Posts
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At the Bottom of the Bottom of the World
As we in North America emerge from a remarkably mild winter, the brief and sunny summer in the world’s deep south is drawing to a rapid close. Antarctica’s days are becoming shorter, and come the vernal equinox the South Pole will enter into its yearly hibernation—six months of dusk and night. Researchers from Columbia University…
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Class Trip – to Bangladesh
To help my students in a class on hazards of Bangladesh better understand the country, I am taking them there to experience Bangladesh for themselves.
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Our Newest SEE-U Field Site in Jordan
In partnership with Columbia’s Global Center in Amman, the Columbia University Middle East Research Center, undergraduate students of all majors have the unique opportunity to study ecosystems and environmental sustainability in Jordan.
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Climate News Roundup: Week of 3/04
Climate Change May Kill OFF 900 Bird Species, Treehugger, Mar 7 Scientists say climate change is likely to drive up to 900 bird species into extinction by the end of the century unless additional conservation measures are taken. Tropical bird species are particularly vulnerable because they are adapted to living in a stable climate, where…
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A Controversy: Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale
The organic-rich source rock of the Marcellus Shale is an on-going target for massive gas extraction. Advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, have made this extensive area of Marcellus black shale one of the largest unconventional and widely controversial gas operations in the United States today.
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Climate Services: Bring In Many Perspectives, Early On
What’s a “climate service”? Depends on whom you ask, which is why it is crucial to bring as many different perspectives to the table, says Guy Brassuer, head of Germany’s Climate Service Center.
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A New Spring Course: Bangladesh: Life on a Tectonically Active Delta
During the Spring 2012 semester, the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development is offering a new and unique senior Capstone Workshop that explores the world’s largest delta in Bangladesh as an example of development challenges in the 21st century.
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ESP Students Present Initial Findings for Clients at Midterm Presentations
“The midterm briefings showcase each Workshop’s central analytic challenge and progress to date, but what I like best is the students’ palpable excitement at working for a real world client on a pressing problem,” stated Professor Sara Tjossem, who is the faculty advisor for the Workshop project “Building the First Sustainability Rating System for Local…
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“The Population Bomb: Defused or Still Ticking?” Seminar Recap
“Thank you for coming on this gorgeous day, to sit in an airless, lightless room and discuss how to save the world,” said John Mutter, director of Columbia’s PhD in Sustainable Development and a member of the Earth Institute faculty, in welcoming the audience of the Sustainable Development Seminar, “The Population Bomb: Defused or Still…
