State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

climate science29

  • Crossing 400ppm: Welcome to the Pliocene

    Crossing 400ppm: Welcome to the Pliocene

    “Right now, we’re living in a world of a Pliocene atmosphere,” scientist Maureen Raymo of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory tells the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media. “But the whole rest of the climate system — the oceans are trying to catch-up, the ice sheets are waning, and everything is trying to catch…

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Climate Scientist Is First Woman to Win Geology’s Storied Wollaston Medal

    A climate scientist who has suggested how mountain building can lower Earth’s thermostat and why ice ages sometimes wax and wane at different speeds has been awarded one of geology’s oldest and most coveted prizes: the British Wollaston Medal. The first woman to win a Wollaston in the prize’s 183-year history, Maureen Raymo, a researcher…

  • Con Ed Agrees to Climate Change Plan

    Con Ed Agrees to Climate Change Plan

    In a groundbreaking agreement, Consolidated Edison, one of New York’s major utility companies, will incorporate plans to protect the power system from the effects of climate change as part of a new multi-year rate plan.

  • Earth’s Climate History, Written in Dust

    Earth’s Climate History, Written in Dust

    Dust blowing onto the oceans can help algae grow and pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. It influences the radiative balance of the planet by reflecting sunlight away. Scientists want to know what role this plays in the coming and going of the ice ages, and how it affects our climate.

  • 2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    Last year was one of the warmest on record, according to analyses of global temperature data by NASA and NOAA. Both federal agencies placed 2013 among the top 10 warmest years since records began in 1880, continuing a longer-term trend of global warming.

  • New Initiative to Focus on Climate and Extreme Weather

    New Initiative to Focus on Climate and Extreme Weather

    Superstorm Sandy expert Adam Sobel is getting ready to launch a new initiative on extreme weather, thanks to a €250,000 two-year AXA Award in Climate and Extreme Weather he has just received from the AXA Research Fund.

  • Why Do We Run Hot and Cold on Climate Change?

    Why Do We Run Hot and Cold on Climate Change?

    People’s views on climate seem easily swayed, or in some cases manipulated, by daily weather. In a new study, researchers drilled into what goes on in people’s minds when they respond to these smaller-scale stimuli.

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • Crossing 400ppm: Welcome to the Pliocene

    Crossing 400ppm: Welcome to the Pliocene

    “Right now, we’re living in a world of a Pliocene atmosphere,” scientist Maureen Raymo of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory tells the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media. “But the whole rest of the climate system — the oceans are trying to catch-up, the ice sheets are waning, and everything is trying to catch…

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Climate Scientist Is First Woman to Win Geology’s Storied Wollaston Medal

    A climate scientist who has suggested how mountain building can lower Earth’s thermostat and why ice ages sometimes wax and wane at different speeds has been awarded one of geology’s oldest and most coveted prizes: the British Wollaston Medal. The first woman to win a Wollaston in the prize’s 183-year history, Maureen Raymo, a researcher…

  • Con Ed Agrees to Climate Change Plan

    Con Ed Agrees to Climate Change Plan

    In a groundbreaking agreement, Consolidated Edison, one of New York’s major utility companies, will incorporate plans to protect the power system from the effects of climate change as part of a new multi-year rate plan.

  • Earth’s Climate History, Written in Dust

    Earth’s Climate History, Written in Dust

    Dust blowing onto the oceans can help algae grow and pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. It influences the radiative balance of the planet by reflecting sunlight away. Scientists want to know what role this plays in the coming and going of the ice ages, and how it affects our climate.

  • 2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    Last year was one of the warmest on record, according to analyses of global temperature data by NASA and NOAA. Both federal agencies placed 2013 among the top 10 warmest years since records began in 1880, continuing a longer-term trend of global warming.

  • New Initiative to Focus on Climate and Extreme Weather

    New Initiative to Focus on Climate and Extreme Weather

    Superstorm Sandy expert Adam Sobel is getting ready to launch a new initiative on extreme weather, thanks to a €250,000 two-year AXA Award in Climate and Extreme Weather he has just received from the AXA Research Fund.

  • Why Do We Run Hot and Cold on Climate Change?

    Why Do We Run Hot and Cold on Climate Change?

    People’s views on climate seem easily swayed, or in some cases manipulated, by daily weather. In a new study, researchers drilled into what goes on in people’s minds when they respond to these smaller-scale stimuli.