Viewpoints5
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Environmental Sustainability and Consumption
The best way to achieve environmental sustainability is to develop a circular economy with services and products that have the least possible impact on the environment. Attacking consumption is futile and a waste of effort.
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Regulating Air Toxics from Petrochemical Plants
We need to end performative and ideological regulatory debates and strive for effective regulation that protects the public while encouraging innovation.
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Garbage, Product Design, and the Circular Economy
The key to building the circular economy is not consumer guilt or changed behavior but new business models and technologies that enable the economy to transform waste into a resource.
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Electric Vehicle Adoption Requires More Effective Public and Private Management
Regulation can help accelerate the adoption of EVs, but more effective public and private management is needed to build better EVs and ensure that charging them is easy and convenient.
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The Emerging Field of Sustainable Agriculture
In the United States—and throughout the world—there is potential for a transformation of agricultural practices to make them more efficient and less polluting.
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Strategies for Safe Drinking Water: Ensuring Lead-Free Taps for All
On World Water Day, Columbia researchers explore the best options for replacing America’s aging pipes.
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The Endless Shame of Louisiana’s Cancer Alley
In a nation that invented national environmental policy over half a century ago we now see the spectacle of part of America being investigated by an international NGO seeking to protect the human rights of victims of toxic pollution.
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The SEC Finally Issues its Climate Disclosure Rule
Government’s regulation of corporate environmental reporting has finally begun.
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Why Hosting an Olympic Competition in Tahiti Is a (Really) Bad Idea
A plan to build a judging tower atop coral may cause irreversible damage to the local marine ecosystem.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More
