State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

education news74

  • Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Three Columbia students recently won the top prize in the Columbia Economics Review’s annual environmental policy competition, which challenged students from eight universities to make policy recommendations addressing climate change.

  • MS Student Makes the Case for a More Sustainable Future

    MS Student Makes the Case for a More Sustainable Future

    Prior to joining the M.S. in Sustainability Management program, current student Mikael Amar was working for the corporate culture reform and strategic business development efforts for the Abdul Latif Jameel Group, the largest independent distributor of Toyota in the world. While working for ALJ, Mikael witnessed how the economic climate can negatively affect people’s willingness…

  • Sustainability Management Alums Create Award Winning Sandy Rebuild Design

    Sustainability Management Alums Create Award Winning Sandy Rebuild Design

    The word resiliency has emerged as the new gold standard for designing the built environment. Its meaning may be interpreted as design that not only maintains self-sufficiency throughout extreme environmental scenarios, (e.g. heat waves, power outages, extreme storm events, etc.) but also allows communities to quickly recover in the aftermath of such an event. It…

  • ESP Student Shifts Focus to Urban Sustainability

    ESP Student Shifts Focus to Urban Sustainability

    Current Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA-ESP) student Maureen Loman is no newcomer to the science world. Her undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland included research into subjects such as plant genetics, forest fragmentation, and bat acoustics, and for the past three years she has worked at the Bioacoustics Research…

  • Sustainability Management Alum Works to Bring Electric Vehicles to NYC

    Sustainability Management Alum Works to Bring Electric Vehicles to NYC

    Master of Science in Sustainability Management alumnus Stephen Marlin (’12) has always been a “car guy.” Now, as the Senior Business Development Manager in the East Region for BYD Motors, he works to bring electric vehicles into New York City livery services. He credits the MSSM program’s integrated approach to sustainability with allowing him to…

  • Managing Energy Efficiency: Translating Policy into Action

    Managing Energy Efficiency: Translating Policy into Action

    It seems logical that conserving energy is good for everyone: reducing carbon pollution is good for the environment, and conserving resources makes financial sense. Yet, getting customers to participate in cost-saving, energy-efficient programs is not as straightforward as one might think. To examine this issue further, on March 13, the Earth Institute co-hosted, with the…

  • MS Students Tackle Tough Environmental Problems

    MS Students Tackle Tough Environmental Problems

    Working on real-world sustainability projects for actual clients is integral to the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. Students made presentations earlier this week about projects that they are conducting on renewable energy, climate resilience, sustainable investment, urban agriculture, and environmental management systems. The clients range from the Federal Transit Administration to the Newark…

  • ESP Students Present Initial Findings for Clients

    ESP Students Present Initial Findings for Clients

    On March 5, students in the Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy presented their initial findings for the Workshop in Applied Earth Systems Policy Analysis to fellow students, staff, and invited guests at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

  • Alums Recruit Students at All-Ivy Fair

    Alums Recruit Students at All-Ivy Fair

    On Feb. 28, the All-Ivy Environmental and Sustainable Development Career Fair marked its 11th year. The eight Ivy League schools – Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale – teamed up once again to host the fair at Columbia University in New York City. This year’s event attracted 69 recruiting…

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Columbia Students Win Environmental Policy Competition

    Three Columbia students recently won the top prize in the Columbia Economics Review’s annual environmental policy competition, which challenged students from eight universities to make policy recommendations addressing climate change.

  • MS Student Makes the Case for a More Sustainable Future

    MS Student Makes the Case for a More Sustainable Future

    Prior to joining the M.S. in Sustainability Management program, current student Mikael Amar was working for the corporate culture reform and strategic business development efforts for the Abdul Latif Jameel Group, the largest independent distributor of Toyota in the world. While working for ALJ, Mikael witnessed how the economic climate can negatively affect people’s willingness…

  • Sustainability Management Alums Create Award Winning Sandy Rebuild Design

    Sustainability Management Alums Create Award Winning Sandy Rebuild Design

    The word resiliency has emerged as the new gold standard for designing the built environment. Its meaning may be interpreted as design that not only maintains self-sufficiency throughout extreme environmental scenarios, (e.g. heat waves, power outages, extreme storm events, etc.) but also allows communities to quickly recover in the aftermath of such an event. It…

  • ESP Student Shifts Focus to Urban Sustainability

    ESP Student Shifts Focus to Urban Sustainability

    Current Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA-ESP) student Maureen Loman is no newcomer to the science world. Her undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland included research into subjects such as plant genetics, forest fragmentation, and bat acoustics, and for the past three years she has worked at the Bioacoustics Research…

  • Sustainability Management Alum Works to Bring Electric Vehicles to NYC

    Sustainability Management Alum Works to Bring Electric Vehicles to NYC

    Master of Science in Sustainability Management alumnus Stephen Marlin (’12) has always been a “car guy.” Now, as the Senior Business Development Manager in the East Region for BYD Motors, he works to bring electric vehicles into New York City livery services. He credits the MSSM program’s integrated approach to sustainability with allowing him to…

  • Managing Energy Efficiency: Translating Policy into Action

    Managing Energy Efficiency: Translating Policy into Action

    It seems logical that conserving energy is good for everyone: reducing carbon pollution is good for the environment, and conserving resources makes financial sense. Yet, getting customers to participate in cost-saving, energy-efficient programs is not as straightforward as one might think. To examine this issue further, on March 13, the Earth Institute co-hosted, with the…

  • MS Students Tackle Tough Environmental Problems

    MS Students Tackle Tough Environmental Problems

    Working on real-world sustainability projects for actual clients is integral to the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. Students made presentations earlier this week about projects that they are conducting on renewable energy, climate resilience, sustainable investment, urban agriculture, and environmental management systems. The clients range from the Federal Transit Administration to the Newark…

  • ESP Students Present Initial Findings for Clients

    ESP Students Present Initial Findings for Clients

    On March 5, students in the Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy presented their initial findings for the Workshop in Applied Earth Systems Policy Analysis to fellow students, staff, and invited guests at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

  • Alums Recruit Students at All-Ivy Fair

    Alums Recruit Students at All-Ivy Fair

    On Feb. 28, the All-Ivy Environmental and Sustainable Development Career Fair marked its 11th year. The eight Ivy League schools – Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale – teamed up once again to host the fair at Columbia University in New York City. This year’s event attracted 69 recruiting…