State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

obesity

  • What’s Needed for a Sustainable, Equitable and Healthy Food System?

    What’s Needed for a Sustainable, Equitable and Healthy Food System?

    A report integrates the environmental, health, and social impacts of agriculture into one framework to help us make informed decisions about food.

  • Corn, Obesity, and Navigating Healthy Eating Choices as a Parent

    Corn, Obesity, and Navigating Healthy Eating Choices as a Parent

    Our children learn to eat from us. Eat better, fill your plates with dark leafy greens and your kid is bound to follow.

  • Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Dr. Prabhjot Singh, an international health systems expert at the Earth Institute who helped design community health worker systems for the Millennium Villages Project across 10 African countries, has won a $40,000 Young Leader Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

  • Rethinking Our Food System to Combat Obesity

    Rethinking Our Food System to Combat Obesity

    The Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab and MIT Collaborative Initiatives joined to investigate the issue of obesity through the prism of design. Their conclusion: “No single effort to curb childhood obesity will be sustainable or effective on a broad scale if the larger food system is not addressed.”

  • Changing the Urban Relationship to Food

    With an Italian background, from a culture of food, as biologist and one time theatre producer, to me it makes sense to work with a research group that has the courage to break many taboos and re-discuss academic assumptions in an open and innovative way.

  • Designers at Columbia and MIT Promote “Foodshed” Concept

    Contributed by Richard Plunz and Michael Conard On September 10th, Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” highlighted the work of designers at the Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab (UDL) in his Op-Ed Contribution to the New York Times, titled “Big Food vs. Big Insurance.” Since 2007, researchers at the…

Collage of Turkiye beach scene and Columbia University Campus with text: UN Climate Change Conference COP31, Antalya, Turkiye, Nov 9-20, 2026

COP31, the 2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference, aims to advance dialogue, strengthen consensus, and accelerate climate action on a global scale. From November 9–20, 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye, heads of state, ministers, scientists, business leaders, and civil society will gather to advance efforts in emission targets, climate finance, and adaptation and resilience. Once again, our experts, students, and global thought leaders from Columbia Climate School and across Columbia University are contributing to key events, sharing insights, and helping shape the dialogue toward ambitious, science-based solutions. Learn More

  • What’s Needed for a Sustainable, Equitable and Healthy Food System?

    What’s Needed for a Sustainable, Equitable and Healthy Food System?

    A report integrates the environmental, health, and social impacts of agriculture into one framework to help us make informed decisions about food.

  • Corn, Obesity, and Navigating Healthy Eating Choices as a Parent

    Corn, Obesity, and Navigating Healthy Eating Choices as a Parent

    Our children learn to eat from us. Eat better, fill your plates with dark leafy greens and your kid is bound to follow.

  • Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Dr. Prabhjot Singh, an international health systems expert at the Earth Institute who helped design community health worker systems for the Millennium Villages Project across 10 African countries, has won a $40,000 Young Leader Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

  • Rethinking Our Food System to Combat Obesity

    Rethinking Our Food System to Combat Obesity

    The Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab and MIT Collaborative Initiatives joined to investigate the issue of obesity through the prism of design. Their conclusion: “No single effort to curb childhood obesity will be sustainable or effective on a broad scale if the larger food system is not addressed.”

  • Changing the Urban Relationship to Food

    With an Italian background, from a culture of food, as biologist and one time theatre producer, to me it makes sense to work with a research group that has the courage to break many taboos and re-discuss academic assumptions in an open and innovative way.

  • Designers at Columbia and MIT Promote “Foodshed” Concept

    Contributed by Richard Plunz and Michael Conard On September 10th, Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” highlighted the work of designers at the Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab (UDL) in his Op-Ed Contribution to the New York Times, titled “Big Food vs. Big Insurance.” Since 2007, researchers at the…