Water58
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Struggle to Keep Fish, People & Power Companies Happy
There’s that water-energy nexus again – power plants in NYS are under scrutiny for damaging aquatic habitat and the DEC is working on a policy to limit their impact. Over 17 billion eggs, larvae and fish are killed each year, but opponents to the policy say it could cause NYS energy costs to sky-rocket.
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Phytoremediation: Can It Solve the Brownfield Problem?
Brownfields, born from defunct industrial facilities, are a growing problem in the world today. Current cleanup techniques are invasive, expensive, energy dependent, and restrictive. Perhaps a better and more innovative solution to the problem is a form of bioremediation called phytoremediation.
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H2O – “Help to Others”, A Youth Inspired Water Project
Project H2O, Help to Others, is a documentary production about a group of high school students in Puerto Rico on an odyssey of learning about global water problems and how to be part of the solution, and much more.
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Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick
In the recent documentary Gasland, Josh Fox investigate the rapidly growing practice of hydraulic fracturing or “hydrofracking” that natural gas companies have developed to produce gas from underground shale deposits.
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Sime Darby Supports Sustainable Agriculture and China 2049
The Sime Darby Group, a Malaysian-based multinational company with core businesses in plantation, property, motors, industrial, energy and utilities, has committed $500,000 in support of the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and China 2049 programs, making the company the newest Earth Institute Corporate Circle Strategic Partner. The Earth Institute also serves on Sime Darby’s International Advisory…
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Let’s Take a Break: NY Senate Passes Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing
Fracking is an interesting example of a topic we talk about frequency at the Columbia Water Center – the water-energy nexus. In this case, the link relates water quality to energy supply. While fracking in the Marcellus Shale could provide significant supplies of relatively clean energy (natural gas), it also creates a huge risk for…
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Global Population Growth and Water Scarcity Q&A
Russell Sticklor with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program in Washington, DC. recently contacted me requesting my thoughts on a number of issues for an article he is writing on global population growth and water scarcity for the magazine, Outdoor America. I thought some of the comments might be interesting to our blog…
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The World is Hemorrhaging Oil—The Oilpocalypse Continues
For several months now we’ve been hearing about the BP Deepwater Horzion catastrophe—which, in spite of some reports to the contrary, is far from over. But that’s not the only place bad things are happening with petroleum — in just the last couple of weeks the world has experienced at least three other major oil…
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Scary Water Study from the NRDC
A fascinating and frightening recent study from the National Resources Defense Council unveiled serious threats to water sustainability in the United States over the coming decades. In an era of rapidly unfolding climate change, the Council’s research found that more than 1,100 counties, or one third of all counties in the lower 48 states, face…
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
