State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

climate change114

  • Getting a Whiff of Climate Change

    Getting a Whiff of Climate Change

    Monday was the day when millions of people in New York and New Jersey learned what climate change smells like, or at least what one of its aromas is.

  • Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Three Columbia students recently won the top prize in the Columbia Economics Review’s annual environmental policy competition, which challenged students from eight universities to make policy recommendations addressing climate change.

  • Scientists Speak Out on Climate: Is Anyone Listening?

    Scientists Speak Out on Climate: Is Anyone Listening?

    In the light of recent varied efforts to focus public attention on the risks of climate change, we asked Earth Institute scientists what they want the public to understand about the issue and how they see their roles.

  • From Theory to Reality: Closing the Carbon Loop

    From Theory to Reality: Closing the Carbon Loop

    Carbon capture, storage and reuse has the potential to help us reduce CO2 emissions and combat global warming. The Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy is bringing together experts from an array of fields to assess the state of the technology April 14-16.

  • Climate Change: a Matter of Public Health

    Climate Change: a Matter of Public Health

    People have tried to cast climate change as an environmental issue, a social justice issue and a development issue. Madeleine Thomson of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society argues climate change can be understood much better if we consider it an issue of global public health.

  • Warming Climate May Spread Drying to a Third of Earth, Says Study

    Heat, Not Just Rainfall, Plays into New Projections

  • Did New Zealand Dust Influence the Last Ice Age?

    Did New Zealand Dust Influence the Last Ice Age?

    Bess Koffman, a postdoctoral researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, recently traveled to New Zealand to collect dust ground-up by glaciers during the last ice age. In this photo essay, she explains how she collected the dust, what analysis looks like in the lab and what she hopes to learn.

  • Warming Hiatus? Hangout and Find Out

    Warming Hiatus? Hangout and Find Out

    Wondering about the slowdown in global warming? Need a little context? Try visiting a Google hangout session with physical and social scientists and science communicators on March 20 at 11 a.m. EDT.

  • Helping Consumers See the Green Behind Fuel Economy

    Helping Consumers See the Green Behind Fuel Economy

    New research from the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions sheds light on how best to present information on U.S. fuel economy labels. Consumers choose fuel-efficient vehicles more frequently when fuel economy is expressed in terms of the cost of gas on a long term, 100,000-mile scale. The scale currently used on the U.S. fuel…

Blue banner with kids and Earth photos. Text: "Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House, Saturday, October 17, 2026, 10am-4pm.

On Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 10am to 4pm, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House—our biggest, best science fun and discovery event of the year—will take place on our beautiful campus in Palisades, NY. Mark your calendar and join us for this free, family-friendly celebration of science! RSVP Today!

  • Getting a Whiff of Climate Change

    Getting a Whiff of Climate Change

    Monday was the day when millions of people in New York and New Jersey learned what climate change smells like, or at least what one of its aromas is.

  • Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Three Columbia students recently won the top prize in the Columbia Economics Review’s annual environmental policy competition, which challenged students from eight universities to make policy recommendations addressing climate change.

  • Scientists Speak Out on Climate: Is Anyone Listening?

    Scientists Speak Out on Climate: Is Anyone Listening?

    In the light of recent varied efforts to focus public attention on the risks of climate change, we asked Earth Institute scientists what they want the public to understand about the issue and how they see their roles.

  • From Theory to Reality: Closing the Carbon Loop

    From Theory to Reality: Closing the Carbon Loop

    Carbon capture, storage and reuse has the potential to help us reduce CO2 emissions and combat global warming. The Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy is bringing together experts from an array of fields to assess the state of the technology April 14-16.

  • Climate Change: a Matter of Public Health

    Climate Change: a Matter of Public Health

    People have tried to cast climate change as an environmental issue, a social justice issue and a development issue. Madeleine Thomson of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society argues climate change can be understood much better if we consider it an issue of global public health.

  • Warming Climate May Spread Drying to a Third of Earth, Says Study

    Heat, Not Just Rainfall, Plays into New Projections

  • Did New Zealand Dust Influence the Last Ice Age?

    Did New Zealand Dust Influence the Last Ice Age?

    Bess Koffman, a postdoctoral researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, recently traveled to New Zealand to collect dust ground-up by glaciers during the last ice age. In this photo essay, she explains how she collected the dust, what analysis looks like in the lab and what she hopes to learn.

  • Warming Hiatus? Hangout and Find Out

    Warming Hiatus? Hangout and Find Out

    Wondering about the slowdown in global warming? Need a little context? Try visiting a Google hangout session with physical and social scientists and science communicators on March 20 at 11 a.m. EDT.

  • Helping Consumers See the Green Behind Fuel Economy

    Helping Consumers See the Green Behind Fuel Economy

    New research from the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions sheds light on how best to present information on U.S. fuel economy labels. Consumers choose fuel-efficient vehicles more frequently when fuel economy is expressed in terms of the cost of gas on a long term, 100,000-mile scale. The scale currently used on the U.S. fuel…