State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: carbon emissions3

  • Ideas for the Sustainable City: Green Buildings

    On March 23, the Environmental Protection Agency released a list of the 40 cities with the highest percentage of energy-efficient buildings. While Los Angeles, Washington and San Francisco made the top three, NYC came in at number ten. When we think about carbon emissions, we often think of cars, trucks, factories, and power plants. We think…

  • Food Miles, Fair Miles

    It’s not often that when we purchase food from a bodega or grocery store that we consider where it came from.  Is my apple from New York, Washington, or China?  Were my tomatoes grown in Florida, California, or Mexico?  Whose hands planted and picked them?  Why did this planter choose this variety? Wherever our food…

  • The Long and Winding Road to Copenhagen

    A lot of hopes have been placed on the Fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP-15) which began earlier this week in Copenhagen.  Convened on December 7, the conference has been considered by many our best hope at keeping global temperature from rising to what many researchers consider potentially dangerous levels. The gathering of delegates from throughout…

  • Agriculture and its Discontents: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

    In 1943, Norman Borlaug began his research into new varieties of wheat that could feed the burgeoning population of Mexico.  Invited by the Mexican government and funded largely by international philanthropic organizations, Borlaug’s research began what we now refer to as the Green Revolution. Over the next 13 years, Mexico became agriculturally self-sufficient, and in…

  • Ideas for the Sustainable City: Green Buildings

    On March 23, the Environmental Protection Agency released a list of the 40 cities with the highest percentage of energy-efficient buildings. While Los Angeles, Washington and San Francisco made the top three, NYC came in at number ten. When we think about carbon emissions, we often think of cars, trucks, factories, and power plants. We think…

  • Food Miles, Fair Miles

    It’s not often that when we purchase food from a bodega or grocery store that we consider where it came from.  Is my apple from New York, Washington, or China?  Were my tomatoes grown in Florida, California, or Mexico?  Whose hands planted and picked them?  Why did this planter choose this variety? Wherever our food…

  • The Long and Winding Road to Copenhagen

    A lot of hopes have been placed on the Fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP-15) which began earlier this week in Copenhagen.  Convened on December 7, the conference has been considered by many our best hope at keeping global temperature from rising to what many researchers consider potentially dangerous levels. The gathering of delegates from throughout…

  • Agriculture and its Discontents: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

    In 1943, Norman Borlaug began his research into new varieties of wheat that could feed the burgeoning population of Mexico.  Invited by the Mexican government and funded largely by international philanthropic organizations, Borlaug’s research began what we now refer to as the Green Revolution. Over the next 13 years, Mexico became agriculturally self-sufficient, and in…