State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

education news65

  • MPA Students Take Their Learning Outdoors

    MPA Students Take Their Learning Outdoors

    As part of their Urban Ecology course, students in the MPA-ESP program take part in a series of field trips, applying classroom learning to real-world issues. From hiking to the top of a landfill reclamation site, to paddling the murky waters of the Bronx River, students were immersed in the challenges and complexities associated with…

  • Educated Girls Uncover Unmet Design Needs

    Educated Girls Uncover Unmet Design Needs

    Flip through any fashionable design annual, and you’ll read of something called “Human Centered Design.” The practice of HCD places emphasis on user testing, interviews, field research and high-touch iterations to solve problems. As contemporary design, and especially sustainable design, increasingly comes to rely on HCD-inspired techniques, greater attention is being paid to social features.

  • Using Impact Investing to Profit Within the Limits of Nature

    Using Impact Investing to Profit Within the Limits of Nature

    Recent M.S. in Sustainability Management graduate Luke Apicella works as an impact investor in the Office of Corporate Social Responsibility at Prudential. In this role, he provides investment recommendations based on social, environmental and financial merits. Luke credits the program with giving him skills to analyze actual deals, furthering his passion for finding ways to…

  • Bringing a Passion for Nature to the Business World

    Bringing a Passion for Nature to the Business World

    Inspired by his childhood fascination with the outdoors, current Sustainability Management student Zach Bogoshian joined the program to implement lessons from nature to our current environmental challenges. In the program, this hopeful notion has manifested itself as a passion for creating innovative networks to connect people with sustainable solutions that don’t discount financial return. As…

  • The Environmental Paradox: Escalating Conflict and Bringing Peace in the Middle East

    The Environmental Paradox: Escalating Conflict and Bringing Peace in the Middle East

    Throughout history, land has been a source of conflict between different stakeholders who want to control it. Increasingly, environmental issues surrounding land are playing a role in conflict discourse in the Middle East.

  • MPA Program Congratulates Graduates, Welcomes 52 New Students

    MPA Program Congratulates Graduates, Welcomes 52 New Students

    The MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program is proud to congratulate the 59 members of the Class of 2015 who graduated from the School of International and Public Affairs on May 21 and welcomed 52 new students only five days later on May 26.

  • New 5-Year Program in Sustainable Development & Sustainability Management

    New 5-Year Program in Sustainable Development & Sustainability Management

    Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Continuing Education, in collaboration with Columbia College and General Studies, are pleased to announce the launch of an Accelerated Program in Sustainable Development and Sustainability Management. Through this new program, majors and special concentrators in sustainable development can earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just…

  • Students Learn About a Plan to Rehabilitate the Jordan River Valley

    Students Learn About a Plan to Rehabilitate the Jordan River Valley

    Nine Columbia graduate students landed in Amman, Jordan last Friday night, after over 20 hours of travel, to begin the field study component of their course in Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East. Though exhausted, they were eager to get to the hotel to meet students from Tel Aviv University – who had crossed…

  • Preserving the Origins of Environmental Law for a New Generation of Leaders

    Preserving the Origins of Environmental Law for a New Generation of Leaders

    In fall 2014, Columbia University, through the School of International and Public Affairs, the School of Continuing Education and the Earth Institute, offered a never-before-taught class on “The Origins of Environmental Law.” While many courses teach the fundamentals of environmental law, this course spoke to the people and politics behind the creation of the legislation.…

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings

  • MPA Students Take Their Learning Outdoors

    MPA Students Take Their Learning Outdoors

    As part of their Urban Ecology course, students in the MPA-ESP program take part in a series of field trips, applying classroom learning to real-world issues. From hiking to the top of a landfill reclamation site, to paddling the murky waters of the Bronx River, students were immersed in the challenges and complexities associated with…

  • Educated Girls Uncover Unmet Design Needs

    Educated Girls Uncover Unmet Design Needs

    Flip through any fashionable design annual, and you’ll read of something called “Human Centered Design.” The practice of HCD places emphasis on user testing, interviews, field research and high-touch iterations to solve problems. As contemporary design, and especially sustainable design, increasingly comes to rely on HCD-inspired techniques, greater attention is being paid to social features.

  • Using Impact Investing to Profit Within the Limits of Nature

    Using Impact Investing to Profit Within the Limits of Nature

    Recent M.S. in Sustainability Management graduate Luke Apicella works as an impact investor in the Office of Corporate Social Responsibility at Prudential. In this role, he provides investment recommendations based on social, environmental and financial merits. Luke credits the program with giving him skills to analyze actual deals, furthering his passion for finding ways to…

  • Bringing a Passion for Nature to the Business World

    Bringing a Passion for Nature to the Business World

    Inspired by his childhood fascination with the outdoors, current Sustainability Management student Zach Bogoshian joined the program to implement lessons from nature to our current environmental challenges. In the program, this hopeful notion has manifested itself as a passion for creating innovative networks to connect people with sustainable solutions that don’t discount financial return. As…

  • The Environmental Paradox: Escalating Conflict and Bringing Peace in the Middle East

    The Environmental Paradox: Escalating Conflict and Bringing Peace in the Middle East

    Throughout history, land has been a source of conflict between different stakeholders who want to control it. Increasingly, environmental issues surrounding land are playing a role in conflict discourse in the Middle East.

  • MPA Program Congratulates Graduates, Welcomes 52 New Students

    MPA Program Congratulates Graduates, Welcomes 52 New Students

    The MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program is proud to congratulate the 59 members of the Class of 2015 who graduated from the School of International and Public Affairs on May 21 and welcomed 52 new students only five days later on May 26.

  • New 5-Year Program in Sustainable Development & Sustainability Management

    New 5-Year Program in Sustainable Development & Sustainability Management

    Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Continuing Education, in collaboration with Columbia College and General Studies, are pleased to announce the launch of an Accelerated Program in Sustainable Development and Sustainability Management. Through this new program, majors and special concentrators in sustainable development can earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just…

  • Students Learn About a Plan to Rehabilitate the Jordan River Valley

    Students Learn About a Plan to Rehabilitate the Jordan River Valley

    Nine Columbia graduate students landed in Amman, Jordan last Friday night, after over 20 hours of travel, to begin the field study component of their course in Regional Environmental Sustainability in the Middle East. Though exhausted, they were eager to get to the hotel to meet students from Tel Aviv University – who had crossed…

  • Preserving the Origins of Environmental Law for a New Generation of Leaders

    Preserving the Origins of Environmental Law for a New Generation of Leaders

    In fall 2014, Columbia University, through the School of International and Public Affairs, the School of Continuing Education and the Earth Institute, offered a never-before-taught class on “The Origins of Environmental Law.” While many courses teach the fundamentals of environmental law, this course spoke to the people and politics behind the creation of the legislation.…