State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

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  • Photo Essay: High in the Hills, Climate May Challenge Forests

    Photo Essay: High in the Hills, Climate May Challenge Forests

    Forests in the south-central United States are some of the country’s most productive and diverse. They also sit in a warming “hole”—an area where the progressive rise in temperature affecting most of the continent hasn’t yet taken hold. A team from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is studying how these forests might shift—or even disappear—when…

  • How Will Shifting Climate Change U.S. Forests?

    How Will Shifting Climate Change U.S. Forests?

    One foggy spring morning just after a hard rain, Park Williams was tromping through the woods deep in Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains. Toiling down a steep slope, he supposedly was keeping a simultaneous eye out for rattlesnakes, copperheads, poison ivy and big old trees. Williams seemed mostly focused on the trees, though; attention to the other…

  • Anchor Institutions and their Significance to Community and Economic Development

    Anchor Institutions and their Significance to Community and Economic Development

    Partnerships between anchor institutions and local organizations and businesses are vital to solving problems in localities and regions. Through engagement, investment and collaboration, anchor institutions can continue to play a crucial role in providing significant social and economic development opportunities to the communities in which they operate.

  • Student Work Helps Establish Conservation Act in Palau

    Student Work Helps Establish Conservation Act in Palau

    David Prieto, graduate of the Earth Institute Sustainability Management program, helped establish the first Manta Ray Conservation Act in the Republic of Palau, aiding the creation of the 6th largest marine sanctuary in the world.

  • Genetic Analysis of Asian Elephants in India Reveals Some Surprises

    Researchers find one population actually two; suggest strategies for future elephant conservation

  • World Wildlife Fund, Earth Institute Form New Partnership

    World Wildlife Fund, Earth Institute Form New Partnership

    The World Wildlife Fund will collaborate with the Earth Institute’s Center for Climate Systems Research to advance adaptation to the impacts of climate change around the globe. The partners will create new ways of generating climate risk information and embedding it into the World Wildlife Fund’s conservation and development planning, policies and practice.

  • Can We Save Coral Reefs?

    Can We Save Coral Reefs?

    We are losing coral reefs at an alarming rate and scientists believe that with business as usual they will likely be gone by the end of the century. However, better local management, coupled with new research on coral reef resilience and adaptability, may help buy some time for these indispensable ecosystems.

  • Creating a ‘Safe Space’ for Iconic Ecosystems

    Creating a ‘Safe Space’ for Iconic Ecosystems

    Important global ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest and Great Barrier Reef are in danger of breaking down because of a combination of local pressures and climate change, but better local management could help make these areas more resilient.

  • Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Vital Signs is a key part of Tanzania’s new Agriculture Climate Resilience Plan, which presents a strategy for sustainable agricultural development in the face of shifting rainfall patterns and other effects of a changing climate.

Banner: Climate Week NYC 2025, September 21-28, 2025
  • Photo Essay: High in the Hills, Climate May Challenge Forests

    Photo Essay: High in the Hills, Climate May Challenge Forests

    Forests in the south-central United States are some of the country’s most productive and diverse. They also sit in a warming “hole”—an area where the progressive rise in temperature affecting most of the continent hasn’t yet taken hold. A team from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is studying how these forests might shift—or even disappear—when…

  • How Will Shifting Climate Change U.S. Forests?

    How Will Shifting Climate Change U.S. Forests?

    One foggy spring morning just after a hard rain, Park Williams was tromping through the woods deep in Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains. Toiling down a steep slope, he supposedly was keeping a simultaneous eye out for rattlesnakes, copperheads, poison ivy and big old trees. Williams seemed mostly focused on the trees, though; attention to the other…

  • Anchor Institutions and their Significance to Community and Economic Development

    Anchor Institutions and their Significance to Community and Economic Development

    Partnerships between anchor institutions and local organizations and businesses are vital to solving problems in localities and regions. Through engagement, investment and collaboration, anchor institutions can continue to play a crucial role in providing significant social and economic development opportunities to the communities in which they operate.

  • Student Work Helps Establish Conservation Act in Palau

    Student Work Helps Establish Conservation Act in Palau

    David Prieto, graduate of the Earth Institute Sustainability Management program, helped establish the first Manta Ray Conservation Act in the Republic of Palau, aiding the creation of the 6th largest marine sanctuary in the world.

  • Genetic Analysis of Asian Elephants in India Reveals Some Surprises

    Researchers find one population actually two; suggest strategies for future elephant conservation

  • World Wildlife Fund, Earth Institute Form New Partnership

    World Wildlife Fund, Earth Institute Form New Partnership

    The World Wildlife Fund will collaborate with the Earth Institute’s Center for Climate Systems Research to advance adaptation to the impacts of climate change around the globe. The partners will create new ways of generating climate risk information and embedding it into the World Wildlife Fund’s conservation and development planning, policies and practice.

  • Can We Save Coral Reefs?

    Can We Save Coral Reefs?

    We are losing coral reefs at an alarming rate and scientists believe that with business as usual they will likely be gone by the end of the century. However, better local management, coupled with new research on coral reef resilience and adaptability, may help buy some time for these indispensable ecosystems.

  • Creating a ‘Safe Space’ for Iconic Ecosystems

    Creating a ‘Safe Space’ for Iconic Ecosystems

    Important global ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest and Great Barrier Reef are in danger of breaking down because of a combination of local pressures and climate change, but better local management could help make these areas more resilient.

  • Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Vital Signs is a key part of Tanzania’s new Agriculture Climate Resilience Plan, which presents a strategy for sustainable agricultural development in the face of shifting rainfall patterns and other effects of a changing climate.