State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Groundwater7

  • Cooling the Former Frontier: Using Water to Save Energy

    Cooling the Former Frontier: Using Water to Save Energy

    AC units have become more efficient over the years, but energy consumption during hot summer months can increase significantly, boosting both the amount of money spent on electricity and the volume of greenhouse gasses emitted in the energy production process.

  • Somali Drought; Harbinger of Hard Times

    Somali Drought; Harbinger of Hard Times

    For all its problems, Southern California has been a wonderful home for a lot of people over the past 100 or so years. It has nice beaches, good roads, plenty of places to eat, and, for now, a reliable supply of drinking water. Now imagine the L.A. riots had spread across the entire region, plunging…

  • The Fairytale of “Organic” Water

    The Fairytale of “Organic” Water

    Time and time again, marketing teams have proven that people will buy pretty much anything. So many examples exist that the topic was enough for Brooks Jackson to write an entire book about it. One of the more recent flim-flam schemes is selling organic water. Wait a tick, did I just say that? Yes, I…

  • Fracking Gains Ground in New York

    Fracking Gains Ground in New York

    Fracking is back in the news again, and in a big way. On July 1, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, released its recommendations regarding the controversial natural gas extraction technique. Amidst the din of statewide protests, the agency supported fracking in most of the state’s portion…

  • Ripple Effect Author Talks Efficiency; Cleanup

    Ripple Effect Author Talks Efficiency; Cleanup

    The outlook for global water is bleak, but Alex Prud’Homme still believes in the power of human ingenuity.

  • Clean Water for Fiji

    Clean Water for Fiji

    Corporate giant Fiji Water makes millions of dollars every year selling bottled water, but only 47 percent of Fiji Islanders have access to clean drinking water. That may change.

  • Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    To those who have never been, the Golden State is known for luxurious palm tree-lined avenues, sun-drenched beaches, and picturesque mountains. But not all parts of California were created equal. The state’s San Joaquin Valley hosts a scene entirely different from the images of Malibu beaches depicted in travel brochures. It is the non-glittering core…

  • The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    Since he arrived at the Columbia Water Center at its founding in 2008, Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy has been unswervingly focused on two questions. First, how will groundwater depletion and climate change affect agriculture in India? And given the dire nature of the crisis, what can we do to help people adapt?

  • Squeezing the Last Drops out of Sicily

    Squeezing the Last Drops out of Sicily

    If you were to drive south from Palermo, Sicily toward Monreale, you would be ringed in by green mountains, the sparkling white of ancient and modern buildings and the azure Mediterranean Sea receding behind you. Continuing south through the island’s mountainous interior, you would pass verdant agricultural fields on your way past Corleone, the namesake…

  • Cooling the Former Frontier: Using Water to Save Energy

    Cooling the Former Frontier: Using Water to Save Energy

    AC units have become more efficient over the years, but energy consumption during hot summer months can increase significantly, boosting both the amount of money spent on electricity and the volume of greenhouse gasses emitted in the energy production process.

  • Somali Drought; Harbinger of Hard Times

    Somali Drought; Harbinger of Hard Times

    For all its problems, Southern California has been a wonderful home for a lot of people over the past 100 or so years. It has nice beaches, good roads, plenty of places to eat, and, for now, a reliable supply of drinking water. Now imagine the L.A. riots had spread across the entire region, plunging…

  • The Fairytale of “Organic” Water

    The Fairytale of “Organic” Water

    Time and time again, marketing teams have proven that people will buy pretty much anything. So many examples exist that the topic was enough for Brooks Jackson to write an entire book about it. One of the more recent flim-flam schemes is selling organic water. Wait a tick, did I just say that? Yes, I…

  • Fracking Gains Ground in New York

    Fracking Gains Ground in New York

    Fracking is back in the news again, and in a big way. On July 1, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, released its recommendations regarding the controversial natural gas extraction technique. Amidst the din of statewide protests, the agency supported fracking in most of the state’s portion…

  • Ripple Effect Author Talks Efficiency; Cleanup

    Ripple Effect Author Talks Efficiency; Cleanup

    The outlook for global water is bleak, but Alex Prud’Homme still believes in the power of human ingenuity.

  • Clean Water for Fiji

    Clean Water for Fiji

    Corporate giant Fiji Water makes millions of dollars every year selling bottled water, but only 47 percent of Fiji Islanders have access to clean drinking water. That may change.

  • Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    Toxic Waters in the Gilded State

    To those who have never been, the Golden State is known for luxurious palm tree-lined avenues, sun-drenched beaches, and picturesque mountains. But not all parts of California were created equal. The state’s San Joaquin Valley hosts a scene entirely different from the images of Malibu beaches depicted in travel brochures. It is the non-glittering core…

  • The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    The Uncertainties of Groundwater and Climate in India: An Interview with Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy

    Since he arrived at the Columbia Water Center at its founding in 2008, Chandra Kiran Krishnamurthy has been unswervingly focused on two questions. First, how will groundwater depletion and climate change affect agriculture in India? And given the dire nature of the crisis, what can we do to help people adapt?

  • Squeezing the Last Drops out of Sicily

    Squeezing the Last Drops out of Sicily

    If you were to drive south from Palermo, Sicily toward Monreale, you would be ringed in by green mountains, the sparkling white of ancient and modern buildings and the azure Mediterranean Sea receding behind you. Continuing south through the island’s mountainous interior, you would pass verdant agricultural fields on your way past Corleone, the namesake…