Posts
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A Faustian Choice: Population and Environment
Population growth is a key contributor to the pressures pushing at our planetary boundaries. In Rio+20 discussions, implications of population growth have become shrouded in platitudes. It is important that discussions on planetary limits clearly lay out possible strategies that can alleviate these pressures.
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X-Ray Vision Beneath the Seafloor
Yesterday we deployed one of the Langseth’s long cables equipped with listening devices and began the second phase of our survey which we have been awaiting with much anticipation.
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Starting This Fall: Learn to Measure Sustainability
Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the School of Continuing Education are proud to announce the launch of the Professional Certification in Sustainability Analytics program–designed to formally train managers in specific quantitative and technical skills central to practicing sustainability.
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Water Shortages in Jordan
By Melissa von Mayrhauser Jordan is the third most water scarce country in the world, while its population is rising at approximately 3% annually. Columbia’s SEE-U Jordan program is investigating the reasons behind the country’s lack of water security while also considering possible solutions. We dove into our studies by swimming in the Red and…
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Imaging the Cascadia Subduction Zone
In the research expedition now underway, we will investigate the Juan de Fuca plate before it disappears under North America to understand why earthquakes happen where and when they do within the Cascadia subduction zone off the Pacific Northwest. Our ship, the R/V Marcus G. Langseth, is one of 25 research vessels available to U.S.…
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Bringing Access to Safe Water in Ceará, Brazil: PepsiCo Foundation and the Columbia Water Center to Participate in Rio+20
The work of the PepsiCo Foundation and the Columbia Water Center in Ceara, Brazil, provides a case study in the role public-private partnerships in the sustainable management of water sources.
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Finally – Some true Turkish Delight! Discovery of some tasty oaks
After a few days of mild frustration, the sampling of potentially old umbrella pine lifted our spirits and put us in a good frame of mind to conduct our last day of research in the temperate rainforest region of northeastern Turkey. We headed out of Borçka and met with a forest officer in charge of forests…
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Water Risks for Industry in India – New Report from Columbia Water Center
Companies globally are increasingly focused on the emerging risk of water scarcity, and so are their investors. The combination of rising populations, rapid economic growth in developing countries, and climate variability is triggering enormous water availability challenges around the world. We are at a critical juncture where the crises of food, energy and water, commodity…
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Linking Environmental Governance and Peacebuilding at Rio
As world leaders gather next week for Rio+20, they would do well to bear in mind the core importance of governance of natural resources in the route to peace and stability.
