Posts
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The Sustainable City
By concentrating human population in cities, we will make it possible to preserve land for wilderness, ecosystem maintenance and agriculture. People will travel to these places and will experience nature, but only a fortunate few will live close to nature.
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On the Surface, Feeling Further Away from the Ocean than Ever
My German colleague and I could conceptualize five kilometers horizontally—the same as her bike ride to work, the same as the first ever race I ran. Neither of us could quite grasp what flipping 5 kilometers 90 degrees might mean, as our pump continued on its 3-hour vertical journey to that depth.
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Uncovering Impacts of Gold Mining in Papua New Guinea
From late December 2015 through January, a team of Earth Institute scientists and human rights lawyers from Columbia University worked in the highlands of Papua New Guinea to deliver the results of an independent study of water quality and human rights to the indigenous communities living near an industrial gold mine.
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Fast-Building Storms Play Key Role in Tropical Cyclone Risk
In studying climate and tropical cyclones, researchers find a weather phenomenon at play.
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The Earth Shook, but It Wasn’t an Earthquake
Last Thursday, thousands of people on the Eastern Seaboard felt the earth tremble. Seismologists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory quickly concluded it was not an earthquake, but a military exercise.
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Improving Buildings to Reduce Energy Demand
Maya always had an interest in sustainable cities and passive building design. Because buildings make up a third of the world’s energy consumption, she believes that focusing on improving our buildings can have a significant effect on our global energy demand.
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Setting Off for Two Months at Sea
Sidney Hemming and the scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution conduct the final preparations for their research cruise off southern Africa and introduce a girls’ school group from Mauritius to science at sea.
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In the Southern Ocean, a Carbon-Dioxide Mystery Comes Clear
Twenty thousand years ago, low concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere allowed the earth to fall into the grip of an ice age. But despite decades of research, the reasons why levels of the greenhouse gas were so low then have been difficult to piece together. New research, published today in the leading journal…
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Student Work Helps Establish Conservation Act in Palau
David Prieto, graduate of the Earth Institute Sustainability Management program, helped establish the first Manta Ray Conservation Act in the Republic of Palau, aiding the creation of the 6th largest marine sanctuary in the world.
