State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Water13

  • Photo Essay: The Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Photo Essay: The Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Researchers survey the damage to Puerto Rico’s forests in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

  • Climate Change and the Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Climate Change and the Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Ecologist Maria Uriarte investigates the effects of Hurricane Maria on the forests of Puerto Rico, and how long-term climate change may affect them.

  • Researchers Map High Levels of Drugs in the Hudson River

    Researchers Map High Levels of Drugs in the Hudson River

    In a new study, researchers have mapped out a large variety of discarded pharmaceuticals dissolved throughout the Hudson River. They say that in some places, levels may be high enough to potentially affect aquatic life.

  • Cape Town Water Crisis Highlights a Worldwide Problem

    Cape Town Water Crisis Highlights a Worldwide Problem

    Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center, explains South Africa’s water shortage and why places in the U.S. could be at risk, too.

  • So Much Depends on a Tree Guard

    So Much Depends on a Tree Guard

    Adding protective barriers around street trees could reduce load on city sewers, study finds.

  • Columbia Water Center Year in Review

    Columbia Water Center Year in Review

    The Columbia Water Center (CWC) is a leader in applying the science of water and climate to solve real world problems. With current events in mind, we worked with our partners to make progress on several key projects.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • New York’s Waterways Are Swimming in Plastic Microbeads

    New York’s Waterways Are Swimming in Plastic Microbeads

    Plastic microbeads, common in soap, toothpaste and other consumer products, are flooding waters. A team from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is doing the first large-scale assessment of their impact on New York’s waterways.

  • Photo Essay: The Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Photo Essay: The Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Researchers survey the damage to Puerto Rico’s forests in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

  • Climate Change and the Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Climate Change and the Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

    Ecologist Maria Uriarte investigates the effects of Hurricane Maria on the forests of Puerto Rico, and how long-term climate change may affect them.

  • Researchers Map High Levels of Drugs in the Hudson River

    Researchers Map High Levels of Drugs in the Hudson River

    In a new study, researchers have mapped out a large variety of discarded pharmaceuticals dissolved throughout the Hudson River. They say that in some places, levels may be high enough to potentially affect aquatic life.

  • Cape Town Water Crisis Highlights a Worldwide Problem

    Cape Town Water Crisis Highlights a Worldwide Problem

    Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center, explains South Africa’s water shortage and why places in the U.S. could be at risk, too.

  • So Much Depends on a Tree Guard

    So Much Depends on a Tree Guard

    Adding protective barriers around street trees could reduce load on city sewers, study finds.

  • Columbia Water Center Year in Review

    Columbia Water Center Year in Review

    The Columbia Water Center (CWC) is a leader in applying the science of water and climate to solve real world problems. With current events in mind, we worked with our partners to make progress on several key projects.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • New York’s Waterways Are Swimming in Plastic Microbeads

    New York’s Waterways Are Swimming in Plastic Microbeads

    Plastic microbeads, common in soap, toothpaste and other consumer products, are flooding waters. A team from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is doing the first large-scale assessment of their impact on New York’s waterways.