State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Poverty / Development29

  • “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still Ticking?” Seminar Recap

    “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still Ticking?” Seminar Recap

    “Thank you for coming on this gorgeous day, to sit in an airless, lightless room and discuss how to save the world,” said John Mutter, director of Columbia’s PhD in Sustainable Development and a member of the Earth Institute faculty, in welcoming the audience of the Sustainable Development Seminar, “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still…

  • Celebrating International Women’s Day: Triumphs and Challenges

    There is much to celebrate, this International Women’s Day. Three fabulously courageous women won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and just a year earlier the United Nations established UN Women, a new agency dedicated to gender equality worldwide and headed by another strong woman leader and role model, former President of Brazil Michelle Bachelet. School…

  • One Planet, Too Many People?

    One Planet, Too Many People?

    Can we manage the needs of 9 billion people for water, food and energy without depleting our resources and ruining the environment? “The solutions,” says Tim Fox, “are all within the capability of existing technology.”

  • Putting Wind in Trade’s Sails

    Putting Wind in Trade’s Sails

    International maritime trade represents a unique example of global cooperation. With the help of a growing number of renewable energy technologies, the global community can work towards progress in this limited area and use it as a model for addressing emissions in other areas of the global economy.

  • Climates Services: Must Help Us Understand Risks

    Climates Services: Must Help Us Understand Risks

    The point is setting priorities right, and for an agency like the World Food Programme, our focus is of course vulnerable people in the most vulnerable countries, countries where climate change is a multiplier of hunger risk. –- WFP’s Carlo Scaramella, in the fifth in a series of video interviews.

  • Collaborating on Policy and Practice with Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti

    Collaborating on Policy and Practice with Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti

    The Earth Institute welcomed Prime Minister Garry Conille of Haiti on Dec. 2 for a day of policy discussions and a seminar with the students of the Master’s in Public Affairs Development Practice program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

  • Enabling Change: Training Development Practitioners in Jordan

    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…

  • East Africa Drought Is “Exceptional”

    East Africa Drought Is “Exceptional”

    Climate scientist Simon Mason talks about the drought and the role of climate information in disaster preparedness and response.

  • China’s Long March Towards Better Environmental Conditions

    China’s Long March Towards Better Environmental Conditions

    The first independent analysis of China environmental data at the sub-national level by an international team aims to help guide the development of policies addressing environmental challenges created by China’s rapid growth.

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

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

  • “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still Ticking?” Seminar Recap

    “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still Ticking?” Seminar Recap

    “Thank you for coming on this gorgeous day, to sit in an airless, lightless room and discuss how to save the world,” said John Mutter, director of Columbia’s PhD in Sustainable Development and a member of the Earth Institute faculty, in welcoming the audience of the Sustainable Development Seminar, “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still…

  • Celebrating International Women’s Day: Triumphs and Challenges

    There is much to celebrate, this International Women’s Day. Three fabulously courageous women won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and just a year earlier the United Nations established UN Women, a new agency dedicated to gender equality worldwide and headed by another strong woman leader and role model, former President of Brazil Michelle Bachelet. School…

  • One Planet, Too Many People?

    One Planet, Too Many People?

    Can we manage the needs of 9 billion people for water, food and energy without depleting our resources and ruining the environment? “The solutions,” says Tim Fox, “are all within the capability of existing technology.”

  • Putting Wind in Trade’s Sails

    Putting Wind in Trade’s Sails

    International maritime trade represents a unique example of global cooperation. With the help of a growing number of renewable energy technologies, the global community can work towards progress in this limited area and use it as a model for addressing emissions in other areas of the global economy.

  • Climates Services: Must Help Us Understand Risks

    Climates Services: Must Help Us Understand Risks

    The point is setting priorities right, and for an agency like the World Food Programme, our focus is of course vulnerable people in the most vulnerable countries, countries where climate change is a multiplier of hunger risk. –- WFP’s Carlo Scaramella, in the fifth in a series of video interviews.

  • Collaborating on Policy and Practice with Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti

    Collaborating on Policy and Practice with Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti

    The Earth Institute welcomed Prime Minister Garry Conille of Haiti on Dec. 2 for a day of policy discussions and a seminar with the students of the Master’s in Public Affairs Development Practice program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

  • Enabling Change: Training Development Practitioners in Jordan

    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…

  • East Africa Drought Is “Exceptional”

    East Africa Drought Is “Exceptional”

    Climate scientist Simon Mason talks about the drought and the role of climate information in disaster preparedness and response.

  • China’s Long March Towards Better Environmental Conditions

    China’s Long March Towards Better Environmental Conditions

    The first independent analysis of China environmental data at the sub-national level by an international team aims to help guide the development of policies addressing environmental challenges created by China’s rapid growth.