State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

eco matters11

  • Environmental Economics and Conservation

    Environmental Economics and Conservation

    This course provides an introduction to environmental economics, discussing the basic principles of microeconomics as they apply to environmental issues and analyzing case studies that illustrate how economics can guide conservation practice and policy.

  • Save those Acorns for the Apocalypse

    Save those Acorns for the Apocalypse

    As biodiversity takes a hit from climate change, forward thinking groups store seed samples in gene banks. The idea: if an entire species is wiped out, scientists can repopulate from the samples. Hello, plant versions of Adam and Eve.

  • Sustainable Buildings: Design and Construction in the 21st Century

    Sustainable Buildings: Design and Construction in the 21st Century

    The built environment has a vast impact on the natural environment, human health, and the economy. By adopting green building strategies, we can maximize both economic and environmental performance.

  • Upcoming Courses in Sustainability, Conservation

    Upcoming Courses in Sustainability, Conservation

    The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University provides professionals with the knowledge and tools to be effective environmental leaders and decision makers in the 21st century. It is an evening program in which environmental issues are discussed, debated and examined, where participants develop an in-depth understanding of conservation science and practice through…

  • Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    A golf-ball-sized rhinoceros beetle flies through the open-air pavilion and lands on my table. I look up from my notes, an attempt at reworking my African wild dog study methods, and realize I haven’t seen one of these mighty beasts since my junior year in South Africa. The beetle is a welcome companion on this…

  • The Sea of Green

    The Sea of Green

    What we call forest—addressing it simply as an object in space—is in fact an ever-shifting process, a living and breathing colony possessed of a body, a purpose, and a lifespan—at once noun, a verb, an adjective. In these budding, bristling eons of development, the forests came to be the lungs of the organic Earth, an…

  • Experience Ecosystems of the Dominican Republic

    Experience Ecosystems of the Dominican Republic

    SEE-U Dominican Republic provides students with many enriching opportunities to engage in fieldwork and study biodiversity and ecosystems in their natural environments.

  • Do It Yourself Biology – Need for Panic?

    Do It Yourself Biology – Need for Panic?

    Disagreements have arisen within the science community about whether or not it is safe and ethical to publish results concerning two new mutant strains of the H5N1 bird flu virus. The controversy is part of an ongoing debate about the safety and practice of unregulated biotechnology and the role of censorship in science.

  • The Greening of Business

    The Greening of Business

    Please join CERC in attending The Greening of Business: Why It’s Not Optional and How Companies Profit From It, presented by The Earth Institute and the School of International and Public Affairs Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy.

  • Environmental Economics and Conservation

    Environmental Economics and Conservation

    This course provides an introduction to environmental economics, discussing the basic principles of microeconomics as they apply to environmental issues and analyzing case studies that illustrate how economics can guide conservation practice and policy.

  • Save those Acorns for the Apocalypse

    Save those Acorns for the Apocalypse

    As biodiversity takes a hit from climate change, forward thinking groups store seed samples in gene banks. The idea: if an entire species is wiped out, scientists can repopulate from the samples. Hello, plant versions of Adam and Eve.

  • Sustainable Buildings: Design and Construction in the 21st Century

    Sustainable Buildings: Design and Construction in the 21st Century

    The built environment has a vast impact on the natural environment, human health, and the economy. By adopting green building strategies, we can maximize both economic and environmental performance.

  • Upcoming Courses in Sustainability, Conservation

    Upcoming Courses in Sustainability, Conservation

    The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University provides professionals with the knowledge and tools to be effective environmental leaders and decision makers in the 21st century. It is an evening program in which environmental issues are discussed, debated and examined, where participants develop an in-depth understanding of conservation science and practice through…

  • Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities

    A golf-ball-sized rhinoceros beetle flies through the open-air pavilion and lands on my table. I look up from my notes, an attempt at reworking my African wild dog study methods, and realize I haven’t seen one of these mighty beasts since my junior year in South Africa. The beetle is a welcome companion on this…

  • The Sea of Green

    The Sea of Green

    What we call forest—addressing it simply as an object in space—is in fact an ever-shifting process, a living and breathing colony possessed of a body, a purpose, and a lifespan—at once noun, a verb, an adjective. In these budding, bristling eons of development, the forests came to be the lungs of the organic Earth, an…

  • Experience Ecosystems of the Dominican Republic

    Experience Ecosystems of the Dominican Republic

    SEE-U Dominican Republic provides students with many enriching opportunities to engage in fieldwork and study biodiversity and ecosystems in their natural environments.

  • Do It Yourself Biology – Need for Panic?

    Do It Yourself Biology – Need for Panic?

    Disagreements have arisen within the science community about whether or not it is safe and ethical to publish results concerning two new mutant strains of the H5N1 bird flu virus. The controversy is part of an ongoing debate about the safety and practice of unregulated biotechnology and the role of censorship in science.

  • The Greening of Business

    The Greening of Business

    Please join CERC in attending The Greening of Business: Why It’s Not Optional and How Companies Profit From It, presented by The Earth Institute and the School of International and Public Affairs Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy.