State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Israel

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • Natural Parks as a Form of Oppression?

    Natural Parks as a Form of Oppression?

    Natural parks are good for people and the environment. However, what if they came at a cost such as taking someone’s land without permission? Would it be worth it?

  • The Power of the Common Person: Can They Do What Governments Can’t?

    The Power of the Common Person: Can They Do What Governments Can’t?

    Traveling to Jordan and Israel, I expected to eat great food, see great sites, and learn more about one of the most significant conflicts in the world. But I did not expect to learn about the power that individuals can have in resolving a crisis.

  • Nature Has No Boundaries

    Nature Has No Boundaries

    Rivers, deserts, and species don’t stop at borders or fences. They are not participating in the conflict in the Middle East, but they are affected by it.

  • Environmental Peace-Building in the Middle East

    Environmental Peace-Building in the Middle East

    The next part of our tour provided an excellent example of the challenges people working toward environmental peace-building in Israel, Jordan and Palestine face: a site that we were unable to visit.

  • Dead Pool: the Depletion of a Shared Natural Resource

    Dead Pool: the Depletion of a Shared Natural Resource

    The Dead Sea could soon enough become a dead “pool” of sea. But perhaps there’s another alternative.

  • Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Without an urban civil culture, it is impossible to promote political and economic participation, and a non-unified Jerusalem will remain.

  • Crossing Boundaries for the Environment

    Crossing Boundaries for the Environment

    It is not the concept of a borderless nature that should serve as a model to facilitate cross-border dialogue and cooperation. Rather, it is that nature’s systems are interconnected and their borders are open to exchange.

  • In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    In Biblical Land, Searching for Droughts Past and Future

    Human-influenced climate warming has already reduced rainfall and increased evaporation in the Mideast, worsening water shortages. Up to now, climate scientists had projected that rainfall could decline another 20 percent by 2100. But the Dead Sea cores suggest that things could become much worse, much faster.

  • Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Photo Essay: The Dead Sea, Living Waters and Megadrought

    Thousands of years before Biblical times, during a period when temperatures were unusually high, the lands around the Dead Sea now occupied by Israel, Jordan and surrounding nations suffered megadroughts far worse than any recorded by humans. Warming climate now threatens to return such conditions to this already hard-pressed region.

  • Natural Parks as a Form of Oppression?

    Natural Parks as a Form of Oppression?

    Natural parks are good for people and the environment. However, what if they came at a cost such as taking someone’s land without permission? Would it be worth it?

  • The Power of the Common Person: Can They Do What Governments Can’t?

    The Power of the Common Person: Can They Do What Governments Can’t?

    Traveling to Jordan and Israel, I expected to eat great food, see great sites, and learn more about one of the most significant conflicts in the world. But I did not expect to learn about the power that individuals can have in resolving a crisis.

  • Nature Has No Boundaries

    Nature Has No Boundaries

    Rivers, deserts, and species don’t stop at borders or fences. They are not participating in the conflict in the Middle East, but they are affected by it.

  • Environmental Peace-Building in the Middle East

    Environmental Peace-Building in the Middle East

    The next part of our tour provided an excellent example of the challenges people working toward environmental peace-building in Israel, Jordan and Palestine face: a site that we were unable to visit.

  • Dead Pool: the Depletion of a Shared Natural Resource

    Dead Pool: the Depletion of a Shared Natural Resource

    The Dead Sea could soon enough become a dead “pool” of sea. But perhaps there’s another alternative.

  • Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Without an urban civil culture, it is impossible to promote political and economic participation, and a non-unified Jerusalem will remain.

  • Crossing Boundaries for the Environment

    Crossing Boundaries for the Environment

    It is not the concept of a borderless nature that should serve as a model to facilitate cross-border dialogue and cooperation. Rather, it is that nature’s systems are interconnected and their borders are open to exchange.