featured story Archives - Page 4 of 30 - State of the Planet

2022 Tied for Fifth Warmest Year

Last year saw a continuation of the long-term rise in the planet’s average temperature.

by |January 13, 2023
flooded walnut orchard

California’s Atmospheric Rivers Warn of Future Climatic Calamity

Atmospheric rivers continue to hit California. What do these events mean for flooding and other potential disasters in California’s future?

by |January 9, 2023

Five Things the Energy Transition Can’t Do Without

Achieving the energy transition will take money, minerals, land, water, and skilled labor. Will we have enough of each?

by |December 7, 2022
radhika iyengar and ozge karadag

New Book Reimagines Sustainable Development Education for All Audiences

A new book from experts at the Columbia Climate School encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and community involvement to improve education for sustainable development around the world.

by |December 6, 2022
drawing of marie tharp with topography profile

Google Doodle Celebrates Marie Tharp, Who Mapped the Ocean Floor

Tharp co-published the first world map of the ocean floors and helped prove the theory of continental drift.

by |November 28, 2022

How Studying the Clouds Can Improve Climate Models

Kara Lamb discusses her research using machine learning to study cirrus clouds and how it can increase the accuracy of climate models.

by Elise Gout |November 23, 2022
a woman sits next to a cookstove with an open flame and smoke

Traditional Cookstoves: Fueling a Health and Climate Crisis?

Switching to cleaner cookstoves can save lives, cut carbon emissions, and promote gender equality. At COP27, world leaders should take steps to ensure universal clean cooking access by 2030.

by Benjamin Ritter and Kevin Karl |November 14, 2022
map shows distribution of green roofs across NYC's five boroughs, mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn

New Study Provides First Look at Green Roof Distribution Across NYC

The data reveal that only a tiny fraction of buildings have green roofs, and most are in wealthy areas.

by |November 1, 2022
Comparison of installation costs of residential solar, commercial rooftop solar, and utility-scale solar.

Solar Panels Reduce CO2 Emissions More Per Acre Than Trees — and Much More Than Corn Ethanol

A response to a recent essay in the New York Times.

by Matthew Eisenson |October 26, 2022

How Do We Clean Up All That Ocean Plastic?

A number of organizations are attempting to clean up the water, but solving the problem of ocean plastic pollution will also require big changes on land.

by |October 13, 2022