Approximately one in eight children dies before the age of 5 in sub-Saharan Africa – a rate that has been declining, but is still nearly 20 times higher than in developed nations. A new Lancet study out this week suggests that the multiple interventions applied in the Millennium Villages Project are having a significant impact, [...]
For more than 50 years, Sanchez has worked on agriculture and hunger issues throughout the developing world. Since 2005, he has helped to establish and direct the Millennium Villages Project to promote policies to bring a green revolution to Africa and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
The Africa Soil Information Service has upgraded its website with a new layout, easier navigation and updates on project activities. A growing set of features provides information for managing soil and land in Africa, including an interactive map tool that allows you to choose layers and areas of interest that can be downloaded.
Two recent studies suggest that grasses or taller shrubs may actually be more effective than such typical green-roof plantings as sedums at reducing storm water runoff, often a major selling point for green roofs. These studies suggest there is no one-size-fits-all green roof.
The Highline, a park built on an old rail line on the lower West Side of New York City, pays homage to the area’s industrial past while providing locals and tourists alike with a place for repose.
Columbia has welcomed a composting machine to campus, a first at a New York City university. Accepting food scraps, such as banana peels, coffee grounds and egg shells, the composter will provide a way to recycle the urban campus’s food waste while also serving as an educational tool.
The new Africa Monitoring System aims to help land managers and policy makers identify and tackle tradeoffs between intensified food production on the African continent and the vital services provided by healthy ecosystems.
This summer the Earth Institute, Columbia University is offering Columbia students opportunities to intern within various departments and research centers at the Earth Institute. All full-time Columbia and Barnard students are eligible to apply for internships. These internships are funded at a rate of $15/hr for 35 hours per week and up to a maximum [...]
While not all countries have the financial wherewithal and capacity to deploy ground-based instruments for air-quality monitoring, and for some countries monitoring information is not available to the public, for example, through health advisories, another way exists to assess air pollution levels: through satellites.
The Earth Institute welcomed Prime Minister Garry Conille of Haiti on Dec. 2 for a day of policy discussions and a seminar with the students of the Master’s in Public Affairs Development Practice program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
State of the Planet is a forum for discussion on varying viewpoints. The opinions expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Earth Institute or Columbia University.
