State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Ghana

  • Why Fines and Jail Time Won’t Change the Behavior of Ghana’s Minibus Drivers

    Why Fines and Jail Time Won’t Change the Behavior of Ghana’s Minibus Drivers

    Research shows that a range of structural factors, including exploitative labor relations and police corruption, compel and solicit dangerous driving behavior.

  • From Laughter to Linear Regressions

    From Laughter to Linear Regressions

    What was obvious to a Malaysian studying in Singapore was slightly less clear to a California-born New Yorker, but as my knowledge on the subject grew, I quickly understood my colleague’s enthusiasm for studying oil palm.

  • A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    When architect Fernando Arias first arrived in Kumasi, Ghana last year, he saw unpaved roads, trash burning, garbage everywhere, and shoeless children running all around. He knew he needed to act on their behalf.

  • Architecture and Urban Design Students Present Innovative Upgrading Plans for a Millennium City

    Architecture and Urban Design Students Present Innovative Upgrading Plans for a Millennium City

    Graduate students in architecture and urban design recently presented their findings and design work issuing out of a collaboration between the Urban Design Lab (UDL) and MCI in the Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana. At the city’s invitation, and with MCI’s facilitation, the UDL came to Kumasi in early February, to devise solutions to revitalize…

  • A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    My lasting impression of Kumasi, Ghana, is one of incredible warmth; traveling there with the MCI team for the Kumasi Stakeholder Workshop, which was held October 11-13, I was happy to discover that the much talked-about “Ghanaian friendliness” was a generalization that proved to be true. I was also inspired by the number of Kumasi…

  • Production Starts on Sustainable Bamboo Bikes in Ghana

    KUMASI, Ghana, January 18, 2011–The Bamboo Bike Project (BBP) and the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, along with Ghana-based Bamboo Bikes Limited (BBL) have launched a two week long bamboo bike training program to begin production of 750 bikes for a test run in Kumasi, Ghana. The training program will…

  • Earth Institute Receives $1 Million From MacArthur Foundation for Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative

    Earth Institute Receives $1 Million From MacArthur Foundation for Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative

    NEW YORK, September 1 – The Earth Institute, Columbia University is pleased to announce a $1 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to help improve the health of mothers and children in poor, rural communities within the Millennium Villages project (MVP). These funds will support activities to increase access to…

  • Report from the Field: The Tro-Tro – An Essential Mode of Transport in Accra, Ghana

    Report from the Field: The Tro-Tro – An Essential Mode of Transport in Accra, Ghana

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Victoria Okoye, a Millennium Cities Initiative researcher, who has been investigating urban transportation issues in Accra, Ghana. Researching urban transport in Accra, Ghana, this summer on behalf of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Millennium Cities Initiative, I learned a lot about the city’s most well-known, loved,…

  • Over $1m in New Commitments to Support Earth Institute Work

    Over $1m in New Commitments to Support Earth Institute Work

    Today, two of the world’s leading companies announce grants and technical support totaling more than $1,000,000 aimed at ending global poverty by 2015.

  • Why Fines and Jail Time Won’t Change the Behavior of Ghana’s Minibus Drivers

    Why Fines and Jail Time Won’t Change the Behavior of Ghana’s Minibus Drivers

    Research shows that a range of structural factors, including exploitative labor relations and police corruption, compel and solicit dangerous driving behavior.

  • From Laughter to Linear Regressions

    From Laughter to Linear Regressions

    What was obvious to a Malaysian studying in Singapore was slightly less clear to a California-born New Yorker, but as my knowledge on the subject grew, I quickly understood my colleague’s enthusiasm for studying oil palm.

  • A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    A Sustainable Strategy to Deal with Urban Poverty

    When architect Fernando Arias first arrived in Kumasi, Ghana last year, he saw unpaved roads, trash burning, garbage everywhere, and shoeless children running all around. He knew he needed to act on their behalf.

  • Architecture and Urban Design Students Present Innovative Upgrading Plans for a Millennium City

    Architecture and Urban Design Students Present Innovative Upgrading Plans for a Millennium City

    Graduate students in architecture and urban design recently presented their findings and design work issuing out of a collaboration between the Urban Design Lab (UDL) and MCI in the Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana. At the city’s invitation, and with MCI’s facilitation, the UDL came to Kumasi in early February, to devise solutions to revitalize…

  • A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    My lasting impression of Kumasi, Ghana, is one of incredible warmth; traveling there with the MCI team for the Kumasi Stakeholder Workshop, which was held October 11-13, I was happy to discover that the much talked-about “Ghanaian friendliness” was a generalization that proved to be true. I was also inspired by the number of Kumasi…

  • Production Starts on Sustainable Bamboo Bikes in Ghana

    KUMASI, Ghana, January 18, 2011–The Bamboo Bike Project (BBP) and the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, along with Ghana-based Bamboo Bikes Limited (BBL) have launched a two week long bamboo bike training program to begin production of 750 bikes for a test run in Kumasi, Ghana. The training program will…

  • Earth Institute Receives $1 Million From MacArthur Foundation for Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative

    Earth Institute Receives $1 Million From MacArthur Foundation for Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative

    NEW YORK, September 1 – The Earth Institute, Columbia University is pleased to announce a $1 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to help improve the health of mothers and children in poor, rural communities within the Millennium Villages project (MVP). These funds will support activities to increase access to…

  • Report from the Field: The Tro-Tro – An Essential Mode of Transport in Accra, Ghana

    Report from the Field: The Tro-Tro – An Essential Mode of Transport in Accra, Ghana

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Victoria Okoye, a Millennium Cities Initiative researcher, who has been investigating urban transportation issues in Accra, Ghana. Researching urban transport in Accra, Ghana, this summer on behalf of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Millennium Cities Initiative, I learned a lot about the city’s most well-known, loved,…

  • Over $1m in New Commitments to Support Earth Institute Work

    Over $1m in New Commitments to Support Earth Institute Work

    Today, two of the world’s leading companies announce grants and technical support totaling more than $1,000,000 aimed at ending global poverty by 2015.