State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

water matters9

  • India Steps Up on Climate Change

    India Steps Up on Climate Change

    As a nation still in its developing phase, with 1.25 billion citizens and counting, India can’t afford to forego even part of its industrial progress. But we also cannot go on developing without taking into account the emissions produced by industries that are major contributors to global warming.

  • Climate Through A Different Lens: Poverty, Inequality, Sustainability

    Climate Through A Different Lens: Poverty, Inequality, Sustainability

    Technology has brought us low-cost global communication, and also enabled a global economy. It has also brought us closer and further from each other. We now know more about other cultures. We also see the differences, and sharpen our sense of inequities. Perhaps, this, rather than a control of greenhouse gases, needs to be the…

  • With El Niño, Be Careful What You Wish for

    With El Niño, Be Careful What You Wish for

    In Southern California, a strong El Niño usually signals rain. Given that California is now in the throes of a severe drought, it seems like that should be a good thing, even if it comes with risk of floods. But the reality of climate is more complex and counter-intuitive than it first appears.

  • Making Agriculture Sustainable in One of India’s Poorest States

    Making Agriculture Sustainable in One of India’s Poorest States

    Jharkhand, India is one of the nation’s poorest and most most food-insecure states, with over 45 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Can a research team devise sustainable ways to improve livelihoods, productivity and sustainable water use?

  • Learning from a River’s History to Prepare for the Future

    Learning from a River’s History to Prepare for the Future

    Researchers from eight universities, including Columbia University, are using tree ring and glacier analysis to reconstruct the climate history of the Missouri River Basin in order to give policymakers and water managers better decision-making tools to manage the river.

  • The Growing Groundwater Crisis

    The Growing Groundwater Crisis

    Groundwater is being depleted at alarming rates, not only in drought-stricken California, but around the world. When groundwater is depleted, it can take tens to hundreds of years to for it to reestablish its sustainable level, if at all. What can be done to avert a water crisis?

  • U.S. Drought Risk Wider than Previously Thought

    U.S. Drought Risk Wider than Previously Thought

    New research from the Columbia Water Center suggests that many more places in the United States are at risk of drought-induced water stress than is commonly thought, including dense metropolitan regions such as New York City and Washington, D.C.

  • Overuse of Water by Indian Farmers Threatens Supply

    Overuse of Water by Indian Farmers Threatens Supply

    Convincing farmers that it’s worth it to reduce their water consumption will rest on our ability to help develop local groups to manage aquifers at the community-level.

  • Indian Sundarban

    Indian Sundarban

    We arrived in Kolkata, and filmed by the Hooghly River. While it is no longer the main channel of the Ganges, it is still the Holy Ganges and we saw a funeral procession spreading ashes of a loved one while filming there. Then a 5 hour trip by car, ferry, rickshaw and boat to the…

Colorful banner with city: "MR 2025: Mobility, Adaptation, and Wellbeing in a Changing Climate."
  • India Steps Up on Climate Change

    India Steps Up on Climate Change

    As a nation still in its developing phase, with 1.25 billion citizens and counting, India can’t afford to forego even part of its industrial progress. But we also cannot go on developing without taking into account the emissions produced by industries that are major contributors to global warming.

  • Climate Through A Different Lens: Poverty, Inequality, Sustainability

    Climate Through A Different Lens: Poverty, Inequality, Sustainability

    Technology has brought us low-cost global communication, and also enabled a global economy. It has also brought us closer and further from each other. We now know more about other cultures. We also see the differences, and sharpen our sense of inequities. Perhaps, this, rather than a control of greenhouse gases, needs to be the…

  • With El Niño, Be Careful What You Wish for

    With El Niño, Be Careful What You Wish for

    In Southern California, a strong El Niño usually signals rain. Given that California is now in the throes of a severe drought, it seems like that should be a good thing, even if it comes with risk of floods. But the reality of climate is more complex and counter-intuitive than it first appears.

  • Making Agriculture Sustainable in One of India’s Poorest States

    Making Agriculture Sustainable in One of India’s Poorest States

    Jharkhand, India is one of the nation’s poorest and most most food-insecure states, with over 45 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Can a research team devise sustainable ways to improve livelihoods, productivity and sustainable water use?

  • Learning from a River’s History to Prepare for the Future

    Learning from a River’s History to Prepare for the Future

    Researchers from eight universities, including Columbia University, are using tree ring and glacier analysis to reconstruct the climate history of the Missouri River Basin in order to give policymakers and water managers better decision-making tools to manage the river.

  • The Growing Groundwater Crisis

    The Growing Groundwater Crisis

    Groundwater is being depleted at alarming rates, not only in drought-stricken California, but around the world. When groundwater is depleted, it can take tens to hundreds of years to for it to reestablish its sustainable level, if at all. What can be done to avert a water crisis?

  • U.S. Drought Risk Wider than Previously Thought

    U.S. Drought Risk Wider than Previously Thought

    New research from the Columbia Water Center suggests that many more places in the United States are at risk of drought-induced water stress than is commonly thought, including dense metropolitan regions such as New York City and Washington, D.C.

  • Overuse of Water by Indian Farmers Threatens Supply

    Overuse of Water by Indian Farmers Threatens Supply

    Convincing farmers that it’s worth it to reduce their water consumption will rest on our ability to help develop local groups to manage aquifers at the community-level.

  • Indian Sundarban

    Indian Sundarban

    We arrived in Kolkata, and filmed by the Hooghly River. While it is no longer the main channel of the Ganges, it is still the Holy Ganges and we saw a funeral procession spreading ashes of a loved one while filming there. Then a 5 hour trip by car, ferry, rickshaw and boat to the…