State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Columbia University3

  • A Well-Deserved Honor for Mayor David Dinkins

    David Dinkins represents a time when public service was considered a calling. From his service in the U.S. Marines, to his time in the New York State legislature, his service as New York City Clerk, Borough President, Mayor and now Professor; he has always looked for ways to make a contribution to the public good.

  • Vetlesen Science Prize Celebrated at Columbia Gala

    Vetlesen Science Prize Celebrated at Columbia Gala

    Stephen Sparks, one of the world’s foremost experts on volcanoes, received the Vetlesen Prize for his groundbreaking scientific work at a ceremony held June 24 at Columbia University. Two-hundred-fifty people attended the formal gathering in the Low Library Rotunda.

  • STARS Summit: Ramping up Sustainability at Columbia

    STARS Summit: Ramping up Sustainability at Columbia

    Columbia University received a gold star rating as part of the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS), a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. In May 2015, the Office of Environmental Stewardship convened a meeting of the first ever Sustainability Summit, to take action on sustainability planning at…

  • A Reason to Be Optimistic: The New Generation of Sustainability Professionals

    The task before sustainability educators is to take the inspiring energy and enthusiasm of our students and channel it into an effort to develop the conceptual and analytic tools needed to conduct high quality management and policy analyses. I’ve been involved in this work for many years and I find that while my students often…

  • Alma Mater’s Other Secret: a Way Forward on Climate

    Alma Mater’s Other Secret: a Way Forward on Climate

    Sitting on the iconic front steps of Low Library, Alma Mater rests on a plinth that offers a clue to a possible method of carbon sequestration, a vital technology for addressing our problem of too much CO2.

  • Watch Your Step: the Alpha Predator of the Ordovician

    Watch Your Step: the Alpha Predator of the Ordovician

    Frozen into the stone floor of a stairway landing, several flights up in Columbia’s Lewisohn Hall, sits a stark reminder of how life has evolved in the sea. Part 6 of the Columbia Geology Tour.

  • Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    The architects of Columbia’s modern Northwest Tower, at the corner of Broadway and 120th Street, made good use of some beautiful stones. In their polished and swirling surfaces, they tell a story of the clash of continents and the processes by which mountains are made.

  • A Scientist Who Traveled the World to Study the Forest, and the Trees

    Gordon Jacoby, 1934-2014

  • At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.

  • A Well-Deserved Honor for Mayor David Dinkins

    David Dinkins represents a time when public service was considered a calling. From his service in the U.S. Marines, to his time in the New York State legislature, his service as New York City Clerk, Borough President, Mayor and now Professor; he has always looked for ways to make a contribution to the public good.

  • Vetlesen Science Prize Celebrated at Columbia Gala

    Vetlesen Science Prize Celebrated at Columbia Gala

    Stephen Sparks, one of the world’s foremost experts on volcanoes, received the Vetlesen Prize for his groundbreaking scientific work at a ceremony held June 24 at Columbia University. Two-hundred-fifty people attended the formal gathering in the Low Library Rotunda.

  • STARS Summit: Ramping up Sustainability at Columbia

    STARS Summit: Ramping up Sustainability at Columbia

    Columbia University received a gold star rating as part of the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS), a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. In May 2015, the Office of Environmental Stewardship convened a meeting of the first ever Sustainability Summit, to take action on sustainability planning at…

  • A Reason to Be Optimistic: The New Generation of Sustainability Professionals

    The task before sustainability educators is to take the inspiring energy and enthusiasm of our students and channel it into an effort to develop the conceptual and analytic tools needed to conduct high quality management and policy analyses. I’ve been involved in this work for many years and I find that while my students often…

  • Alma Mater’s Other Secret: a Way Forward on Climate

    Alma Mater’s Other Secret: a Way Forward on Climate

    Sitting on the iconic front steps of Low Library, Alma Mater rests on a plinth that offers a clue to a possible method of carbon sequestration, a vital technology for addressing our problem of too much CO2.

  • Watch Your Step: the Alpha Predator of the Ordovician

    Watch Your Step: the Alpha Predator of the Ordovician

    Frozen into the stone floor of a stairway landing, several flights up in Columbia’s Lewisohn Hall, sits a stark reminder of how life has evolved in the sea. Part 6 of the Columbia Geology Tour.

  • Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    The architects of Columbia’s modern Northwest Tower, at the corner of Broadway and 120th Street, made good use of some beautiful stones. In their polished and swirling surfaces, they tell a story of the clash of continents and the processes by which mountains are made.

  • A Scientist Who Traveled the World to Study the Forest, and the Trees

    Gordon Jacoby, 1934-2014

  • At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.