State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Irrigated Agriculture2

  • LAUNCH Water Sustainability Forum report from Tobias Siegfried

    LAUNCH is a new initiative founded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAID, US State Dept, and NIKE to identify and support innovative work with great potential to contribute to sustainable solutions for many of the current environmental challenges.  The organization will coordinate a series of forums which bring together scientists, academics, policy…

  • Agriculture: Big Water Use, Big Water Savings

    As in much of the world, farmers in Punjab, an agricultural state known as the “breadbasket of India,” grow rice via flood irrigation.  In this method, fields are flooded with several centimeters of water in order to kill weeds.  When the water dries, the field is flooded again – up to 40 times per season.  Clearly this uses a…

  • Water and Energy Conflict in Central Asia

    Water resources management in the Central Asia region faces formidable challenges. The hydrological regimes of the two major rivers in the region, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, are complex and vulnerable to climate change. Water diversions to agricultural, industrial and domestic users have reduced flows in downstream regions, resulting in severe ecological damages.…

Colorful banner image over Earth with text "Open House Discover Science, October 19, 2024, 10am to 4pm

Join us on Saturday, October 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House! Celebrate 75 years of science with us at our beautiful Palisades, NY campus. The event is free and open to everyone, with a suggested $5 donation. Learn More and RSVP

  • LAUNCH Water Sustainability Forum report from Tobias Siegfried

    LAUNCH is a new initiative founded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USAID, US State Dept, and NIKE to identify and support innovative work with great potential to contribute to sustainable solutions for many of the current environmental challenges.  The organization will coordinate a series of forums which bring together scientists, academics, policy…

  • Agriculture: Big Water Use, Big Water Savings

    As in much of the world, farmers in Punjab, an agricultural state known as the “breadbasket of India,” grow rice via flood irrigation.  In this method, fields are flooded with several centimeters of water in order to kill weeds.  When the water dries, the field is flooded again – up to 40 times per season.  Clearly this uses a…

  • Water and Energy Conflict in Central Asia

    Water resources management in the Central Asia region faces formidable challenges. The hydrological regimes of the two major rivers in the region, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, are complex and vulnerable to climate change. Water diversions to agricultural, industrial and domestic users have reduced flows in downstream regions, resulting in severe ecological damages.…