State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Urbanization23

  • Making Connections and Celebrating Literacy, City to City

    Making Connections and Celebrating Literacy, City to City

    Across sub-Saharan Africa, where MCI is working to help selected secondary cities attain the Millennium Development Goals, more than 150 million adults, or 38% of the adult population, lack basic literacy skills. Fortunately, a number of organizations are working hard to change this. LitWorld, a NY-based NGO dedicated to improving global literacy and a long-time…

  • Urban Wastewater: One Man’s Waste Is Another Man’s Treasure

    Urban Wastewater: One Man’s Waste Is Another Man’s Treasure

    How can we overcome the main challenges we face in our urban wastewater systems today? Are there opportunities to improve sustainability in water treatment systems in US cities to support local food security?

  • The Sundarbans

    The Sundarbans

    After finally reaching the Mongla and our boat, we settled into our new home. It is a similar design, but much larger than the one we used in September. As we ate dinner and explored the ship, it started the overnight journey to the southeastern part of the Sundarbans where the wildlife is most plentiful.…

  • Rivers and the Road

    Rivers and the Road

    We spent a day on the islands (chars) in the Brahmaputra River seeing the geology and talking to the residents. Then after an evening of feasting and dancing in our new Saris and lungis, we hit the road for the trip to the Sundarbans.

  • Class Trip – to Bangladesh

    Class Trip – to Bangladesh

    To help my students in a class on hazards of Bangladesh better understand the country, I am taking them there to experience Bangladesh for themselves.

  • 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.”

  • Power Play: an Energy Map of New York City

    Power Play: an Energy Map of New York City

    A new interactive, color-coded map created by a team at Columbia’s engineering school allows viewers to pinpoint and compare estimated energy usage, building lot by building lot, throughout New York City.

  • Opening the Door to More Rooftop Farming?

    Opening the Door to More Rooftop Farming?

    The NYC Department of City Planning has proposed new zoning rules to make it easier to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency – including a provision on rooftop greenhouses.

  • Making Connections and Celebrating Literacy, City to City

    Making Connections and Celebrating Literacy, City to City

    Across sub-Saharan Africa, where MCI is working to help selected secondary cities attain the Millennium Development Goals, more than 150 million adults, or 38% of the adult population, lack basic literacy skills. Fortunately, a number of organizations are working hard to change this. LitWorld, a NY-based NGO dedicated to improving global literacy and a long-time…

  • Urban Wastewater: One Man’s Waste Is Another Man’s Treasure

    Urban Wastewater: One Man’s Waste Is Another Man’s Treasure

    How can we overcome the main challenges we face in our urban wastewater systems today? Are there opportunities to improve sustainability in water treatment systems in US cities to support local food security?

  • The Sundarbans

    The Sundarbans

    After finally reaching the Mongla and our boat, we settled into our new home. It is a similar design, but much larger than the one we used in September. As we ate dinner and explored the ship, it started the overnight journey to the southeastern part of the Sundarbans where the wildlife is most plentiful.…

  • Rivers and the Road

    Rivers and the Road

    We spent a day on the islands (chars) in the Brahmaputra River seeing the geology and talking to the residents. Then after an evening of feasting and dancing in our new Saris and lungis, we hit the road for the trip to the Sundarbans.

  • Class Trip – to Bangladesh

    Class Trip – to Bangladesh

    To help my students in a class on hazards of Bangladesh better understand the country, I am taking them there to experience Bangladesh for themselves.

  • 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.”

  • Power Play: an Energy Map of New York City

    Power Play: an Energy Map of New York City

    A new interactive, color-coded map created by a team at Columbia’s engineering school allows viewers to pinpoint and compare estimated energy usage, building lot by building lot, throughout New York City.

  • Opening the Door to More Rooftop Farming?

    Opening the Door to More Rooftop Farming?

    The NYC Department of City Planning has proposed new zoning rules to make it easier to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency – including a provision on rooftop greenhouses.