State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Poverty / Development41

  • Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    In many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, gender parity tends to decline at higher levels of schooling. While girls’ enrollment and completion rates for primary school are typically high, these rates decrease with secondary and tertiary education. Girls may discontinue their studies to devote more time to household chores, to earn extra income by engaging in…

  • Phytoremediation: Can It Solve the Brownfield Problem?

    Phytoremediation: Can It Solve the Brownfield Problem?

    Brownfields, born from defunct industrial facilities, are a growing problem in the world today. Current cleanup techniques are invasive, expensive, energy dependent, and restrictive. Perhaps a better and more innovative solution to the problem is a form of bioremediation called phytoremediation.

  • H2O – “Help to Others”, A Youth Inspired Water Project

    H2O – “Help to Others”, A Youth Inspired Water Project

    Project H2O, Help to Others, is a documentary production about a group of high school students in Puerto Rico on an odyssey of learning about global water problems and how to be part of the solution, and much more.

  • Climate and the Border: Why Rising Temperatures Will Add Immigration Challenges

    Climate and the Border: Why Rising Temperatures Will Add Immigration Challenges

    When experts warn of the consequences of global climate change, they usually cite impacts on natural systems. They tell us that ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise, extreme weather will become more common, droughts will increase in frequency, oceans will become more acidic and so on. In recent years, we have also come…

  • Think Globally, Act Locally: Climate Adaptation in Action

    Think Globally, Act Locally: Climate Adaptation in Action

    Across Indonesia, several effective climate adaptation actions on local levels are underway. These actions serve as a reminder of the important change that starts with a community of dedicated individuals.

  • Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Russell Sticklor with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program in Washington, DC. recently contacted me requesting my thoughts on a number of issues for an article he is writing on global population growth and water scarcity for the magazine, Outdoor America. I thought some of the comments might be interesting to our blog…

  • Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Sarah Jaffe, an MCI researcher who is carrying out a Gender Needs Assessment for Kisumu, Kenya.   My mobile buzzed in my pocket, and I shifted the crate of Fanta my seatmate had rested on my lap to one side. It was my colleague, Ben: “Madame Grace is…

  • New Initiative to Fast-Track Development in Dry Areas of East Africa

    Ministers from six countries in the region endorse project targeting pastoralist communities

  • Resources for health in Ruhiira, Uganda

    By Anjali Chowfla This past week the Uganda MDP team completed our health sector rotation, which proved to be a sobering experience. Despite the many successes the project has made in improving health outcomes in the community ( a decrease in maternal and child mortality and malaria deaths and an increase

  • Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    In many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, gender parity tends to decline at higher levels of schooling. While girls’ enrollment and completion rates for primary school are typically high, these rates decrease with secondary and tertiary education. Girls may discontinue their studies to devote more time to household chores, to earn extra income by engaging in…

  • Phytoremediation: Can It Solve the Brownfield Problem?

    Phytoremediation: Can It Solve the Brownfield Problem?

    Brownfields, born from defunct industrial facilities, are a growing problem in the world today. Current cleanup techniques are invasive, expensive, energy dependent, and restrictive. Perhaps a better and more innovative solution to the problem is a form of bioremediation called phytoremediation.

  • H2O – “Help to Others”, A Youth Inspired Water Project

    H2O – “Help to Others”, A Youth Inspired Water Project

    Project H2O, Help to Others, is a documentary production about a group of high school students in Puerto Rico on an odyssey of learning about global water problems and how to be part of the solution, and much more.

  • Climate and the Border: Why Rising Temperatures Will Add Immigration Challenges

    Climate and the Border: Why Rising Temperatures Will Add Immigration Challenges

    When experts warn of the consequences of global climate change, they usually cite impacts on natural systems. They tell us that ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise, extreme weather will become more common, droughts will increase in frequency, oceans will become more acidic and so on. In recent years, we have also come…

  • Think Globally, Act Locally: Climate Adaptation in Action

    Think Globally, Act Locally: Climate Adaptation in Action

    Across Indonesia, several effective climate adaptation actions on local levels are underway. These actions serve as a reminder of the important change that starts with a community of dedicated individuals.

  • Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A

    Russell Sticklor with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program in Washington, DC. recently contacted me requesting my thoughts on a number of issues for an article he is writing on global population growth and water scarcity for the magazine, Outdoor America. I thought some of the comments might be interesting to our blog…

  • Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Sarah Jaffe, an MCI researcher who is carrying out a Gender Needs Assessment for Kisumu, Kenya.   My mobile buzzed in my pocket, and I shifted the crate of Fanta my seatmate had rested on my lap to one side. It was my colleague, Ben: “Madame Grace is…

  • New Initiative to Fast-Track Development in Dry Areas of East Africa

    Ministers from six countries in the region endorse project targeting pastoralist communities

  • Resources for health in Ruhiira, Uganda

    By Anjali Chowfla This past week the Uganda MDP team completed our health sector rotation, which proved to be a sobering experience. Despite the many successes the project has made in improving health outcomes in the community ( a decrease in maternal and child mortality and malaria deaths and an increase