State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Poverty / Development37

  • Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    One of the greatest challenges to sustaining 1.8 million people in an extremely arid locale is water, which in the coastal city of Dubai is abundant but not potable.

  • Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

  • Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    For a vast majority of the past fifty years, oil and its abundance defined the Middle East. In coming years, however, that part of the world may well be defined by the dearth of a different natural resource: water.

  • Risky Business 2: Municipal Bonds?

    Risky Business 2: Municipal Bonds?

    According to a recently released report, municipal bonds, which finance a large portion of the nation’s water utilities and infrastructure, may not carry ratings that reflect the growing pool of risk surrounding the nation’s water supply.

  • Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Water quantity and quality have generally been considered as separate problems and have usually been treated as such in policy-making and environmental restoration efforts. Increasingly, however, research and experience is beginning to show a strong link between water quantity and quality.

  • An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    What will it take for Africa to feed itself? Can the continent double its current crop yields and provide food not only for itself, but for export to outside markets? How can African farmers become as productive as their global peers? These and other questions were presented on October 11 by former UN Secretary-General Kofi…

  • A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    The Earth Institute’s annual donor report is now available in an interactive digital format. We remain committed to finding extraordinary solutions to unprecedented world challenges, and this report highlights some of our innovative projects in research, policy and education, and the partnerships that are helping to support them.

  • IRI Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award

    IRI Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award

    Alessandra Giannini, a research scientist at the IRI, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER award to advance our understanding of uncertainty in climate model projections in the African Sahel and other semi-arid regions of the world.

  • Denmark’s New Mark: Fossil-free by 2050

    Denmark’s New Mark: Fossil-free by 2050

    Last Monday, October 11th, Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the Consulate General of Denmark co-hosted “The Climate Challenge: Revitalizing the Debate”. The daylong symposium included three panel sessions, in which experts from academia, the private sector, government and non-governmental organizations discussed the effects and implications of global climate change as well as steps –both taken…

  • Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water

    One of the greatest challenges to sustaining 1.8 million people in an extremely arid locale is water, which in the coastal city of Dubai is abundant but not potable.

  • Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

  • Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    Parched for Peace: A Miniseries on the Mideast Water Crisis

    For a vast majority of the past fifty years, oil and its abundance defined the Middle East. In coming years, however, that part of the world may well be defined by the dearth of a different natural resource: water.

  • Risky Business 2: Municipal Bonds?

    Risky Business 2: Municipal Bonds?

    According to a recently released report, municipal bonds, which finance a large portion of the nation’s water utilities and infrastructure, may not carry ratings that reflect the growing pool of risk surrounding the nation’s water supply.

  • Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Water quantity and quality have generally been considered as separate problems and have usually been treated as such in policy-making and environmental restoration efforts. Increasingly, however, research and experience is beginning to show a strong link between water quantity and quality.

  • An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    What will it take for Africa to feed itself? Can the continent double its current crop yields and provide food not only for itself, but for export to outside markets? How can African farmers become as productive as their global peers? These and other questions were presented on October 11 by former UN Secretary-General Kofi…

  • A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    The Earth Institute’s annual donor report is now available in an interactive digital format. We remain committed to finding extraordinary solutions to unprecedented world challenges, and this report highlights some of our innovative projects in research, policy and education, and the partnerships that are helping to support them.

  • IRI Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award

    IRI Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award

    Alessandra Giannini, a research scientist at the IRI, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER award to advance our understanding of uncertainty in climate model projections in the African Sahel and other semi-arid regions of the world.

  • Denmark’s New Mark: Fossil-free by 2050

    Denmark’s New Mark: Fossil-free by 2050

    Last Monday, October 11th, Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the Consulate General of Denmark co-hosted “The Climate Challenge: Revitalizing the Debate”. The daylong symposium included three panel sessions, in which experts from academia, the private sector, government and non-governmental organizations discussed the effects and implications of global climate change as well as steps –both taken…