State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: dams

  • Dam Removal Spurs the Return of Salmon—and a Local Tribe’s Hopes of Sustainable Fishing

    Dam Removal Spurs the Return of Salmon—and a Local Tribe’s Hopes of Sustainable Fishing

    For the first time since dams were removed on Washington State’s Elwha River in 2014, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe was able to open a ceremonial and subsistence salmon fishery.

  • Protecting Yellowstone’s Waters: Proposed Legislation Would Safeguard More of Montana’s Rivers

    Protecting Yellowstone’s Waters: Proposed Legislation Would Safeguard More of Montana’s Rivers

    Montana Senator Jon Tester has proposed a bill that would add 17 rivers to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

  • Using Artificial Intelligence To Locate Risky Dams

    Using Artificial Intelligence To Locate Risky Dams

    In the U.S., some 2,000 high hazard dams are in need of repairs. A project from the Columbia Water Center is helping to identify the most hazardous ones.

  • Oroville Dam Crisis is a Call to Action on U.S. Water Infrastructure

    Oroville Dam Crisis is a Call to Action on U.S. Water Infrastructure

    Columbia Water Center director Upmanu Lall suggests that we see the Oroville crisis as a call to action to evaluate and address the challenges facing the nation’s dam infrastructure.

  • Dammed Funding for U.S. Dams

    Dammed Funding for U.S. Dams

    Across the nation, large-scale water infrastructure such as dams have provided a multitude of services, from electric power and water reservoirs to flood control and containment of pollution. But federal investments in large water infrastructure projects have largely been curtailed over the past few decades.

  • Mapping Tool Lets Users Pinpoint Hazards Data

    Mapping Tool Lets Users Pinpoint Hazards Data

    The SEDAC Hazards Mapper is designed for disaster risk managers, humanitarian response organizations, public health professionals, journalists and others needing a quick assessment of the potential dangers posed by a major hazardous event or developing emergency.

  • Mekong Delta and Three Gorges Dam: World’s First Climate Change Resettlements?

    Mekong Delta and Three Gorges Dam: World’s First Climate Change Resettlements?

    Many resettlers are economically better off, but the dislocations remain significant, especially for older resettlers, who have a harder time getting work in the newly developed industrial sector. Although the plight of some resettlers has been quite difficult (one older man competed fiercely to serve as a porter for us for the royal sum of…

  • Managing Water in a Dry Land

    Managing Water in a Dry Land

    Since 2010, the Earth Institute’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society along with UNESCO and their colleagues in Chile have been working with Elqui’s water authority to help them use seasonal forecasts as way to better allocate water and prepare for droughts.

  • Safety Be Dammed: High-Risk Dams on the Rise

    Safety Be Dammed: High-Risk Dams on the Rise

    In the still hours just before midnight on March 12, 1928, thousands of people slumbered in the handful of agricultural communities nestled along the Santa Clara River in Ventura County, California. Tony Harnischfeger and his family slept quietly in a small house at the foot of the St. Francis Dam, a 195-foot high concrete gravity…

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
  • Dam Removal Spurs the Return of Salmon—and a Local Tribe’s Hopes of Sustainable Fishing

    Dam Removal Spurs the Return of Salmon—and a Local Tribe’s Hopes of Sustainable Fishing

    For the first time since dams were removed on Washington State’s Elwha River in 2014, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe was able to open a ceremonial and subsistence salmon fishery.

  • Protecting Yellowstone’s Waters: Proposed Legislation Would Safeguard More of Montana’s Rivers

    Protecting Yellowstone’s Waters: Proposed Legislation Would Safeguard More of Montana’s Rivers

    Montana Senator Jon Tester has proposed a bill that would add 17 rivers to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

  • Using Artificial Intelligence To Locate Risky Dams

    Using Artificial Intelligence To Locate Risky Dams

    In the U.S., some 2,000 high hazard dams are in need of repairs. A project from the Columbia Water Center is helping to identify the most hazardous ones.

  • Oroville Dam Crisis is a Call to Action on U.S. Water Infrastructure

    Oroville Dam Crisis is a Call to Action on U.S. Water Infrastructure

    Columbia Water Center director Upmanu Lall suggests that we see the Oroville crisis as a call to action to evaluate and address the challenges facing the nation’s dam infrastructure.

  • Dammed Funding for U.S. Dams

    Dammed Funding for U.S. Dams

    Across the nation, large-scale water infrastructure such as dams have provided a multitude of services, from electric power and water reservoirs to flood control and containment of pollution. But federal investments in large water infrastructure projects have largely been curtailed over the past few decades.

  • Mapping Tool Lets Users Pinpoint Hazards Data

    Mapping Tool Lets Users Pinpoint Hazards Data

    The SEDAC Hazards Mapper is designed for disaster risk managers, humanitarian response organizations, public health professionals, journalists and others needing a quick assessment of the potential dangers posed by a major hazardous event or developing emergency.

  • Mekong Delta and Three Gorges Dam: World’s First Climate Change Resettlements?

    Mekong Delta and Three Gorges Dam: World’s First Climate Change Resettlements?

    Many resettlers are economically better off, but the dislocations remain significant, especially for older resettlers, who have a harder time getting work in the newly developed industrial sector. Although the plight of some resettlers has been quite difficult (one older man competed fiercely to serve as a porter for us for the royal sum of…

  • Managing Water in a Dry Land

    Managing Water in a Dry Land

    Since 2010, the Earth Institute’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society along with UNESCO and their colleagues in Chile have been working with Elqui’s water authority to help them use seasonal forecasts as way to better allocate water and prepare for droughts.

  • Safety Be Dammed: High-Risk Dams on the Rise

    Safety Be Dammed: High-Risk Dams on the Rise

    In the still hours just before midnight on March 12, 1928, thousands of people slumbered in the handful of agricultural communities nestled along the Santa Clara River in Ventura County, California. Tony Harnischfeger and his family slept quietly in a small house at the foot of the St. Francis Dam, a 195-foot high concrete gravity…