Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development news12
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Geology and Filming in Mizoram
In the small town of Kolasib, we stayed in Hotel Cloud 9. I had been told since I was a child that I was always off on Cloud 9 and now I was actually here. However, the electricity wasn’t for the first few hours, so showers were cold, but the dinner was hot.
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Tiger Footprints and Dhaka
We finished our time in the Sundarbans with a silent boat ride in a tidal creek. The highlight was sets of fresh tiger footprints. We then had a long sail back to Dhaka with only one stop at a village. We then had a whirlwind tour of Old Dhaka with enough shopping to send the…
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Salt Kilns and Landscape Change in the Sundarbans
Leaving Hiron Point, we headed east through the Sundarbans to Kotka. At Kotka the students had walks through the forest seeing deer, wild boar and monkeys, while a smaller group also sampled near a set of 300 year old salt making kilns for OSL dating. We managed to finish while the tide inundated the site.…
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Polder 32 and Hiron Point
We visited Polder 32, an embanked island in the delta that was flooded for almost two years when the embankment failed in several places during Cyclone Aila. In addition to the problem of increased subsidence due to the embankment, the area struggles for fresh water. Then we sailed to Hiron Point, a forest station in…
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Working in the Bangladeshi Countryside
After traveling by boat for two days, including crossing the Sundarban Mangrove Forest, we finally arrived in Khulna. We drove to the site of our compaction meter and separated into teams servicing the instruments, investigating agricultural practices, measuring arsenic in the well water and taking sediment samples for dating. We had finally started our work…
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Sailing Around Political Unrest in Bangladesh
With the roads in Bangladesh hazardous to drive because of the ongoing political unrest, our undergraduate sustainable development class managed to proceed with our class trip over Spring Break by doing all travel by boat.
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The Acorns Were Here Long Before the Squirrels
Forests are a critical component of ecosystems, and the effective management of this natural resource is a topic of great concern to sustainable development and humanity. On March 7, Ralph Schmidt, former director of forest programs with the United Nations Development Program, led a seminar on sustainable forest management for Earth Institute students and alumni.
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Sustainable Development Spring 2015 Workshop Briefings
Seniors in the Capstone Workshop in Sustainable Development will deliver their final recommendations May 1 after working collaboratively on client projects this past semester.
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Senior Shares Insights on Sustainable Development Program
For senior Norman Shafto, the interdisciplinary approach of the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development helped him link his interests in electrical engineering and environmental science.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More
