State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Water33

  • Khepupara to Kokilmoni

    Khepupara to Kokilmoni

    Leaving Dhaka, we spend an entire day getting to Khepupara in southern Bangladesh. Then we spent a long morning installing a GPS to monitor subsidence of the delta before heading back on the road again.

  • Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Dr. Daniel Hillel was recently honored with the World Food Prize for his pioneering work in sustainable agriculture.

  • To Comilla and Back

    To Comilla and Back

    I’ve just arrived back in Bangladesh with an engineer to install 6 new GPS stations to add to our studies of earthquake hazards and land subsidence. Our first stop was Comilla University, the westernmost exposed fold of the collision between the Ganges-Bramaputra Delta and the Sumatra-Andaman-Burma plat boundary.

  • Biotherapy: Technology Assisted Wetland Revival

    Biotherapy: Technology Assisted Wetland Revival

    Coastal Wetlands provide homes for migrating and native birds, protected areas for hatcheries, flood mitigation and an unrivaled biodiversity of microorganisims that serves as the basis of the marine food chain. Nature here works hard to compensate for an increasingly heavy human footprint.

  • Restoration Efforts on the Bronx River

    It’s not every day one has the opportunity to see river restoration efforts, take water samples, and refine one’s canoeing skills. Students from the Sustainable Development program did all three while exploring the Bronx River with the Bronx River Alliance.

  • CERC Certificate Alum Pursues His Passion For Protecting Oceans

    CERC Certificate Alum Pursues His Passion For Protecting Oceans

    Learn more about Mike Misner, a 2006 graduate of the Certificate in Conservation and Environmental Sustainability at the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC).

  • Nature’s Toxic Crusaders

    Nature’s Toxic Crusaders

    Can mushrooms help clean up oil spills? Can oysters filter sewage pollution? Industrial waste is being injected into the planet’s soil and water as a result of human activity. Pioneers in the field of conservation and sustainability are employing nature’s own biological task force to help clean up.

  • Newtown Creek Clean-Up Polluting the Air, Researchers Say

    Newtown Creek Clean-Up Polluting the Air, Researchers Say

    A city effort to clean-up polluted Newtown Creek by aerating the water to boost oxygen levels is having an unintended effect: it is releasing sewage bacteria and other particles into the air above the site, researchers say in a new study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The researchers found bacteria types in the…

  • Epic Wetness in Greater NYC, and What Broadleaf Trees Have to Say About It

    Epic Wetness in Greater NYC, and What Broadleaf Trees Have to Say About It

    2012 is turning out to be an exceptional year in the eastern US. Starting out with what was essentially a #YearWithoutaWinter, followed by a heat wave in March, a hot summer, Macoun and Cortland apples coming in 2-3 weeks early, and the continuation of a severe drought in the Southern US that expanded into the Midwest…

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

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

  • Khepupara to Kokilmoni

    Khepupara to Kokilmoni

    Leaving Dhaka, we spend an entire day getting to Khepupara in southern Bangladesh. Then we spent a long morning installing a GPS to monitor subsidence of the delta before heading back on the road again.

  • Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Dr. Daniel Hillel was recently honored with the World Food Prize for his pioneering work in sustainable agriculture.

  • To Comilla and Back

    To Comilla and Back

    I’ve just arrived back in Bangladesh with an engineer to install 6 new GPS stations to add to our studies of earthquake hazards and land subsidence. Our first stop was Comilla University, the westernmost exposed fold of the collision between the Ganges-Bramaputra Delta and the Sumatra-Andaman-Burma plat boundary.

  • Biotherapy: Technology Assisted Wetland Revival

    Biotherapy: Technology Assisted Wetland Revival

    Coastal Wetlands provide homes for migrating and native birds, protected areas for hatcheries, flood mitigation and an unrivaled biodiversity of microorganisims that serves as the basis of the marine food chain. Nature here works hard to compensate for an increasingly heavy human footprint.

  • Restoration Efforts on the Bronx River

    It’s not every day one has the opportunity to see river restoration efforts, take water samples, and refine one’s canoeing skills. Students from the Sustainable Development program did all three while exploring the Bronx River with the Bronx River Alliance.

  • CERC Certificate Alum Pursues His Passion For Protecting Oceans

    CERC Certificate Alum Pursues His Passion For Protecting Oceans

    Learn more about Mike Misner, a 2006 graduate of the Certificate in Conservation and Environmental Sustainability at the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC).

  • Nature’s Toxic Crusaders

    Nature’s Toxic Crusaders

    Can mushrooms help clean up oil spills? Can oysters filter sewage pollution? Industrial waste is being injected into the planet’s soil and water as a result of human activity. Pioneers in the field of conservation and sustainability are employing nature’s own biological task force to help clean up.

  • Newtown Creek Clean-Up Polluting the Air, Researchers Say

    Newtown Creek Clean-Up Polluting the Air, Researchers Say

    A city effort to clean-up polluted Newtown Creek by aerating the water to boost oxygen levels is having an unintended effect: it is releasing sewage bacteria and other particles into the air above the site, researchers say in a new study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The researchers found bacteria types in the…

  • Epic Wetness in Greater NYC, and What Broadleaf Trees Have to Say About It

    Epic Wetness in Greater NYC, and What Broadleaf Trees Have to Say About It

    2012 is turning out to be an exceptional year in the eastern US. Starting out with what was essentially a #YearWithoutaWinter, followed by a heat wave in March, a hot summer, Macoun and Cortland apples coming in 2-3 weeks early, and the continuation of a severe drought in the Southern US that expanded into the Midwest…