State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Water64

  • The Letter: Climate Change and the Integrity of Science

    255 prominent scientists from all over the United States published an open letter in today’s Science Magazine, in defense of science, scientists and the scientific process in the face of vocal and aggressive climate change skeptics. In case you don’t subscribe to Science Magazine, it’s worthwhile reproducing the letter here.

  • Disney’s Oceans, the timely movie

    On Earth Day, Disney Nature released the film ‘Oceans’. It’s a big-screen, high quality look into a part of the world that most of us can only imagine. Less nature documentary and more visual poem, the film is light on information and heavy on inspiration.

  • Hydraulic Fracturing – Potential for Contamination of Drinking Water Sources

    Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used by the oil and gas industry to facilitate natural gas recovery in underground low permeability coalbed methane wells. This operation improves the extraction efficiency of methane by creating fissions or fractures in underground rock formations, generally 5,000 – 20,000 feet below the ground surface. Highly pressurized hydraulic fracturing fluids,…

  • Vote for the Earth Institute in the eBay Fundraising Tournament for the Environment

    Do you share our belief that the world has the know-how and resources to solve our environmental challenges in a sustainable manner? Do you support efforts by the scientific community to help understand the effects of climate change, reduce environmental degradation, and advance renewable energy technologies? Then please vote for the Columbia Water Center’s parent…

  • Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation Renews Support of Ethiopia Water, Educational Initiatives

    The Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation renewed its commitment to water and educational initiatives in Ethiopia with a $354,050 gift.  The foundation’s continued support will benefit the last phase of the Water Capture System in Koraro, Ethiopia, fellowships in Earth Institute Masters programs and Millennium Villages project interns. Students whose internships were supported by…

  • Environmental Regeneration in Haiti: the Water Problem

    Columbia Water Center research scientist Lior Asaf is working in Haiti to understand the existing environmental conditions, and look for ways to improve people’s lives for the long term. One part of the project focuses on the Port Piment watershed basin on the southwestern end of the island.

  • The True Cost of Water: NYC Event May 6

    The Green Policy and Environmental Policy Discussion Group of the The New York Academy of Science and the Columbia Water Center are sponsoring a panel discussion on The True Cost of Water on May 6. The focus of this panel discussion is the importance of economic optimization of water usage in the present and in…

  • Gulf Oil Spill

    Last week, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon, an oil drilling rig for BP, exploded and sank. This has led to what potentially could be one of the worst oil spills in US history. Currently, oil is leaking at 42,000 gallons per day from a well 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana,…

  • Sustainable water systems in rural Brazil

    One of Columbia Water Center’s major programs, funded by the PepsiCo Foundation, is to develop water infrastructure in rural Brazil, in areas that have had no public water service.  CWC’s local Director, Francisco de Assis de Souza Filho, was recently in New York, and on April 23 gave a talk about ‘Designing Sustainable Water Systems:…

  • The Letter: Climate Change and the Integrity of Science

    255 prominent scientists from all over the United States published an open letter in today’s Science Magazine, in defense of science, scientists and the scientific process in the face of vocal and aggressive climate change skeptics. In case you don’t subscribe to Science Magazine, it’s worthwhile reproducing the letter here.

  • Disney’s Oceans, the timely movie

    On Earth Day, Disney Nature released the film ‘Oceans’. It’s a big-screen, high quality look into a part of the world that most of us can only imagine. Less nature documentary and more visual poem, the film is light on information and heavy on inspiration.

  • Hydraulic Fracturing – Potential for Contamination of Drinking Water Sources

    Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used by the oil and gas industry to facilitate natural gas recovery in underground low permeability coalbed methane wells. This operation improves the extraction efficiency of methane by creating fissions or fractures in underground rock formations, generally 5,000 – 20,000 feet below the ground surface. Highly pressurized hydraulic fracturing fluids,…

  • Vote for the Earth Institute in the eBay Fundraising Tournament for the Environment

    Do you share our belief that the world has the know-how and resources to solve our environmental challenges in a sustainable manner? Do you support efforts by the scientific community to help understand the effects of climate change, reduce environmental degradation, and advance renewable energy technologies? Then please vote for the Columbia Water Center’s parent…

  • Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation Renews Support of Ethiopia Water, Educational Initiatives

    The Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation renewed its commitment to water and educational initiatives in Ethiopia with a $354,050 gift.  The foundation’s continued support will benefit the last phase of the Water Capture System in Koraro, Ethiopia, fellowships in Earth Institute Masters programs and Millennium Villages project interns. Students whose internships were supported by…

  • Environmental Regeneration in Haiti: the Water Problem

    Columbia Water Center research scientist Lior Asaf is working in Haiti to understand the existing environmental conditions, and look for ways to improve people’s lives for the long term. One part of the project focuses on the Port Piment watershed basin on the southwestern end of the island.

  • The True Cost of Water: NYC Event May 6

    The Green Policy and Environmental Policy Discussion Group of the The New York Academy of Science and the Columbia Water Center are sponsoring a panel discussion on The True Cost of Water on May 6. The focus of this panel discussion is the importance of economic optimization of water usage in the present and in…

  • Gulf Oil Spill

    Last week, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon, an oil drilling rig for BP, exploded and sank. This has led to what potentially could be one of the worst oil spills in US history. Currently, oil is leaking at 42,000 gallons per day from a well 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana,…

  • Sustainable water systems in rural Brazil

    One of Columbia Water Center’s major programs, funded by the PepsiCo Foundation, is to develop water infrastructure in rural Brazil, in areas that have had no public water service.  CWC’s local Director, Francisco de Assis de Souza Filho, was recently in New York, and on April 23 gave a talk about ‘Designing Sustainable Water Systems:…