Sustainability87
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Students Travel to the Middle East
Students from Columbia University and Tel Aviv University are traveling through Jordan and Israel to learn about environmental challenges facing the two countries. They’ll be posting here about their experiences. You can also follow them on social media at #CUJordanIsrael2016.
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The False Trade-Off Between Economic Growth and Environmental Protection
The investment in environmental clean-up often stimulates other upgrades that enable businesses to more effectively compete in a global economy. Moreover, a clean environment reduces illness and that reduces the need for expensive health care.
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Students Assess City Greenhouse Gas Reduction Tools
Students in the Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA-ESP) program worked this past semester to analyze city-level strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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New York City’s Bag Fee and the Circular Economy
While the reduction and eventual elimination of fossil fuel use is a key element of such an economy, so too are the public policies and public-private partnerships needed to collect and reuse discarded products and packages. Bag bills and bottle bills can help develop these capacities. In most of the United States, these ideas have…
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Columbia, What Is Our Role in Responding to Climate Change?
We often think of the fight against climate change on a national or international level, but what can we do as a community?
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Practical Solutions to Sustainability Issues: Undergraduate Capstone Projects
On April 29, students in the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development presented practical solutions to sustainability issues and challenges faced by real world clients.
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The How and Why of Green Building
Buildings account for almost a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and the U.N. Environment Programme projects that if we continue with business as usual in the building sector, these emissions will double by 2030. Fortunately, green building is on the rise around the world.
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Report Assesses Risks to World’s Shared River Basins
Risks for the world’s Transboundary River Basins are projected to increase in the next 15–30 years, particularly in four hotspot regions: the Middle East, Central Asia, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, and the Orange and Limpopo basins in Southern Africa.
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Open Dialogue and Sustainability Education
Among the academics I find a mix of optimism and dire pessimism. It’s a recurring theme—can we build an economic life that can preserve the planet, or is it already too late? My responsibility is to ensure that our students hear both perspectives.
