State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Sustainability101

  • Will Africa Finally Achieve a Green Revolution?

    Will Africa Finally Achieve a Green Revolution?

    Earth Institute agricultural scientist Pedro A. Sanchez argues in a new essay that new developments in both science and politics give him hope that sub-Saharan Africa will be able to feed itself by 2050, even with a projected population by then of about 2 billion people.

  • Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    NASA has been at the forefront of climate science, launching satellites that take the pulse of Earth’s land, oceans and atmospheric systems. But the agency is increasingly vulnerable itself to the effects of a changing climate.

  • Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    According to the World Water Management Institute, over one-third of the human population is affected by water scarcity. Advances in physical understanding, its applications, and the study of our environment and bio-mimicry help us develop more effective ways to fight freshwater scarcity around the world.

  • Designing a Sustainability Framework for China

    Designing a Sustainability Framework for China

    Earth Institute Executive Director Steven Cohen traveled to Beijing to formalize a partnership with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, the preeminent think tank in China, to design sustainability metrics based on China’s unique development conditions.

  • Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    China’s problems with air pollution mirror what the United States went through during the rapid economic growth following World War II, and the solutions will likely be the same, Earth Institute Executive Director Steven Cohen said Saturday on an English-language news program on China Central Television.

  • Warming Streams Have Cascading Impacts in the Amazon

    Warming Streams Have Cascading Impacts in the Amazon

    To protect a river, you must preserve its headwaters. Agricultural development is warming streams at the headwaters of the Xingu River, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Rising temperatures have local impacts that could cascade into regional changes, highlighting the importance of responsible land use outside of protected areas.

  • Internship Opportunity for Millennium Villages

    Internship Opportunity for Millennium Villages

    As the Earth Institute’s monitoring and evaluation team gears up for its final evaluation of 10 Millennium Village sites, we are currently recruiting a qualitative research assistant intern to support field researchers conducting process evaluation studies across East and West Africa.

  • MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    Olivia Kemp, a 2013 alumna of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, is using the skills she developed in the program to develop her career focusing on conservation, food security and sustainable development. Now with Blue Ventures, Kemp is working with local communities in Madagascar to create a focus on community-led marine conservation.

  • Hatchets, Ratchets & Pivots: Book Talk by Ruth DeFries

    Hatchets, Ratchets & Pivots: Book Talk by Ruth DeFries

    As Professor Ruth DeFries aptly stated in her opening remarks at yesterday’s book launch for “The Big Ratchet,” if you look at satellite pictures of the earth, you see the imprint of the human species everywhere. Humans have come to dominate the planet. But how did this come to be? This question, among others, is…

  • Will Africa Finally Achieve a Green Revolution?

    Will Africa Finally Achieve a Green Revolution?

    Earth Institute agricultural scientist Pedro A. Sanchez argues in a new essay that new developments in both science and politics give him hope that sub-Saharan Africa will be able to feed itself by 2050, even with a projected population by then of about 2 billion people.

  • Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    NASA has been at the forefront of climate science, launching satellites that take the pulse of Earth’s land, oceans and atmospheric systems. But the agency is increasingly vulnerable itself to the effects of a changing climate.

  • Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    According to the World Water Management Institute, over one-third of the human population is affected by water scarcity. Advances in physical understanding, its applications, and the study of our environment and bio-mimicry help us develop more effective ways to fight freshwater scarcity around the world.

  • Designing a Sustainability Framework for China

    Designing a Sustainability Framework for China

    Earth Institute Executive Director Steven Cohen traveled to Beijing to formalize a partnership with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, the preeminent think tank in China, to design sustainability metrics based on China’s unique development conditions.

  • Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    China’s problems with air pollution mirror what the United States went through during the rapid economic growth following World War II, and the solutions will likely be the same, Earth Institute Executive Director Steven Cohen said Saturday on an English-language news program on China Central Television.

  • Warming Streams Have Cascading Impacts in the Amazon

    Warming Streams Have Cascading Impacts in the Amazon

    To protect a river, you must preserve its headwaters. Agricultural development is warming streams at the headwaters of the Xingu River, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Rising temperatures have local impacts that could cascade into regional changes, highlighting the importance of responsible land use outside of protected areas.

  • Internship Opportunity for Millennium Villages

    Internship Opportunity for Millennium Villages

    As the Earth Institute’s monitoring and evaluation team gears up for its final evaluation of 10 Millennium Village sites, we are currently recruiting a qualitative research assistant intern to support field researchers conducting process evaluation studies across East and West Africa.

  • MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    Olivia Kemp, a 2013 alumna of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, is using the skills she developed in the program to develop her career focusing on conservation, food security and sustainable development. Now with Blue Ventures, Kemp is working with local communities in Madagascar to create a focus on community-led marine conservation.

  • Hatchets, Ratchets & Pivots: Book Talk by Ruth DeFries

    Hatchets, Ratchets & Pivots: Book Talk by Ruth DeFries

    As Professor Ruth DeFries aptly stated in her opening remarks at yesterday’s book launch for “The Big Ratchet,” if you look at satellite pictures of the earth, you see the imprint of the human species everywhere. Humans have come to dominate the planet. But how did this come to be? This question, among others, is…