State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: Water Scarcity5

  • Water Risk in Unexpected Places

    Water Risk in Unexpected Places

    A new report by the Columbia Water Center, produced with Veolia Water and Growing Blue, could help expose the real nature of water risk–even in places that most people think of as having plenty of water.

  • Water Security: Finding Solutions for a World at Risk

    Water Security: Finding Solutions for a World at Risk

    “This is a mess, and it is a mess that we have not attended to yet,” Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs said at a conference on water security held today at Columbia University. “Humanity is the driver, but we don’t have our hands on the steering wheel very much.”

  • Tensiometers in Punjab

    Tensiometers in Punjab

    So far, tensiometers have been tested in four central districts of Punjab, initially with more than 500 farmers the first year, and then peaking with an additional 4,500 farmers in 2011 before testing was scaled back. Data showed, on average, a 30 percent reduction in the water used in the test plots when compared with…

  • Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme weather and climate-related events already have cost the United States billions of dollars. A recent symposium focused on what we know about the causes and how changing climate affects agriculture, water supplies, wildlife and our economy.

  • Putting the Focus on ‘A Thirsty World’

    Putting the Focus on ‘A Thirsty World’

    The water documentary “A Thirsty World” combines French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s aerial photography with down-to-earth messages, a mélange that calls attention to problems of water security on a global scale.

  • Preparing for Chimborazo

    Preparing for Chimborazo

    I am staying with a friend’s family in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, and tomorrow will meet up with my climbing partner, Pablo Puruncajas, to prepare for our expedition. I am here to collect tree ring samples and put up a weather station on Chimborazo, Ecuador’s tallest peak, to provide climate data about this region, which…

  • Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Dr. Daniel Hillel was recently honored with the World Food Prize for his pioneering work in sustainable agriculture.

  • Preparing for a Future of Perpetual Drought

    Preparing for a Future of Perpetual Drought

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that droughts will likely increase in central North America this century. How can we prepare for a future of perpetual drought?

  • Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    The rains came late this year in Kenya. I was there for several months in the winter and spring to conduct research for a post-doctoral fellowship, examining the consequences of increases in fertilizer use on soil fertility, maize yields, nitrogen gas emissions and nitrogen leaching losses.

  • Water Risk in Unexpected Places

    Water Risk in Unexpected Places

    A new report by the Columbia Water Center, produced with Veolia Water and Growing Blue, could help expose the real nature of water risk–even in places that most people think of as having plenty of water.

  • Water Security: Finding Solutions for a World at Risk

    Water Security: Finding Solutions for a World at Risk

    “This is a mess, and it is a mess that we have not attended to yet,” Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs said at a conference on water security held today at Columbia University. “Humanity is the driver, but we don’t have our hands on the steering wheel very much.”

  • Tensiometers in Punjab

    Tensiometers in Punjab

    So far, tensiometers have been tested in four central districts of Punjab, initially with more than 500 farmers the first year, and then peaking with an additional 4,500 farmers in 2011 before testing was scaled back. Data showed, on average, a 30 percent reduction in the water used in the test plots when compared with…

  • Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme weather and climate-related events already have cost the United States billions of dollars. A recent symposium focused on what we know about the causes and how changing climate affects agriculture, water supplies, wildlife and our economy.

  • Putting the Focus on ‘A Thirsty World’

    Putting the Focus on ‘A Thirsty World’

    The water documentary “A Thirsty World” combines French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s aerial photography with down-to-earth messages, a mélange that calls attention to problems of water security on a global scale.

  • Preparing for Chimborazo

    Preparing for Chimborazo

    I am staying with a friend’s family in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, and tomorrow will meet up with my climbing partner, Pablo Puruncajas, to prepare for our expedition. I am here to collect tree ring samples and put up a weather station on Chimborazo, Ecuador’s tallest peak, to provide climate data about this region, which…

  • Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Watering the World’s Crops, Drop by Drop

    Dr. Daniel Hillel was recently honored with the World Food Prize for his pioneering work in sustainable agriculture.

  • Preparing for a Future of Perpetual Drought

    Preparing for a Future of Perpetual Drought

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that droughts will likely increase in central North America this century. How can we prepare for a future of perpetual drought?

  • Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    The rains came late this year in Kenya. I was there for several months in the winter and spring to conduct research for a post-doctoral fellowship, examining the consequences of increases in fertilizer use on soil fertility, maize yields, nitrogen gas emissions and nitrogen leaching losses.