State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

India9

  • Addressing South Asia’s Urgent Global Issues Through Sustainable Development

    As the world’s leading academic center addressing the practical challenges of sustainable development, the Earth Institute is building a formal presence in South Asia through the Columbia Global Center/South Asia.  The center, established by Columbia University, joins centers already in place in Europe, the Middle-East, and East Asia. Under the leadership of Founding Director Dr.…

  • The chaal and local groundwater management in India: When progress isn’t progress

    I recently came across an article in the Tehelka blog, which made me want to learn more. It was about a traditional water management system in the Uttarakhand region in northern India that has worked for years, but is being destroyed by funding meant to ‘modernize’ it.

  • The Economist: Special Report on Water, a primer for the water crisis

    The Economist has released a Special Report on Water, dated May 22nd, 2010, written by John Grimond. The 18 page report contains 9 short but substantial articles giving an overview of global water issues.

  • Sea-kites harvest the energy of the ocean

    A test site for a process called ‘Deep Green’ will be built off the coast of Northern Ireland in 2011, according to Minesto, a Saab spinoff. Sea kites will fly deep under water, using ocean currents to lift them, while an attached turbine harvests the the kinetic energy and turns it into electricity.

  • Addressing urban water scarcity in developing countries: Chennai, India

    Ensuring an adequate water supply isn’t only an issue for large urban centers like New York or Los Angeles. It’s also a vital concern of the growing populations of cities in the developing world. Veena Srinivasan, of the Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, shared her work on ‘The integrated water paradigm: a…

  • Closing the Water Gap – India

    Following up on my previous post, “Creating a Sustainable Water Future”, I will now go over a few of the steps that are being taken to better assess the current and future state of our global water resources. The tools that are being presented are based on economic analyses that aim to provide both private…

  • Punjab Farmers Adapt to Shrinking Water Supply

    Often referred to as the granary of India, Punjab is now slowly drying out. And though many farmers are deeply worried over the prospects of producing enough food, some of the more entrepreneurial ones are adopting new ways to conserve water while bracing for what will be a drier future. Back in the 1970s India…

  • Punjab Water Day 2010

    On March 20, the Columbia Water Center and the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) celebrated Punjab Water Day. Don’t be looking for a water slide or balloons or information booths. This was a recognition of the seriousness of the water crisis in Punjab, and of the commitment to find solutions.

  • World Water Day – Let’s All Pull Together

    Today, Monday, March 22 is World Water Day.  It’s great to see the heightened attention to water issues, even if just for the day.  The Huffington Post is featuring numerous WWD-related articles and in a recent check, “World Water Day” was the 75th most popular Google search.   Virtually every WWD article I’ve seen cites similar statistics, which…

  • Addressing South Asia’s Urgent Global Issues Through Sustainable Development

    As the world’s leading academic center addressing the practical challenges of sustainable development, the Earth Institute is building a formal presence in South Asia through the Columbia Global Center/South Asia.  The center, established by Columbia University, joins centers already in place in Europe, the Middle-East, and East Asia. Under the leadership of Founding Director Dr.…

  • The chaal and local groundwater management in India: When progress isn’t progress

    I recently came across an article in the Tehelka blog, which made me want to learn more. It was about a traditional water management system in the Uttarakhand region in northern India that has worked for years, but is being destroyed by funding meant to ‘modernize’ it.

  • The Economist: Special Report on Water, a primer for the water crisis

    The Economist has released a Special Report on Water, dated May 22nd, 2010, written by John Grimond. The 18 page report contains 9 short but substantial articles giving an overview of global water issues.

  • Sea-kites harvest the energy of the ocean

    A test site for a process called ‘Deep Green’ will be built off the coast of Northern Ireland in 2011, according to Minesto, a Saab spinoff. Sea kites will fly deep under water, using ocean currents to lift them, while an attached turbine harvests the the kinetic energy and turns it into electricity.

  • Addressing urban water scarcity in developing countries: Chennai, India

    Ensuring an adequate water supply isn’t only an issue for large urban centers like New York or Los Angeles. It’s also a vital concern of the growing populations of cities in the developing world. Veena Srinivasan, of the Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, shared her work on ‘The integrated water paradigm: a…

  • Closing the Water Gap – India

    Following up on my previous post, “Creating a Sustainable Water Future”, I will now go over a few of the steps that are being taken to better assess the current and future state of our global water resources. The tools that are being presented are based on economic analyses that aim to provide both private…

  • Punjab Farmers Adapt to Shrinking Water Supply

    Often referred to as the granary of India, Punjab is now slowly drying out. And though many farmers are deeply worried over the prospects of producing enough food, some of the more entrepreneurial ones are adopting new ways to conserve water while bracing for what will be a drier future. Back in the 1970s India…

  • Punjab Water Day 2010

    On March 20, the Columbia Water Center and the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) celebrated Punjab Water Day. Don’t be looking for a water slide or balloons or information booths. This was a recognition of the seriousness of the water crisis in Punjab, and of the commitment to find solutions.

  • World Water Day – Let’s All Pull Together

    Today, Monday, March 22 is World Water Day.  It’s great to see the heightened attention to water issues, even if just for the day.  The Huffington Post is featuring numerous WWD-related articles and in a recent check, “World Water Day” was the 75th most popular Google search.   Virtually every WWD article I’ve seen cites similar statistics, which…