With life, legged and finned, Earth had been teeming,
Slitherers, predators, graceful trees tall …
Now, of these species, we are only dreaming:
Glossopteris, trilobites, eurypterids, all.

Coral reefs, some of the planet’s most beautiful and biodiverse ecosystems, face many natural and anthropogenic threats. Tremendous effort has gone into protecting and rehabilitating these reefs worldwide, but the mounting problem of ocean acidification has the potential to obliterate all progress made by marine scientists, conservationists, and policy-makers thus far.

The Earth Institute, Columbia University was proud to support student research in the areas of environment and sustainable development at the annual Student Research Showcase on April 25, 2014. Student interns, research assistants and travel grant recipients, and their Faculty and Research Advisors, were honored for their research contributions that ranged in topics from biodiversity, urban planning, earth sciences to international development.

Among the key findings of the WGII AR5 Report chapter on human security, a topic highlighted in the Report for the first time, is that societies in conflict are more vulnerable to climate change.

The Earth Institute is grateful to its many partners for their important role in the effort to develop the science and solutions necessary for sustainable development. Please visit the interactive digital 2013 Annual Report to read more about how we are forging partnerships across disciplines and sectors to advance the global effort to guide our planet onto a path toward sustainability.

The Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability (EICES) at Columbia University invites you to enroll in courses this Spring via our Certificate Program in Conservation and Environmental Sustainability.

Earth Institute research expeditions investigating the dynamics of the planet on all levels take place on every continent and every ocean. Most projects originate with our main research center, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and are often run in collaboration with other institutions.

Are you interested in cultivating the skills necessary to implement environmental change? Do you want to learn more about conservation and environmental sustainability, including ecosystem services and function?

Watch a slide show featuring ongoing research by scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, whose work around the globe is key to understanding past changes in the oceans and what is going on today.

In an article published in The Lancet, Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs outlines his own ideas for sustainable development goals, and how how these goals can build on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN’s set of targets that aim to reduce extreme poverty and boost social well-being in many other ways by 2015.