State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

climate change80

  • Flying is Easy, Just Think Happy Thoughts…

    Flying is Easy, Just Think Happy Thoughts…

    For scientists mapping Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, data collection flights require a demanding schedule: The day starts at 4am and sometimes continues throughout the night.

  • Scott Pruitt’s Attack on Scientists Serving on EPA Advisory Boards is Illegal

    Scott Pruitt’s Attack on Scientists Serving on EPA Advisory Boards is Illegal

    Pruitt’s policy runs counter to existing conflict-of-interests law, and is on its face arbitrary and capricious.

  • National Climate Report: Q&A With Authors

    National Climate Report: Q&A With Authors

    Every four years Congress is provided with a state-of-the-art report on the impacts of climate change on the United States. The next National Climate Assessment is scheduled for 2018, but its scientific findings are scheduled to be published today. Here, two of its authors explain what to expect.

  • Settling in at McMurdo Station in Antarctica

    Settling in at McMurdo Station in Antarctica

    Even though our tent is within a short drive of McMurdo (a small town with most of the safety and logistical equipment on the entire continent), we still need to prepare ourselves for sudden, extreme weather. Every time we leave the relative safety of McMurdo, we carry our Extreme Cold Weather equipment and our tent…

  • By 2100, Climate Change Could Alter Key Microbial Interactions in the Ocean

    By 2100, Climate Change Could Alter Key Microbial Interactions in the Ocean

    The warmer, more acidic waters caused by climate change influence the behavior of tiny marine organisms essential to ocean health.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • Improving Tools for Predicting Wildfires

    Improving Tools for Predicting Wildfires

    During a conference at Columbia University, scientists pinpointed areas where advances in fire prediction can be made within the next decade.

  • Can Fossil Fuel Companies Be Held Liable For Climate Change?

    Can Fossil Fuel Companies Be Held Liable For Climate Change?

    Like Big Tobacco, fossil fuel companies have knowingly sold a product that causes harm while covering up and distorting the truth. Can they be sued for climate-related damages?

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!

  • Flying is Easy, Just Think Happy Thoughts…

    Flying is Easy, Just Think Happy Thoughts…

    For scientists mapping Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, data collection flights require a demanding schedule: The day starts at 4am and sometimes continues throughout the night.

  • Scott Pruitt’s Attack on Scientists Serving on EPA Advisory Boards is Illegal

    Scott Pruitt’s Attack on Scientists Serving on EPA Advisory Boards is Illegal

    Pruitt’s policy runs counter to existing conflict-of-interests law, and is on its face arbitrary and capricious.

  • National Climate Report: Q&A With Authors

    National Climate Report: Q&A With Authors

    Every four years Congress is provided with a state-of-the-art report on the impacts of climate change on the United States. The next National Climate Assessment is scheduled for 2018, but its scientific findings are scheduled to be published today. Here, two of its authors explain what to expect.

  • Settling in at McMurdo Station in Antarctica

    Settling in at McMurdo Station in Antarctica

    Even though our tent is within a short drive of McMurdo (a small town with most of the safety and logistical equipment on the entire continent), we still need to prepare ourselves for sudden, extreme weather. Every time we leave the relative safety of McMurdo, we carry our Extreme Cold Weather equipment and our tent…

  • By 2100, Climate Change Could Alter Key Microbial Interactions in the Ocean

    By 2100, Climate Change Could Alter Key Microbial Interactions in the Ocean

    The warmer, more acidic waters caused by climate change influence the behavior of tiny marine organisms essential to ocean health.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • Improving Tools for Predicting Wildfires

    Improving Tools for Predicting Wildfires

    During a conference at Columbia University, scientists pinpointed areas where advances in fire prediction can be made within the next decade.

  • Can Fossil Fuel Companies Be Held Liable For Climate Change?

    Can Fossil Fuel Companies Be Held Liable For Climate Change?

    Like Big Tobacco, fossil fuel companies have knowingly sold a product that causes harm while covering up and distorting the truth. Can they be sued for climate-related damages?