http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu Thu, 23 May 2013 05:44:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/16/roads-an-essential-element-of-development/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/16/roads-an-essential-element-of-development/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 18:43:45 +0000 Center for International Earth Science Information Network http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36427 Roads data is critical to planning and development of rural transportation in developing countries, where better transportation systems can help improve livelihoods.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/16/roads-an-essential-element-of-development/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/15/of-cow-dung-cook-stoves-and-sustainability-in-practice/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/15/of-cow-dung-cook-stoves-and-sustainability-in-practice/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 15:35:02 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36585 When the Environmental Defense Fund asked me to measure how biogas cook stoves were changing the lives of farmers in rural India, there wasn’t a word in that question with which I was comfortable. Having just graduated from the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development, I had never done fieldwork; and the concept of a biogas digester, which turns cow dung into natural gas through anaerobic digestion, was itself a mystery. I had no idea that this was the beginning of a steep learning curve into low-carbon development at a large scale. But even more, that it would provide a window into the lives of families whose existences have permanently improved thanks to the clean cooking stoves.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/15/of-cow-dung-cook-stoves-and-sustainability-in-practice/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/17/human-geography-volcanoes-microgrids-and-more/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/17/human-geography-volcanoes-microgrids-and-more/#comments Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:59:22 +0000 David Funkhouser http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=35714 Interested in Human geography, undersea volcanoes, microgrids, climate change and melting ice sheets, technology and sustainability? The coming week's lineup of Earth Institute events has you covered.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/17/human-geography-volcanoes-microgrids-and-more/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/10/with-1000-days-left-to-reach-mdgs-a-look-back-and-forward/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/10/with-1000-days-left-to-reach-mdgs-a-look-back-and-forward/#comments Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:50:26 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=35501 The 1,000-day milestone to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) gathered professors Jeffrey Sachs, Prabhjot Singh, and Vijay Modi on April 4 for the Sustainable Development Seminar Series to take a critical look at how far the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) has come in the eight years since its founding and analyze what still needs to be accomplished.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/10/with-1000-days-left-to-reach-mdgs-a-look-back-and-forward/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/09/bright-lights-big-city/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/09/bright-lights-big-city/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:44:29 +0000 Center for International Earth Science Information Network http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=35469 Researchers using nighttime lights data to ask questions about economic development in sub-Saharan Africa have findings counter to expectation.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/04/09/bright-lights-big-city/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/keeping-track-the-state-of-the-planet/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/21/keeping-track-the-state-of-the-planet/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:46:40 +0000 David Funkhouser http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=34030 Watch highlights of last October's "State of the Planet" summit, which brought experts together to discuss the challenges of sustainable development, climate change and the environment, as well as some of the solutions.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/02/21/keeping-track-the-state-of-the-planet/feed/ 0 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