State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Julia Apland Hitz

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  • What are the Keystone XL Pipeline Risks to Water Resources?

    What are the Keystone XL Pipeline Risks to Water Resources?

    One of the issues most passionately discussed now in the media and blogosphere is the KeystoneXL Pipeline proposal, to allow Canadian oil and gas company TransCanada to build a pipeline to transfer tar sands oil from Alberta to Texas. So what are the arguments?

  • In Dry Texas, Recycled Water Looks Better and Better

    In Dry Texas, Recycled Water Looks Better and Better

    As the drought in Texas continues with no end in sight, some cities are turning to innovative water alternatives in an attempt to maintain quality of life as they know it. The new mindset includes viewing waste water as an asset.

  • Water Problems Are Solvable: The International Water Forum at the UN

    Water Problems Are Solvable: The International Water Forum at the UN

    Water problems are solvable. None of the many challenges are outside of the ability of human-kind to respond and resolve. As with so many things, political will and money are needed, but the International Water Forum at the UN took it further; the general public has to understand and care before the political will and…

  • Water-Saving Project in Punjab, India Reaches Out to Farmers Through Cooperatives

    Water-Saving Project in Punjab, India Reaches Out to Farmers Through Cooperatives

    After working with over 500 farmers last year to conduct a field experiment on the use of tensiometers to reduce irrigation in rice fields, this year they will be working with about 5,000. As part of this expansion, our program partners at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) are working with Cooperative Societies, a network of…

  • Update: Youth-led Project H2O Continues to Inspire

    Update: Youth-led Project H2O Continues to Inspire

    We first reported about the project by a group of Puerto Rican high school students, Project H2O (Help to Others), and the documentary film about the project being made by the parents of one of the students, in August 2010. The students are continuing to develop Project H2O in their school, in an educational phase…

  • White Paper Release: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    White Paper Release: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    In honor of World Water Day, Columbia Water Center is releasing a new White Paper: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India. The paper presents the results of Columbia Water Center’s study of the severe groundwater crisis in the Mehsana region of Northern Gujarat, India. The study concludes that the current pattern of groundwater exploitation…

  • Finding Answers to the Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    Finding Answers to the Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    As explained in a recent blog post, falling groundwater levels in the Northern regions of the state of Gujarat, India, are reaching dramatically dangerous proportions.  Columbia Water Center (CWC), however, believes that there are numerous technologies and practices that could save significant amounts of water and energy.  Farmers have shown interest in applying them, but…

  • The Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    The Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    For more than three decades, the farmers in Northern Gujarat State, in India, have produced abundant food crops, and have had a thriving dairy industry. In order to make that happen, they have been using once plentiful underground water resources. Because local aquifers are being replenished more slowly than the water is being withdrawn, groundwater…

  • At AGU, Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center Adds to the Abundance of Scientific Riches

    At AGU, Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center Adds to the Abundance of Scientific Riches

    The annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting is an all-you-can-eat buffet of the most current scientific knowledge available on the planet. Name your pleasure: space, climate change, geomagnetism, nonlinear geophysics, volcanology, biogeosciences, etc. You have to be careful to indulge in moderation over the five-day event, or risk unseemly bloating. The Columbia Water Center contributed…

  • What are the Keystone XL Pipeline Risks to Water Resources?

    What are the Keystone XL Pipeline Risks to Water Resources?

    One of the issues most passionately discussed now in the media and blogosphere is the KeystoneXL Pipeline proposal, to allow Canadian oil and gas company TransCanada to build a pipeline to transfer tar sands oil from Alberta to Texas. So what are the arguments?

  • In Dry Texas, Recycled Water Looks Better and Better

    In Dry Texas, Recycled Water Looks Better and Better

    As the drought in Texas continues with no end in sight, some cities are turning to innovative water alternatives in an attempt to maintain quality of life as they know it. The new mindset includes viewing waste water as an asset.

  • Water Problems Are Solvable: The International Water Forum at the UN

    Water Problems Are Solvable: The International Water Forum at the UN

    Water problems are solvable. None of the many challenges are outside of the ability of human-kind to respond and resolve. As with so many things, political will and money are needed, but the International Water Forum at the UN took it further; the general public has to understand and care before the political will and…

  • Water-Saving Project in Punjab, India Reaches Out to Farmers Through Cooperatives

    Water-Saving Project in Punjab, India Reaches Out to Farmers Through Cooperatives

    After working with over 500 farmers last year to conduct a field experiment on the use of tensiometers to reduce irrigation in rice fields, this year they will be working with about 5,000. As part of this expansion, our program partners at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) are working with Cooperative Societies, a network of…

  • Update: Youth-led Project H2O Continues to Inspire

    Update: Youth-led Project H2O Continues to Inspire

    We first reported about the project by a group of Puerto Rican high school students, Project H2O (Help to Others), and the documentary film about the project being made by the parents of one of the students, in August 2010. The students are continuing to develop Project H2O in their school, in an educational phase…

  • White Paper Release: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    White Paper Release: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    In honor of World Water Day, Columbia Water Center is releasing a new White Paper: Addressing the Water Crisis in Gujarat, India. The paper presents the results of Columbia Water Center’s study of the severe groundwater crisis in the Mehsana region of Northern Gujarat, India. The study concludes that the current pattern of groundwater exploitation…

  • Finding Answers to the Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    Finding Answers to the Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    As explained in a recent blog post, falling groundwater levels in the Northern regions of the state of Gujarat, India, are reaching dramatically dangerous proportions.  Columbia Water Center (CWC), however, believes that there are numerous technologies and practices that could save significant amounts of water and energy.  Farmers have shown interest in applying them, but…

  • The Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    The Worsening Water Crisis in Gujarat, India

    For more than three decades, the farmers in Northern Gujarat State, in India, have produced abundant food crops, and have had a thriving dairy industry. In order to make that happen, they have been using once plentiful underground water resources. Because local aquifers are being replenished more slowly than the water is being withdrawn, groundwater…

  • At AGU, Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center Adds to the Abundance of Scientific Riches

    At AGU, Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center Adds to the Abundance of Scientific Riches

    The annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting is an all-you-can-eat buffet of the most current scientific knowledge available on the planet. Name your pleasure: space, climate change, geomagnetism, nonlinear geophysics, volcanology, biogeosciences, etc. You have to be careful to indulge in moderation over the five-day event, or risk unseemly bloating. The Columbia Water Center contributed…