State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

water matters2

  • Taking My Class to Bangladesh

    Taking My Class to Bangladesh

    My undergraduate Sustainable Development course is in Bangladesh for a Spring Break trip to see what they have been learning about. We will be touring the country by bus and boat to learn about the environment and people of Bangladesh.

  • Study Sees Potential Ways to Mitigate India’s Risk of Groundwater Depletion

    Study Sees Potential Ways to Mitigate India’s Risk of Groundwater Depletion

    Government-subsidized electricity has played a big role in pumping out groundwater for irrigation at an unsustainable rate. Changing the system could help, say researchers.

  • Sylhet City, Geology, and Packing Up

    Sylhet City, Geology, and Packing Up

    We finished our electromagnetic survey and mini-field school in northern Sylhet, Bangladesh, with lectures and field trips to see the geology by car and boat.

  • Struggling With Towed Equipment, Repairing GPS, and Home

    Struggling With Towed Equipment, Repairing GPS, and Home

    We switched to a towed electromagnetic system to image the fresh and saline groundwater in Bangladesh, and ran into a variety of problems, including high winds, strong currents and running aground.

  • Continuing the Survey: Watermelon and Winds

    Continuing the Survey: Watermelon and Winds

    Continuing our electromagnetic survey of fresh and saline groundwater, we saw the landscape change from lush watermelon fields to fallow rice fields as the salinity increased towards the sea.

  • Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    We continued our electromagnetic expedition to image fresh and saline groundwater into the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, the world’s largest. While guards protected us from tigers, it was a wild boar that dug up some of our equipment.

  • Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    I am back in Bangladesh to explore the distribution of fresh and saline groundwater in the coastal zone, needed for drinking in the dry season.

  • Student Workshop Proposes Ideas for Resilience in Three Communities

    Student Workshop Proposes Ideas for Resilience in Three Communities

    In the fall 2020 course, “Responsiveness and Resilience in the Built Environment,” students learned about sustainability challenges in three urban areas and came up with potential solutions.

  • How Climate Change Impacts Our Water

    How Climate Change Impacts Our Water

    Climate change disrupts the water cycle in ways that could profoundly alter how we live our lives.

Colorful banner with city: "MR 2025: Mobility, Adaptation, and Wellbeing in a Changing Climate."
  • Taking My Class to Bangladesh

    Taking My Class to Bangladesh

    My undergraduate Sustainable Development course is in Bangladesh for a Spring Break trip to see what they have been learning about. We will be touring the country by bus and boat to learn about the environment and people of Bangladesh.

  • Study Sees Potential Ways to Mitigate India’s Risk of Groundwater Depletion

    Study Sees Potential Ways to Mitigate India’s Risk of Groundwater Depletion

    Government-subsidized electricity has played a big role in pumping out groundwater for irrigation at an unsustainable rate. Changing the system could help, say researchers.

  • Sylhet City, Geology, and Packing Up

    Sylhet City, Geology, and Packing Up

    We finished our electromagnetic survey and mini-field school in northern Sylhet, Bangladesh, with lectures and field trips to see the geology by car and boat.

  • Struggling With Towed Equipment, Repairing GPS, and Home

    Struggling With Towed Equipment, Repairing GPS, and Home

    We switched to a towed electromagnetic system to image the fresh and saline groundwater in Bangladesh, and ran into a variety of problems, including high winds, strong currents and running aground.

  • Continuing the Survey: Watermelon and Winds

    Continuing the Survey: Watermelon and Winds

    Continuing our electromagnetic survey of fresh and saline groundwater, we saw the landscape change from lush watermelon fields to fallow rice fields as the salinity increased towards the sea.

  • Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    Deploying in the Mangrove Forest

    We continued our electromagnetic expedition to image fresh and saline groundwater into the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, the world’s largest. While guards protected us from tigers, it was a wild boar that dug up some of our equipment.

  • Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    Sailing Around the Bangladesh Coastal Zone

    I am back in Bangladesh to explore the distribution of fresh and saline groundwater in the coastal zone, needed for drinking in the dry season.

  • Student Workshop Proposes Ideas for Resilience in Three Communities

    Student Workshop Proposes Ideas for Resilience in Three Communities

    In the fall 2020 course, “Responsiveness and Resilience in the Built Environment,” students learned about sustainability challenges in three urban areas and came up with potential solutions.

  • How Climate Change Impacts Our Water

    How Climate Change Impacts Our Water

    Climate change disrupts the water cycle in ways that could profoundly alter how we live our lives.