Haiti Dialog Series: Author Jonathan M. Katz joined the Haiti Research and Policy Program’s dialogue series to discuss his new book and two years reporting on the Haitian recovery after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Katz argues within his book that the international aid money has become a missed opportunity to address core development challenges in Haiti and that the country remains equally vulnerable today as it did prior to January 10th, 2010.
Urban agriculture faces unique growing challenges due to the peculiarities of farming in a densely built environment. Storm Sandy highlighted additional challenges New York City farmers and gardeners must face as a result of increasingly extreme weather.
For thousands of years Arctic peat bogs have soaked up atmospheric carbon like a giant sponge. But as the poles warm, the arctic bogs will decay and expel billions of tons of carbon back into the air—or will they? A warmer climate might actually improve growing conditions in the bogs, allowing them to take up more greenhouse gases than before. To look for an answer, Lamont-Doherty researcher Jonathan Nichols traveled to Alaska’s remote North Slope in July 2012.
Since the Fall of 2007, the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB) and the Earth Institute, Columbia University, have partnered to offer Research Assistantships each year to Columbia University graduate students. These positions take place at the PCDMB offices in Geneva, Switzerland, each summer. Travel costs will be covered for the selected students by the program.
The Earth Institute, Columbia University is pleased to announce 12 research assistant opportunities for undergraduate students during the spring 2013 semester. Undergraduates from Columbia and Barnard will be able to serve as research assistants on exciting research projects related to sustainable development and the environment with distinguished faculty and researchers at the cutting edge of this burgeoning field.
This spring, 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 10 hours per week and up to a maximum of 120 hours for the spring 2013 semester.
As wildlife trafficking has become more lucrative, widespread and organized over the past few years, the definition of high-value natural resources should be modified to include the commercial values of wildlife and its products.
Working with engineering PhD candidate Rob Elliott, we imagined a green roof and blue roof system that would serve as a space for environmental education and student wellness, the culmination of a semester spent examining and taking action on stormwater management issues in New York City.
Peri-urban areas are particularly vulnerable to land use conflicts due to their geographic and socio-economic characteristics: They are transitional zones in transforming societies, where various economic activities associated with each urban setting try to co-exist. In this context, peri-urban agriculture plays a key role for the multiplicity and diversity of stakeholders providing environmental and economic services to urban cities.
Who needs to take a break when you are out to help save the planet? This was the mindset of Isabel Ricker, who graduated from the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development in May 2012. After securing a prestigious summer internship at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Isabel has landed a full-time internship with the Climate and Energy Program at the National Wildlife Federation.
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.
