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05/14/07

Climate Swings Have Brought Great CO2 Pulses Up From the Deep Sea

A study released on May 11, 2007 provides some of the first solid evidence that warming-induced changes in ocean circulation at the end of the last Ice Age caused vast quantities of ancient carbon dioxide to belch from the deep sea into the atmosphere. Scientists believe the carbon dioxide (CO2) releases helped propel the world into further warming.
05/09/07

Researchers From Around the World Converge on New York to Link Climate Change Science with Urban Policymaking Efforts

As cities around the world confront the urgent challenge of climate change, there is growing recognition that effective mitigation and adaptation policies must rely on sound scientific research and data. In an effort to facilitate and build the connections between science and policy, experts from academic and research institutions around the world have formed the Urban Climate Change Research Network, which will be officially launched at an international symposium held on May 10-11 at Columbia University.
04/24/07

First Successful Demonstration of Carbon Dioxide Air Capture Technology Achieved by Columbia University Scientist and Private Company

Global Research Technologies, LLC (GRT), a technology research and development company, and Klaus Lackner from Columbia University have achieved the successful demonstration of a bold new technology to capture carbon from the air. The "air extraction" prototype has successfully demonstrated that indeed carbon dioxide (CO2) can be captured from the atmosphere. This is GRT's first step toward a commercially viable air capture device.
04/13/07

Earth Institute Announces 2007-2008 Marie Tharp Fellows

The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce the 2007-2008 Marie Tharp Fellows -- four women who are making noteworthy contributions to the study of the natural world.
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04/06/07

New Study Shows Climate Change Likely to Lead to Periods of Extreme Drought in Southwest North America

The findings of a new study, appearing in Science, show that there is a broad consensus amongst climate models that the Southwest will dry significantly in the 21st Century and that the transition to a more arid climate may already be underway. If these models are correct, the levels of aridity of the recent multiyear drought, or the Dust Bowl and 1950s droughts, will, within the coming years to decades, become the new climatology of the American Southwest.
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03/29/07

New Research Analyzes Countries at Greatest Risk from Climate Change Impacts

The first global study to identify populations at greatest risk from rising sea levels and more intense cyclones as a result of climate change will be published in the peer-reviewed journal Environment and Urbanization. The study was conducted by scientists at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network and the International Institute for Environment and Development.
Al Gore and Jeff Sachs
02/06/07

Gore, Sachs Address Way Forward on Climate Change

On February 20, 2007, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore spoke to a packed house in Columbia's Low Library Rotunda to address the next steps needed to mitigate the global climate crisis.
02/20/07

Companies Lay Out Global Framework to Fight Climate Change

As a significant step toward tackling climate change, an unprecedented group of companies and organizations from around the world have endorsed a bold post-Kyoto framework for affecting change at the levels of policy and industry, particularly in regard to creating sustainable energy systems necessary for achieving economic growth.
flood
02/06/07

Climate Information Can Be Used to Improve Livelihoods in Vulnerable Populations, Says New Publication

In Africa, millions are affected by climate variability and its role in agriculture, disease and economic development, yet climate information often fails to reach them. The partners behind a new publication would like to change this.
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02/06/07

Mapping Poverty for Better Development Planning

Although Latin America has generally low infant mortality rates (which is a widely-used measure of poverty), this map shows the incidences are unevenly distributed throughout the region, exposing the relationship between patterns of human well-being and broader geographic constraints.
climate and society student
01/22/07

Q&A with Akong Charles Ndika, M.A. in Climate and Society Alumnus

A former energy and policy journalist from Cameroon talks about the impacts of climate on development and poverty alleviation, and how the M.A. program in Climate and Society at Columbia University became the best academic experience in his life
01/17/07

Sachs Visits Uganda With UK's Shadow Chancellor as Tories Pledge $1bn/year to Wipe Out Malaria

According to an article in the Guardian (UK), the Conservatives in the United Kingdom's government will unveil plans to spend $1bn a year on malaria treatment until the disease is eradicated worldwide. George Osborne, the UK's shadow chancellor, delivered the pledge at the end of his three-day visit to Uganda with Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute and leading development economist.