As global temperatures rise and heat records are broken, many wonder if New York City’s heat waves this summer were a result of climate change, and if we will experience more of them in the future.

Within weeks of a devastating earthquake in Nepal, governments and private groups pledged $4 billion in aid. And something else emerged from the rubble: a grassroots movement to rebuild rural Nepal safely and sustainably.

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment is accepting applications until Sept. 15 for internship positions for the fall semester. Interns are staffed to one or more specific research projects depending on the background and interests of the particular applicant. Unpaid and paid opportunities are available.

Seismologist Won-Young Kim heard the first reports of the World Trade Center attacks in his car as he drove to Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, on the west bank of the Hudson River 21 miles north of the attacks. Soon, he was inundated by calls from government officials and reporters. In the initial chaos, it was unclear exactly what had hit, and when; had the seismographs picked up anything?

This fall, the Earth Institute is offering students opportunities to work as interns within various departments and research centers at the institute. All full-time Columbia and Barnard students are eligible to apply.

The Earth Institute will offer eight research assistant opportunities for undergraduate students during the fall 2016 semester. Undergraduates from Columbia and Barnard will be able to serve as assistants on research projects related to sustainable development and the environment with distinguished faculty and researchers at the cutting edge of this burgeoning field.

Interested in research focusing on how philanthropy and cross sector partnerships are addressing critical social concerns? Apply to be a research assistant with Dr. David Maurrasse for fall 2016. Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible.

Antarctic sea ice is constantly on the move as powerful winds blow it away from the coast and out toward the open ocean. A new study shows how that ice migration may be more important for the global ocean circulation than anyone realized.

The skin of the Earth is the color of tar,
Ridged, freshly healed like the seams of a scar.
Through salt-spattered sky, a gray-winged gull sails;
Steam gently rises, the island exhales.

An Earth Institute pilot project has brought smart solar power to farmers in Senegal, making agriculture more efficient, economical and sustainable.