State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

North America11

  • How much and how fast: Seminar on changing sea levels

    Professor Benjamin Horton shared his research on how quickly sea levels have increased over time, an important part of putting together the climate change puzzle.

  • From snow to rain? Not so much.

    In a seminar March 4th, Dr. Venkat Lakshmi presented his study showing that snowcover doesn’t directly influence the amount of precipitation during the rainy season, in the Southern Rocky Mountain Region.

  • A Truce in the California Water Wars

    Nationally, the California Water Wars have been something people have been following for months.  As discussed by Water Center expert Tanya Heikkila in her September blog post “California’s other crisis,”  the state’s reservoirs had been significantly depleted and fights had been breaking out all over the state about who deserved water the most – farmers,…

  • USGS report shows water use in the USA increasingly efficient

    The US Geological Survey report, ‘Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2005’, By Joan F. Kenny, et al, released in 2009, compares recent and historical findings on water withdrawls for fresh surface water, groundwater, irrigation, thermo-electric power generation, public supply, self-supplied industrial use, and livestock, among others.

  • New Dept of Interior Water Strategy

    “The federal government’s existing water policies and programs simply aren’t built for 21st century pressures on water supplies,” Salazar said. “Population growth. Climate change. Rising energy demands. Environmental needs. Aging infrastructure. Risks to drinking water supplies. Those are just some of the challenges.”

  • Saving water, paying more?

    New York City’s Water Board (which determines the finances for Department of Environmental Protection’s water system) is proposing a water rate increase of 14% for fiscal year 2010. According to an article in the Daily News, the rate increase is needed because New Yorkers are using less water, meaning that DEP is earning less revenue.…

  • How Will Climate Change Affect the Great Lakes?

    With much of the world focused on the climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark over the past two weeks, many of you in the Great Lakes area may be wondering, “how will climate change affect the Lakes?” So let’s take a moment to briefly look at this question.

  • Water you drinking?

    With Jenni’s recent post on “Water Human Rights: Pollution,” I started to question the safety and current state of the public water system here in the United States. Charles Duhigg’s New York Times article confirmed my suspicions of the potentially dangerous quality of water in the US municipal water system. The Clean Water Act of 1972 and…

  • Gridlock in Everglades Land Deal

    For many who have been following the saga of the Everglades of South Florida, it seemed that restoration and conservation plans formed during the last decade were only getting more complicated and mired in bureaucracy. That is, until Gov. Charlie Crist stepped up to the plate to make a game-changing proposition to buy back land…

  • How much and how fast: Seminar on changing sea levels

    Professor Benjamin Horton shared his research on how quickly sea levels have increased over time, an important part of putting together the climate change puzzle.

  • From snow to rain? Not so much.

    In a seminar March 4th, Dr. Venkat Lakshmi presented his study showing that snowcover doesn’t directly influence the amount of precipitation during the rainy season, in the Southern Rocky Mountain Region.

  • A Truce in the California Water Wars

    Nationally, the California Water Wars have been something people have been following for months.  As discussed by Water Center expert Tanya Heikkila in her September blog post “California’s other crisis,”  the state’s reservoirs had been significantly depleted and fights had been breaking out all over the state about who deserved water the most – farmers,…

  • USGS report shows water use in the USA increasingly efficient

    The US Geological Survey report, ‘Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2005’, By Joan F. Kenny, et al, released in 2009, compares recent and historical findings on water withdrawls for fresh surface water, groundwater, irrigation, thermo-electric power generation, public supply, self-supplied industrial use, and livestock, among others.

  • New Dept of Interior Water Strategy

    “The federal government’s existing water policies and programs simply aren’t built for 21st century pressures on water supplies,” Salazar said. “Population growth. Climate change. Rising energy demands. Environmental needs. Aging infrastructure. Risks to drinking water supplies. Those are just some of the challenges.”

  • Saving water, paying more?

    New York City’s Water Board (which determines the finances for Department of Environmental Protection’s water system) is proposing a water rate increase of 14% for fiscal year 2010. According to an article in the Daily News, the rate increase is needed because New Yorkers are using less water, meaning that DEP is earning less revenue.…

  • How Will Climate Change Affect the Great Lakes?

    With much of the world focused on the climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark over the past two weeks, many of you in the Great Lakes area may be wondering, “how will climate change affect the Lakes?” So let’s take a moment to briefly look at this question.

  • Water you drinking?

    With Jenni’s recent post on “Water Human Rights: Pollution,” I started to question the safety and current state of the public water system here in the United States. Charles Duhigg’s New York Times article confirmed my suspicions of the potentially dangerous quality of water in the US municipal water system. The Clean Water Act of 1972 and…

  • Gridlock in Everglades Land Deal

    For many who have been following the saga of the Everglades of South Florida, it seemed that restoration and conservation plans formed during the last decade were only getting more complicated and mired in bureaucracy. That is, until Gov. Charlie Crist stepped up to the plate to make a game-changing proposition to buy back land…