State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

sustainable development25

  • Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    China’s problems with air pollution mirror what the United States went through during the rapid economic growth following World War II, and the solutions will likely be the same, Earth Institute Executive Director Steven Cohen said Saturday on an English-language news program on China Central Television.

  • Millennium Promise Team to Join Battle Against Ebola

    Millennium Promise Team to Join Battle Against Ebola

    Locally based community health workers, who bring vital primary health care to underserved populations across sub-Saharan Africa, will join the battle against the deadly Ebola virus through a partnership between the government of Guinea and The Earth Institute.

  • MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    Olivia Kemp, a 2013 alumna of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, is using the skills she developed in the program to develop her career focusing on conservation, food security and sustainable development. Now with Blue Ventures, Kemp is working with local communities in Madagascar to create a focus on community-led marine conservation.

  • 8 Ways We Can Strengthen Development and Increase Climate Resilience

    8 Ways We Can Strengthen Development and Increase Climate Resilience

    President Obama this week announced a set of actions designed to help populations here and abroad develop better resilience against drought, sea level rise and other consequences of a changing climate. At The Earth Institute, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society has been working on these issues for years — making regular climate…

  • Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Vital Signs is a key part of Tanzania’s new Agriculture Climate Resilience Plan, which presents a strategy for sustainable agricultural development in the face of shifting rainfall patterns and other effects of a changing climate.

  • New Executive Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture

    New Executive Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture

    The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment will be addressing the challenges of sustainable agricultural investment in its inaugural Executive Training Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, which will be held at Columbia University from March 8-13, 2015.

  • ‘The Big Ratchet’

    ‘The Big Ratchet’

    In her new book, Ruth DeFries argues that we have continually created new technologies that allow our numbers to grow. But each new invention creates a new problem—which we solve with yet another innovation that creates the next problem. Will we be able to sustain this so-far successful cycle past the great leap in technology…

  • Indian Government Takes Steps on Agriculture, Water, Climate

    Indian Government Takes Steps on Agriculture, Water, Climate

    In terms of the urgent need to reform agriculture, address climate change and promote sustainable watershed development, the Indian government’s new budget provides for a number of promising initiatives.

  • On the Road with Kate & Maddy: America Talks about Water

    On the Road with Kate & Maddy: America Talks about Water

    Both of us are interested in the intersection of the environment and public health, and we wanted to explore a public health issue about which we felt ignorant. Water kept coming up in our conversations, because we felt that while water is a global issue, it often gets overlooked domestically among our peers. As such,…

Banner with images representing environmental issues and text "You Asked: Our Scientists and Experts Answer Your Burning Questions."

You Asked invites you to share your most pressing questions about climate, science, and sustainability. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School experts will respond with clear, evidence-based answers. Pose your questions and story ideas!

  • Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    Cohen: China’s Pollution Problems Mirroring U.S. Experience

    China’s problems with air pollution mirror what the United States went through during the rapid economic growth following World War II, and the solutions will likely be the same, Earth Institute Executive Director Steven Cohen said Saturday on an English-language news program on China Central Television.

  • Millennium Promise Team to Join Battle Against Ebola

    Millennium Promise Team to Join Battle Against Ebola

    Locally based community health workers, who bring vital primary health care to underserved populations across sub-Saharan Africa, will join the battle against the deadly Ebola virus through a partnership between the government of Guinea and The Earth Institute.

  • MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    MPA Alum Focuses on Marine Conservation

    Olivia Kemp, a 2013 alumna of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, is using the skills she developed in the program to develop her career focusing on conservation, food security and sustainable development. Now with Blue Ventures, Kemp is working with local communities in Madagascar to create a focus on community-led marine conservation.

  • 8 Ways We Can Strengthen Development and Increase Climate Resilience

    8 Ways We Can Strengthen Development and Increase Climate Resilience

    President Obama this week announced a set of actions designed to help populations here and abroad develop better resilience against drought, sea level rise and other consequences of a changing climate. At The Earth Institute, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society has been working on these issues for years — making regular climate…

  • Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Tanzania Launches Plan to Fight Climate Impacts on Agriculture

    Vital Signs is a key part of Tanzania’s new Agriculture Climate Resilience Plan, which presents a strategy for sustainable agricultural development in the face of shifting rainfall patterns and other effects of a changing climate.

  • New Executive Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture

    New Executive Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture

    The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment will be addressing the challenges of sustainable agricultural investment in its inaugural Executive Training Program on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, which will be held at Columbia University from March 8-13, 2015.

  • ‘The Big Ratchet’

    ‘The Big Ratchet’

    In her new book, Ruth DeFries argues that we have continually created new technologies that allow our numbers to grow. But each new invention creates a new problem—which we solve with yet another innovation that creates the next problem. Will we be able to sustain this so-far successful cycle past the great leap in technology…

  • Indian Government Takes Steps on Agriculture, Water, Climate

    Indian Government Takes Steps on Agriculture, Water, Climate

    In terms of the urgent need to reform agriculture, address climate change and promote sustainable watershed development, the Indian government’s new budget provides for a number of promising initiatives.

  • On the Road with Kate & Maddy: America Talks about Water

    On the Road with Kate & Maddy: America Talks about Water

    Both of us are interested in the intersection of the environment and public health, and we wanted to explore a public health issue about which we felt ignorant. Water kept coming up in our conversations, because we felt that while water is a global issue, it often gets overlooked domestically among our peers. As such,…