State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: In the News2

  • How to reduce weather risk (and make a little green)

    How to reduce weather risk (and make a little green)

    People understand that weather can affect certain markets — especially energy prices and other commodities — but its impact on portfolios more broadly might surprise. Just last week, a new study was released that estimated $485 billion of annual weather-related economic impact in the United States alone. Another calculated the effect at nearly 10 times that amount…

  • Can Big Earthquakes Disrupt World Weather?

    Can Big Earthquakes Disrupt World Weather?

    The recent earthquake in Japan shifted the earth’s axis by half a foot. You may be wondering if that’s enough to change earth’s weather. No, not really, says Jerry McManus, a climate scientist at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Earthquakes unleash a tremendous amount of energy, but not enough to upset the energy balance of earth’s…

  • Lessons from the Japan Earthquake

    Lessons from the Japan Earthquake

    The jolt in Japan stunned even scientists who’ve studied earthquakes all their lives.

  • New York Times Raises Concerns about Hydrofracking

    New York Times Raises Concerns about Hydrofracking

    An article in the New York Times has prompted debate over the effects of hydrofracking, a means of obtaining natural gas, on drinking water supplies.

  • In New York City, 2010 is All About the Water

    In New York City, 2010 is All About the Water

    Has New York City hit a critical mass that will make it truly a green city? I’m beginning to suspect so, at least in terms of water issues. There have been an increasing number of initiatives both to remediate past damage and to prevent future water quality problems, that are worth looking at together.

  • Another Superfund Site in New York City: Newtown Creek to Get a Makeover

    Another Superfund Site in New York City: Newtown Creek to Get a Makeover

    The March designation of the Gowanus Canal in New York City as a SuperFund clean up site was an important step forward, and is now being followed by another leap: on Monday Newtown Creek, which runs between Queens and Brooklyn received the same designation.

  • Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick

    Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick

    In the recent documentary Gasland, Josh Fox investigate the rapidly growing practice of hydraulic fracturing or “hydrofracking” that natural gas companies have developed to produce gas from underground shale deposits.

  • DRBC Gives Tentative Go Ahead to Fracking in PA — New York Skips the Meeting

    DRBC Gives Tentative Go Ahead to Fracking in PA — New York Skips the Meeting

    According to the Delaware River Basin Commission, over 15 million people—about five percent of the nation’s population—rely on the Delaware River Basin for “drinking, agricultural, and industrial use.” New York City alone gets half its water from reservoirs located on tributaries of the Delaware. It’s no understatement, then, to suggest that the commission—a regional body…

  • Cousteau explores the Gulf oil spill

    Well-known oceanographer and documentary filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau and his organization, Ocean Futures Society, made 2 trips to the Gulf to study the impact that the oil spill is having on marine and terrestrial life. Cousteau is known for being an ocean explorer and documentarian, and for being the son of Jacques Cousteau. In two interviews…

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.
  • How to reduce weather risk (and make a little green)

    How to reduce weather risk (and make a little green)

    People understand that weather can affect certain markets — especially energy prices and other commodities — but its impact on portfolios more broadly might surprise. Just last week, a new study was released that estimated $485 billion of annual weather-related economic impact in the United States alone. Another calculated the effect at nearly 10 times that amount…

  • Can Big Earthquakes Disrupt World Weather?

    Can Big Earthquakes Disrupt World Weather?

    The recent earthquake in Japan shifted the earth’s axis by half a foot. You may be wondering if that’s enough to change earth’s weather. No, not really, says Jerry McManus, a climate scientist at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Earthquakes unleash a tremendous amount of energy, but not enough to upset the energy balance of earth’s…

  • Lessons from the Japan Earthquake

    Lessons from the Japan Earthquake

    The jolt in Japan stunned even scientists who’ve studied earthquakes all their lives.

  • New York Times Raises Concerns about Hydrofracking

    New York Times Raises Concerns about Hydrofracking

    An article in the New York Times has prompted debate over the effects of hydrofracking, a means of obtaining natural gas, on drinking water supplies.

  • In New York City, 2010 is All About the Water

    In New York City, 2010 is All About the Water

    Has New York City hit a critical mass that will make it truly a green city? I’m beginning to suspect so, at least in terms of water issues. There have been an increasing number of initiatives both to remediate past damage and to prevent future water quality problems, that are worth looking at together.

  • Another Superfund Site in New York City: Newtown Creek to Get a Makeover

    Another Superfund Site in New York City: Newtown Creek to Get a Makeover

    The March designation of the Gowanus Canal in New York City as a SuperFund clean up site was an important step forward, and is now being followed by another leap: on Monday Newtown Creek, which runs between Queens and Brooklyn received the same designation.

  • Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick

    Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick

    In the recent documentary Gasland, Josh Fox investigate the rapidly growing practice of hydraulic fracturing or “hydrofracking” that natural gas companies have developed to produce gas from underground shale deposits.

  • DRBC Gives Tentative Go Ahead to Fracking in PA — New York Skips the Meeting

    DRBC Gives Tentative Go Ahead to Fracking in PA — New York Skips the Meeting

    According to the Delaware River Basin Commission, over 15 million people—about five percent of the nation’s population—rely on the Delaware River Basin for “drinking, agricultural, and industrial use.” New York City alone gets half its water from reservoirs located on tributaries of the Delaware. It’s no understatement, then, to suggest that the commission—a regional body…

  • Cousteau explores the Gulf oil spill

    Well-known oceanographer and documentary filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau and his organization, Ocean Futures Society, made 2 trips to the Gulf to study the impact that the oil spill is having on marine and terrestrial life. Cousteau is known for being an ocean explorer and documentarian, and for being the son of Jacques Cousteau. In two interviews…