State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

climate change130

  • New Salt Map of Seas Gives Scientists Taste of Discoveries Ahead

    After less than a month in operation, a new NASA satellite has produced the first map showing how saltiness varies across the surface of the world’s oceans. Salt influences how seawater and heat move around the globe and also tells oceanographers how much rain and evaporation is happening at the surface. Until now, salt measurements…

  • Can Canadian Water Slake America’s Need for Power?

    Can Canadian Water Slake America’s Need for Power?

    At a time when the world is abuzz with talk of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to stem the tide of climate change, Canada’s surfeit of hydropower production appears an attractive option to people south of the border who still rely on fossil fuel-generated electricity.

  • Our Weatherbeaten Nation

    Our Weatherbeaten Nation

    When it comes to climate, data, research and problem-solving are taking a back seat to ideology, sentiment and politics. There is a great sense of disdain and suspicion right now for the liberal scientific elite in a significant portion of the U.S. population, and I’m afraid the feeling is often mutual. What can be done?

  • Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Readers can follow a New York Times blog from the arctic as the U.S. flagship vessel for charting geology under the seabed sails the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska and Siberia. By sending sound pulses to the seabed and reading the echoes, scientists conducting the Chukchi Edges project aboard the Marcus G. Langseth hope to understand the structure and history of…

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 9/04

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 9/04

    Hurricanes Underscore Insurers’ Lack of Climate Change Readiness, GreenBiz.com, Sept 6 In a press conference to announce the publication of a new report, Sharlene Leurig, senior manager of the insurance program at Ceres and author of the report, stated, “2011 has been a painful and important reminder that changing climate will inflict damage across the…

  • Walking the Tightrope of Groundwater Management

    Walking the Tightrope of Groundwater Management

    As climate changes and supplying water becomes more challenging, one company says it has a better management strategy.

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/21

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/21

    Standing Against Oil Sands – and Standing for the Climate, Time, Aug 22 Scores of people have been arrested in front of the White House in an ongoing protest urging President Obama to block construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude oil from western Canada’s tar sands developments to the United…

  • Is Biomass Really Renewable?

    Is Biomass Really Renewable?

    Ninety percent of all existing biomass power plants use wood residue and there are currently 115 power plants in development that will burn biomass to generate electricity. But just how renewable is biomass energy?

  • Tree Rings, Ecology and Culture in Mongolia

    Tree Rings, Ecology and Culture in Mongolia

    “How do you know when you are in wilderness? When you have walked beyond where most people walk, when you have left the road … when the easiest route to walk is not a path tread by people but rather the path tread by wolves, moose and deer.”

Banner with images representing environmental issues and text "You Asked: Our Scientists and Experts Answer Your Burning Questions."

You Asked invites you to share your most pressing questions about climate, science, and sustainability. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School experts will respond with clear, evidence-based answers. Pose your questions and story ideas!

  • New Salt Map of Seas Gives Scientists Taste of Discoveries Ahead

    After less than a month in operation, a new NASA satellite has produced the first map showing how saltiness varies across the surface of the world’s oceans. Salt influences how seawater and heat move around the globe and also tells oceanographers how much rain and evaporation is happening at the surface. Until now, salt measurements…

  • Can Canadian Water Slake America’s Need for Power?

    Can Canadian Water Slake America’s Need for Power?

    At a time when the world is abuzz with talk of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to stem the tide of climate change, Canada’s surfeit of hydropower production appears an attractive option to people south of the border who still rely on fossil fuel-generated electricity.

  • Our Weatherbeaten Nation

    Our Weatherbeaten Nation

    When it comes to climate, data, research and problem-solving are taking a back seat to ideology, sentiment and politics. There is a great sense of disdain and suspicion right now for the liberal scientific elite in a significant portion of the U.S. population, and I’m afraid the feeling is often mutual. What can be done?

  • Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Readers can follow a New York Times blog from the arctic as the U.S. flagship vessel for charting geology under the seabed sails the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska and Siberia. By sending sound pulses to the seabed and reading the echoes, scientists conducting the Chukchi Edges project aboard the Marcus G. Langseth hope to understand the structure and history of…

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 9/04

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 9/04

    Hurricanes Underscore Insurers’ Lack of Climate Change Readiness, GreenBiz.com, Sept 6 In a press conference to announce the publication of a new report, Sharlene Leurig, senior manager of the insurance program at Ceres and author of the report, stated, “2011 has been a painful and important reminder that changing climate will inflict damage across the…

  • Walking the Tightrope of Groundwater Management

    Walking the Tightrope of Groundwater Management

    As climate changes and supplying water becomes more challenging, one company says it has a better management strategy.

  • Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/21

    Climate News Roundup: Week of 8/21

    Standing Against Oil Sands – and Standing for the Climate, Time, Aug 22 Scores of people have been arrested in front of the White House in an ongoing protest urging President Obama to block construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude oil from western Canada’s tar sands developments to the United…

  • Is Biomass Really Renewable?

    Is Biomass Really Renewable?

    Ninety percent of all existing biomass power plants use wood residue and there are currently 115 power plants in development that will burn biomass to generate electricity. But just how renewable is biomass energy?

  • Tree Rings, Ecology and Culture in Mongolia

    Tree Rings, Ecology and Culture in Mongolia

    “How do you know when you are in wilderness? When you have walked beyond where most people walk, when you have left the road … when the easiest route to walk is not a path tread by people but rather the path tread by wolves, moose and deer.”