State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

developing countries21

  • Hitting the Green in Cuba–Again

    Hitting the Green in Cuba–Again

    In a somewhat distressing development, the New York Times reports that the Cuban golf industry will soon be back in business after a 50-year hiatus that started when Fidel Castro first came to power.

  • Post bin Laden, Working Toward Afghanistan’s Water Security

    Post bin Laden, Working Toward Afghanistan’s Water Security

    Osama bin Laden is history, but decades of war and civil strife pose challenges to Afghanistan’s water infrastructure.

  • Growing Up: Water Efficiency and Sunless Farming

    Growing Up: Water Efficiency and Sunless Farming

    As Earth’s population continues to grow and a dynamic global climate shifts our expectations of where and when food can be grown, scientists are trying to find new ways to get more from less.

  • Informing Farmers and Combating Drought in Mali

    Informing Farmers and Combating Drought in Mali

    A new case study authored by scientists at Mali’s national meteorological service and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society chronicles a success story of linking farmers to climate information in response to the 1972-1984 drought.

  • Improving Climate Prediction in Africa

    Improving Climate Prediction in Africa

    Africa lags the developed world in weather stations but still produces a surprising amount of data. Too bad few people are using it. Scientists at Columbia University and a growing number of others—among them Bill Gates and the charity arm of Google—are pushing to open Africa’s climate archive to the world by making it free.…

  • Climate Change to Exacerbate Rising Food Prices

    Climate Change to Exacerbate Rising Food Prices

    Despite all human provisions to maintain a steady and even increasing food supply, post-Green-Revolution agriculture remains heavily dependent on seasonal weather. Just in the past few years, weather extremes caused significant jumps in food prices, causing social, economic, and political disturbances in both developing and developed countries. Between 2006 and 2008, world average prices rose…

  • Microsoft and the Earth Institute Launch Rural Technology Lab in Mali

    Microsoft and the Earth Institute Launch Rural Technology Lab in Mali

    By Matt Berg, ICT Director, Millennium Villages Project To demonstrate the critical role technology can play in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, the Earth Institute, Columbia University has partnered with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills program to establish a computer programmer training center at the Millennium Villages project (MVP) office…

  • Changing Litterbugs One Wave at a Time

    Changing Litterbugs One Wave at a Time

    As the mid-Pacific trash island grows, forces are at work to change people’s minds about how they may be adding to it.

  • Frustration and Progress, again

    Frustration and Progress, again

    Days here seem to be coming in pairs.  In the morning, we redid the 40m well, remeasuring, doing a dry run with no cement, mixing and putting in cement, lowering the fiber and everything went as planned.  Then came the 60m well.  It already had a history.  It caved in twice when they pulled the…

Earth Month Graphic Collage: "Our Power, Our Planet - April 2025"

The first Earth Day in 1970 ignited a movement to stop polluting our planet. This Earth Month, join us in our commitment to realizing a just and sustainable future for our planet. Visit our Earth Day website for ideas, resources, and inspiration.

  • Hitting the Green in Cuba–Again

    Hitting the Green in Cuba–Again

    In a somewhat distressing development, the New York Times reports that the Cuban golf industry will soon be back in business after a 50-year hiatus that started when Fidel Castro first came to power.

  • Post bin Laden, Working Toward Afghanistan’s Water Security

    Post bin Laden, Working Toward Afghanistan’s Water Security

    Osama bin Laden is history, but decades of war and civil strife pose challenges to Afghanistan’s water infrastructure.

  • Growing Up: Water Efficiency and Sunless Farming

    Growing Up: Water Efficiency and Sunless Farming

    As Earth’s population continues to grow and a dynamic global climate shifts our expectations of where and when food can be grown, scientists are trying to find new ways to get more from less.

  • Informing Farmers and Combating Drought in Mali

    Informing Farmers and Combating Drought in Mali

    A new case study authored by scientists at Mali’s national meteorological service and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society chronicles a success story of linking farmers to climate information in response to the 1972-1984 drought.

  • Improving Climate Prediction in Africa

    Improving Climate Prediction in Africa

    Africa lags the developed world in weather stations but still produces a surprising amount of data. Too bad few people are using it. Scientists at Columbia University and a growing number of others—among them Bill Gates and the charity arm of Google—are pushing to open Africa’s climate archive to the world by making it free.…

  • Climate Change to Exacerbate Rising Food Prices

    Climate Change to Exacerbate Rising Food Prices

    Despite all human provisions to maintain a steady and even increasing food supply, post-Green-Revolution agriculture remains heavily dependent on seasonal weather. Just in the past few years, weather extremes caused significant jumps in food prices, causing social, economic, and political disturbances in both developing and developed countries. Between 2006 and 2008, world average prices rose…

  • Microsoft and the Earth Institute Launch Rural Technology Lab in Mali

    Microsoft and the Earth Institute Launch Rural Technology Lab in Mali

    By Matt Berg, ICT Director, Millennium Villages Project To demonstrate the critical role technology can play in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, the Earth Institute, Columbia University has partnered with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills program to establish a computer programmer training center at the Millennium Villages project (MVP) office…

  • Changing Litterbugs One Wave at a Time

    Changing Litterbugs One Wave at a Time

    As the mid-Pacific trash island grows, forces are at work to change people’s minds about how they may be adding to it.

  • Frustration and Progress, again

    Frustration and Progress, again

    Days here seem to be coming in pairs.  In the morning, we redid the 40m well, remeasuring, doing a dry run with no cement, mixing and putting in cement, lowering the fiber and everything went as planned.  Then came the 60m well.  It already had a history.  It caved in twice when they pulled the…