt making kilns for OSL dating. We managed to finish while the tide inundated the site.…

  • Polder 32 and Hiron Point

    Polder 32 and Hiron Point

    We visited Polder 32, an embanked island in the delta that was flooded for almost two years when the embankment failed in several places during Cyclone Aila. In addition to the problem of increased subsidence due to the embankment, the area struggles for fresh water. Then we sailed to Hiron Point, a forest station in…

  • Working in the Bangladeshi Countryside

    Working in the Bangladeshi Countryside

    After traveling by boat for two days, including crossing the Sundarban Mangrove Forest, we finally arrived in Khulna. We drove to the site of our compaction meter and separated into teams servicing the instruments, investigating agricultural practices, measuring arsenic in the well water and taking sediment samples for dating. We had finally started our work…

  • Remote Data Team Helped Put Haiti Back on the Map

    Remote Data Team Helped Put Haiti Back on the Map

    Before the Haiti earthquake, few publicly available maps of the country existed. When the earthquake hit in 2010, some of the little data that existed was destroyed. Then a team at Tufts University went into action, and from afar, helped build updated maps of roads and earthquake damage to help humanitarian organizations deal with the…

  • Intractable Conflict: Can We End ‘Endless’ Wars?

    Intractable Conflict: Can We End ‘Endless’ Wars?

    Intractable conflicts such as the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East or long-term civil wars in central Africa are among the world’s most destructive social ills, and the most difficult to solve. Over the past decade, Peter Coleman, director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, has been…

  • 2015 Internships at Center for Sustainable Investment

    2015 Internships at Center for Sustainable Investment

    The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment is accepting applications for internship positions for the spring 2015 and summer 2015 semesters. Interns are staffed to one or more specific research projects depending on the background and interests of the particular applicant. Internships are generally unpaid, though some paid opportunities are available. Select work-study administrative positions are…

  • Linking Climate, Security and Development to Fragility in Haiti

    Linking Climate, Security and Development to Fragility in Haiti

    As part of the Fall 2014 Haiti Dialogue Series organized by the Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program, a group of faculty, researchers, students and policymakers gathered to discuss the latest research linking climate change, natural hazards, development and fragility in Haiti.

  • Matching Funds Boost Contributions through Dec. 31

    Matching Funds Boost Contributions through Dec. 31

    The Earth Institute will benefit this holiday season from a matching gift from dedicated donor Betsee Parker, who will match your contributions dollar for dollar up to $300,000 this holiday season.