http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu Tapping experts in climate, geology, oceanography, ecology, sustainable development, global health, energy, food and water, State of the Planet captures stories of how the Earth works and how we can sustainably make our lives better. Fri, 24 May 2013 18:22:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/22/the-boom-of-hydraulic-fracturing/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/22/the-boom-of-hydraulic-fracturing/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 14:51:19 +0000 Cassie Xu http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36913 Experts discuss the rise and boom of unconventional hydrocarbon extraction in the final Sustainable Development Seminar Series of the 2012-2013 academic year.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/22/the-boom-of-hydraulic-fracturing/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/09/haiti_education_digicel_stranksy/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/09/haiti_education_digicel_stranksy/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 16:03:23 +0000 Alex Fischer http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36271 Haiti faces ongoing pressures of high population growth, high illiteracy rates and low primary education completion rates. On April 30, the Haiti Research and Policy Program’s Dialogue Series welcomed Sophia Stranksy, CEO of the Digicel Haiti Foundation, to discuss the foundation’s primary education and youth programs and Haiti's challenges. ]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/09/haiti_education_digicel_stranksy/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/02/haiti-prime-minister-lamothe-2013/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/02/haiti-prime-minister-lamothe-2013/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 15:27:40 +0000 Alex Fischer http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36095 On April 22, 2013 the Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development welcomed Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe to the Spring 2013 Haiti Dialogue Series and the Columbia University World Leader’s Forum. The prime minister and Haitian diplomats met with Earth Institute senior researchers to discuss the strategies for the Haitian government’s national-scale monitoring, planning and implementation development programs.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/02/haiti-prime-minister-lamothe-2013/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/27/upcoming-scientific-fieldwork-a-guide/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/27/upcoming-scientific-fieldwork-a-guide/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:37:46 +0000 Kevin Krajick http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34499 Earth Institute research expeditions investigating the dynamics of the planet on all levels take place on every continent and every ocean. Most projects originate with our main research center, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and are often run in collaboration with other institutions. ]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/27/upcoming-scientific-fieldwork-a-guide/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/23/jamuna-river/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/23/jamuna-river/#comments Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:54:11 +0000 Mike Steckler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34420 The last part of our river work was on the Jamuna River, as the Brahmaputra is called south of where if diverges from its former course. It shifted up to 100 km to this course about 200 years ago. We visited Sirajganj where an embankment protects the city from the migrating river and Aricha near the confluence of the Jamuna and Ganges. We ended our journey by standing with one foot in each of these two great rivers.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/23/jamuna-river/feed/ 1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/22/brahmaputra-chars/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/22/brahmaputra-chars/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:24:49 +0000 Mike Steckler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34375 We traveled to the Brahmaputra River, one of the most active on the planet, to continue our fieldwork. We visited two places while working our way downstream and saw the rapid changes in the river bank and chars (islands). At one ghat (dock) the river had eroded a mile of the coast while in the other it added a similar amount. The chars had moved, appeared, disappeared and reemerged. In this changing environment, the resilient Bangladeshi char people shifted and adapted with the land. ]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/22/brahmaputra-chars/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/21/haiti_dialogue_katz/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/21/haiti_dialogue_katz/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:27:16 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34320 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.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/21/haiti_dialogue_katz/feed/ 1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/19/ganges/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/19/ganges/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:35:36 +0000 Mike Steckler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34227 For the final part of my journey, we will be visiting numerous sites, mainly on the main rivers of Bangladesh. The samples and field data will ground truth and calibrate satellite data improving our analyses. We first stopped at an area that had converted from shrimp farming to rice, then spent two days on the mighty Ganges River.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/19/ganges/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/15/unplanned-time-in-dhaka/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/15/unplanned-time-in-dhaka/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:55:47 +0000 Mike Steckler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34070 Due to the speed at which the two Scotts were able to repair the compaction meter, I found myself with two extra days in Dhaka. Besides numerous quickly planned meetings, I got to see the celebration of the arrival of Bengali Spring and the growing protest movement against the light sentence for Islamists convicted of collaboration during the 1971 revolution. This Occupy Dhaka has tangled traffic in an already clogged city.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/15/unplanned-time-in-dhaka/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/14/resistivity-in-khulna/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/14/resistivity-in-khulna/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:23:32 +0000 Mike Steckler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34033 I headed east to Comilla for 4 days to train 6 Dhaka University students and graduates to use the resistivity imaging system we bought for the project. The system will send electric currents into the ground to map the distribution of sand and muds. The 1000s of measurements will create a catscan-like image of the rocks under the profiles. Together we all learned what worked and didn't in Bangladesh.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/14/resistivity-in-khulna/feed/ 0