State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tongass National Forest

  • Alaska Challenges Reinstated Protections for Tongass National Forest

    Alaska Challenges Reinstated Protections for Tongass National Forest

    A coalition of Alaskan groups have challenged the Biden administration’s reinstated rules to protect the Tongass National Forest, a major carbon sink that is crucial to Indigenous groups, local biodiversity and the Alaskan economy.

  • Controversial Alaskan Mine Receives a Push From the Trump Administration

    Controversial Alaskan Mine Receives a Push From the Trump Administration

    A proposed rare earth element mine on a mountainous island in Alaska is at the center of a geopolitical conflict and an environmental crisis.

  • Conservation in Alaska: If It Sounds Familiar…

    Conservation in Alaska: If It Sounds Familiar…

    It occurred to me while reading noted historian Douglas Brinkley’s new book The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom 1879-1960 that some things don’t seem to change. Brinkley’s book chronicles the efforts of the Federal government to save wild Alaska from the extraction industries, mining, timber and fisheries primarily. The notion over one hundred years…

Blue banner with kids and Earth photos. Text: "Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House, Saturday, October 17, 2026, 10am-4pm.

On Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 10am to 4pm, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House—our biggest, best science fun and discovery event of the year—will take place on our beautiful campus in Palisades, NY. Mark your calendar and join us for this free, family-friendly celebration of science! RSVP Today!

  • Alaska Challenges Reinstated Protections for Tongass National Forest

    Alaska Challenges Reinstated Protections for Tongass National Forest

    A coalition of Alaskan groups have challenged the Biden administration’s reinstated rules to protect the Tongass National Forest, a major carbon sink that is crucial to Indigenous groups, local biodiversity and the Alaskan economy.

  • Controversial Alaskan Mine Receives a Push From the Trump Administration

    Controversial Alaskan Mine Receives a Push From the Trump Administration

    A proposed rare earth element mine on a mountainous island in Alaska is at the center of a geopolitical conflict and an environmental crisis.

  • Conservation in Alaska: If It Sounds Familiar…

    Conservation in Alaska: If It Sounds Familiar…

    It occurred to me while reading noted historian Douglas Brinkley’s new book The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom 1879-1960 that some things don’t seem to change. Brinkley’s book chronicles the efforts of the Federal government to save wild Alaska from the extraction industries, mining, timber and fisheries primarily. The notion over one hundred years…