Global
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Rare Earth Metals: Another Challenge for the Green Economy?
Rare earth metals play an important role in our envisaged carbon-free future, but their availability in the future is under question for different political and availability issues, which is worrying for planned reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
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From Development Practitioner to National Leader: Lessons from Garry Conille, Prime Minister of Haiti
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille met with students and scientists of the Earth Institute to explore core issues of Haiti’s growth and development.
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Open House: Earth Institute Graduate Programs
The Environmental and Sustainable Development Programs Open House is a wonderful opportunity for you to find out more about Columbia’s cutting-edge graduate degrees in sustainable development and environmental studies. We invite you to come explore our diverse offering of programs, have your application questions answered, and meet with current Columbia students and faculty. Attend the…
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Of Earthquakes and Nuclear Reactors
As Japan’s nuclear meltdown catastrophe continues in the wake of the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, Japanese power company executives and officials face an increasingly challenging situation. Tuesday morning, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) — the company operating the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — dumped more than 11,000 gallons of radioactive seawater into…
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Wild Oysters Deemed ‘Functionally Extinct’
A recent Valentine’s Day-inspired article in the Grist pointed out that oysters are the only delicacy that enhances The Mood and water quality. Don’t get too excited, though: a new study published this week in BioScience revealed that oysters are “functionally extinct” in many parts of the world where they were once abundant, and nothing…
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Despite Grim Water Futures, China and US Discuss Everything but Water
Notably absent from this week’s program is any planned dialogue regarding energy demand and water supply, two issues whose inverse trajectories are threatening the environmental and economic futures of both nations.
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Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water
One of the greatest challenges to sustaining 1.8 million people in an extremely arid locale is water, which in the coastal city of Dubai is abundant but not potable.
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Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus
Water quantity and quality have generally been considered as separate problems and have usually been treated as such in policy-making and environmental restoration efforts. Increasingly, however, research and experience is beginning to show a strong link between water quantity and quality.
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Newsweek Takes on Water
Last week Newsweek Magazine took up the water issue – a sure sign that awareness of the global water crisis is growing.
