State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

El Niño5

  • Did Climate Influence Angkor’s Collapse?

    Evidence Suggests Changing Environment Can Bring Down a Civilization

  • El Niño and a Pathogen Killed Costa Rican Toad, Study Finds

    Challenges Evidence That Global Warming Was the Cause

  • Climate Risks and Haiti

    As Haitians struggle to rebuild their country after January’s devastating earthquake, they face added risks, related to climate.  Currently, about 1.2 million Haitians are without proper shelter, and an additional 470,000 have been displaced from their homes, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (latest updates). This leaves them vulnerable to storms and extreme…

  • 2000-2009: The Warmest Decade

    Long-Term Rise in Global Temperature Unabated

  • Potential El Nino Impacts

    The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) has recently released a series of documents designed to walk policymakers through the potential impacts of the current El Niño. In addition to the health-related report featured earlier, two new papers highlight weather and socioeconomic concerns associated with current climatic conditions. As readers of this blog…

  • Top misconceptions about El Niño and La Niña

    Forecasts by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and other institutions show that a weak El Niño has developed in the equatorial Pacific, and is likely to continue evolving with warmer-than-normal conditions persisting there until early 2010. What exactly is this important climate phenomenon and why should society care about it? Who will…

  • In Philippines, El Niño Means Drought

    Casey Brown arrived in Manila in early November on the heels of Typhoon Cimaron, a “super typhoon” that clocked 125-mile-per-hour winds. It was the second deadliest typhoon to hit the island nation since 1998. But for Manila, home to more than 10 million people, it is drought — not typhoons — that has led to…

  • New Study Finds World Temperatures Approaching Ancient Levels

    A new study led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a part of The Earth Institute, finds that the world’s temperature is reaching a level that has not been seen in thousands of years. The study was published in the September 26, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy…

  • Did Climate Influence Angkor’s Collapse?

    Evidence Suggests Changing Environment Can Bring Down a Civilization

  • El Niño and a Pathogen Killed Costa Rican Toad, Study Finds

    Challenges Evidence That Global Warming Was the Cause

  • Climate Risks and Haiti

    As Haitians struggle to rebuild their country after January’s devastating earthquake, they face added risks, related to climate.  Currently, about 1.2 million Haitians are without proper shelter, and an additional 470,000 have been displaced from their homes, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (latest updates). This leaves them vulnerable to storms and extreme…

  • 2000-2009: The Warmest Decade

    Long-Term Rise in Global Temperature Unabated

  • Potential El Nino Impacts

    The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) has recently released a series of documents designed to walk policymakers through the potential impacts of the current El Niño. In addition to the health-related report featured earlier, two new papers highlight weather and socioeconomic concerns associated with current climatic conditions. As readers of this blog…

  • Top misconceptions about El Niño and La Niña

    Forecasts by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and other institutions show that a weak El Niño has developed in the equatorial Pacific, and is likely to continue evolving with warmer-than-normal conditions persisting there until early 2010. What exactly is this important climate phenomenon and why should society care about it? Who will…

  • In Philippines, El Niño Means Drought

    Casey Brown arrived in Manila in early November on the heels of Typhoon Cimaron, a “super typhoon” that clocked 125-mile-per-hour winds. It was the second deadliest typhoon to hit the island nation since 1998. But for Manila, home to more than 10 million people, it is drought — not typhoons — that has led to…

  • New Study Finds World Temperatures Approaching Ancient Levels

    A new study led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a part of The Earth Institute, finds that the world’s temperature is reaching a level that has not been seen in thousands of years. The study was published in the September 26, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy…