Earth Institute News Archive
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12/22/04
Earth Institute Supports Training Women to Battle Disease in Ethiopia
26,000 Women Training to Teach Disease
Prevention to Underserved Rural Communities
Some Ethiopians endure dust storms and midday sun while walking to health clinics for treatment of diseases devastating Ethiopia that are preventable but fatal, such as malaria, typhoid, AIDS, and malnutrition. The Earth Institute has created the Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia to provide support for a program that will put health care within reach of 12 million Ethiopians.
12/22/04
Panel Series on NYC Public Waste, Public
Health and Public Transport Finds Problems Intersect
Earth Institute experts discussed the 26,000 tons of garbage that New York City produces every day, and methods for its disposal that would lessen the impact on asthma sufferers in Harlem.
12/13/04
Michael
Crichton’s State of Confusion
Earth Institute climate scientist
Gavin Schmidt responds to inaccuracies in Michael Crichton's new
novel (reposted from RealClimate.org)
Michael Crichton’s new novel “State of Fear” is about a self-important NGO hyping the science of the global warming to further the ends of evil eco-terrorists. The inevitable conclusion of the book is that global warming is a non-problem. A lesson for our times maybe? Schmidt thinks not. more
12/13/04
Earth Institute Scientists Present New Research to the American Geophysical Union, December 2004
Presentations on global poverty mapping, climate change, seismic activity in Italy, and arsenic are just a few of the topics being presented by Earth Institute scientists at the annual American Geophysical Union.
12/08/04
Scientists Harness Energy from Urban Waste
The timing of an international conference on waste management was held just as the Bloomberg administration announced its 20-year plan to deal with New York City's residential waste by shipping the bulk of it elsewhere by barge and promoting more recycling. Both the announcement and the conference raised a host of environmental, intra-government and other concerns.
12/06/04
Columbia Team Shows How Stratospheric Conditions Affect Weather
Three members of Columbia’s Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics have used a simple climate model to demonstrate how the weather systems and storms we experience may be influenced by disturbances in the Earth’s stratosphere, the upper layer of atmosphere between 10 and 30 miles high.
11/29/04
The
Anslope Expedition: Cruising the Antarctic
"A lot has happened since the last report three weeks ago. We visited the New Zealand port of Timaru to refuel the ship and then headed back south towards Antarctica. During our third crossing the usual strong winds and high seas caused the by now well-known seasickness."
11/23/04
Missed Opportunities for Economic and Community Development in the Dominican Republic
Lenora Suki, Associate Director at the Earth Institute at Columbia University’s Center for Globalization and Sustainable Development, has completed an evaluation of financial institutions that channel remittances between immigrants in the United States to their friends and family in the Dominican Republic.
11/18/04
Ford Award Honors Carbon Cycle Pioneer
Taro Takahashi, a geochemist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was presented the Ford Award in recognition of his contribution to understanding what happens to industrial CO2. download pdf
11/11/04
Reducing
Trace Gases is Key to Halting Dangerous Human-induced Contributions
to Global Warming
Researchers suggest that reductions of trace gases may allow stabilization of climate so that additional global warming would be less than 1° C, a level needed to maintain global coastlines. Although carbon dioxide emissions, an inherent product of fossil fuel use, must also be slowed, the required carbon dioxide reduction is much more feasible if trace gases decrease.
11/12/04
Reports
From the Field: Cruising the Antarctic
Three days ago we left our first working area near the Mertz Glacier Tongue. Since then we have again been steaming across the Southern Ocean. Luckily it showed its calmer side.
COMMENTARY 11/10/04
Our Energy Future: Learning on the Job
If China's increasing demand for oil to fuel its industrialization is the reason we are getting beaten up at the gas pumps now, get ready for a pummeling in the next few decades. The time for an action plan is now, and long overdue.
11/08/04
Reports
From the Field: Antarctic Topography
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there is a ridge that sticks up from the bottom 1000-2000m. This is the mid-Atlantic Ridge, where two continental plates are moving apart at about 2-3 inches per year, which is about as fast as your fingernails grow.
11/02/04
New Study Reveals Hidden Pattern in Genetics of Indian Elephant Populations
The first population genetic study of free-ranging Asian elephant populations has unexpectedly revealed that elephants in Southern India evolved into two genetically distinct groups thousands of years ago.
COMMENTARY 10/26/04
James
E. Hansen, Director of the Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, Speaks Out on Climate Change
"I have been told by a high government official that I should not talk about 'dangerous anthropogenic interference' with climate, because we do not know how much humans are changing the Earth’s climate or how much change is 'dangerous.' Actually, we know quite a lot."
10/29/04
Earth Institute's Earth Clinic Opens for Business
The Earth Institute's Earth Clinic provides prescriptions to developing countries to relieve immediate economic and environmental problems and put them on a path of sustainable development. The Earth Clinic will address the many requests from presidents, prime ministers, and ministers of finance, environment, health, agriculture, among others, for science-based assistance to extremely urgent issues of economic development, public health, energy systems, water management, agriculture and infrastructure.
10/29/04
Global Natural Disaster Hotspots
Earth Institute project assesses disasters
and risks to increase investment
A unique collaborative project assessing
natural disasters and the risks to human populations and economic activity
will provide a quantitative basis for risk-conscious investments in
sustainable development worldwide. The final report, “Global
Natural Disaster Risk Hotspots,” will be published by The
World Bank this winter.
REPORT FROM THE FIELD 10/25/04
The Anslope Expedition: Battling Rough Seas
Gerd Krahmann, research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, writes from the seas around Antarctica: "With everything safely tied to tables, walls and floors the huge waves were not able to cause any problems for our equipment. Unfortunately, this could not be said for the stomachs of some of us."
10/20/04
New Technical Support Centre Puts Theories into Practice
Enacting Millennium Development Goals to Reduce Global Poverty by Half
The Millennium Project has kicked into high gear with only a few months remaining until final recommendations are due to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in January 2004.
10/07/04
Drought in the West Linked to Warmer Temperatures
Historical study shows elevated aridity in periods of warming
Severe drought in western states in recent years may be linked to climate warming trends, according to new research, led by scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, to be published in the journal Science.
10/07/04
Scientists Reconstruct the History of Drought for North America
Not enough is know about what triggers major droughts, yet they occur all across North America often having greater economic and social impacts than any other type of natural disaster. Researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have used 835 annual tree-ring chronologies based on measurements from 20- to 30-thousand tree samples across the United States, Mexico, and parts of Canada to reconstruct a history of drought over the last 2005 years.
10/01/04
Through Ants and Plants, CU Undergrads Explore
the Frontiers of Science
For the first time in the history of the University, undergrads are being taught a core curriculum science class. For part of the class, 550 undergrads will fan out into Manhattan green areas to collect data about urban biodiversity that has never been collected before.
10/01/04
Students From Five Continents Begin Ph.D. in Sustainable Development Program
Many of the most important policy challenges facing the planet require a central focus on sustainability and development. Columbia University’s new Ph.D. in Sustainable Development program began this fall with six students from five continents and backgrounds in economics, environmental studies, chemistry and international development.
10/01/04
New Ship Promises to Unveil Secrets of Our Planet
The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has purchased a new research vessel to replace the Lamont-operated R/V Maurice Ewing, which has accumulated well over half a million miles of track in its service to science and exploration of ocean and deep Earth processes. Following a year-long outfitting with modern laboratories and scientific equipment, she will become the most capable academic research vessel utilizing acoustic and seismic technologies in the world.
09/30/04
Modeling
StormsIRI scientist maps hurricane probabilities
The birth of a hurricane requires the right combination of ocean water temperature and wind patterns. Suzana Camargo, a research scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) uses this atmospheric data to create experimental hurricane forecasts that can be used to identify year-to-year variations, and ultimately develop tools to predict seasonal hurricane landfall probabilities.
09/09/04
Earth Institute Receives
$4.2 M Grant to Break Down Barriers and Increase the Ranks of
Women in Earth Sciences and EngineeringThe National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Earth Institute at Columbia University a five-year $4.2 M ADVANCE Program grant to test methods to help women overcome barriers to advancing their careers in Earth sciences and engineering and making it into the ranks of tenured professors and senior research scientists.
09/09/04
Less
Than 0.7 Percent of Rich-country GNP Could Spring Africa From
Poverty Trap
Brookings report discusses cause of African poverty and calculates costs to address it
The United States and other rich countries have not delivered the promised foreign aid necessary to help many African countries escape grinding poverty, according to the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (August 2004.) The authors calculate the necessary amount to be less than 0.7 percent of the rich world's GNP.
09/09/04
Geologist
Ascends Peaks and Dives to the Ocean Floor, Looking for Secrets
of Earth's Crust
As a geologist, Peter Kelemen, who was recently appointed the Arthur Storke Memorial Professor of Geochemistry at Columbia University, has ascended to 7,500 meters on a Himalayan peak and plummeted into the Atlantic to 5,500 meters. He has worked as a consultant on mineral exploration projects where the terrain was too steep for average geologists. He has traveled via snowmobile, helicopter and climbing rope, all in the pursuit of secrets of the Earth's crust.
08/31/04
Ethiopian Meteorologist
Wins Prestigious Scholarship to Attend Columbia's New Master's
Program in Climate and SocietyDiriba Korecha Dadi, team leader of the weather forecast and early warning unit at the National Meteorological Services Agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, arrived at Columbia this week to take part in the first class of Columbia University's new M.A. Program in Climate and Society on a Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship.
08/26/04
Earth Institute Supports Accelerated Expansion of Health System for Ethiopia
Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia to boost government capacity
In the summer of 2004 Professor Awash Teklehaimanot, a health expert with the Earth Institute at Columbia University and member of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development, launched the Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia, a project of the Earth Institute in support of accelerated expansion of primary health care facilities in Ethiopia.
08/12/04
São
Tomé Set to Vote on Unprecedented Oil Revenue Laws
With its parliament set to vote in the next few weeks on tough new anti-corruption laws, São Tomé and Príncipe could avoid the “resource curse” that plagues many low-income oil exporters, whose newfound wealth often triggers corruption and social conflict. more
08/12/04
Nature:
Promiscuous Partnerships on Coral Reefs May Help Them Survive Climate Change
Scientists discover shifts to heat-tolerant algae may safeguard devastated reefs from extinction
Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and other groups have discovered that coral reefs nearly wiped out by climate change are recovering with unusual heat-resistant algae that may help protect them from future warming. more
08/04/04
How
Global Warming Causes More Bad Air Days
While researchers at Columbia's New York Climate and Health Project (NYCHP) were investigating the health impacts of climate change in the New York metropolitan region, they were simultaneously collaborating on a national report using their innovative modelling and prediction techniques. The national report, released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council, is called Heat Advisory: How Global Warming Causes More Bad Air Days.
08/04/04
Columbia
University Investigator Receives NASA Grant to Map Carbon in Eastern Atlantic
Waters
As part of its mission to fund scientific research that will provide a global census of various forms and quantities of carbon and the natural and manmade factors that regulate carbon, NASA recently announced a $671,000 grant to Ajit Subramaniam, a Doherty Associate Research Scientist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
07/23/04
Jobs
Offshored for Cost Savings and Quality
Forty-five companies known for sending work outside of their own employee base for completion, surveyed by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, show that 82 percent are currently outsourcing jobs, 79 percent to offshore businesses. The majority not only report finding competitive prices but better work skills than at home. Seventy percent of those who outsourced reported that the quality of outsourced business processes had increased between 5 to 25 percent.
07/23/04
Drilling for Specimens in the Juan de Fuca Ridge
While the volume of water flowing through the mid-ocean ridge is believed to be the same magnitude as the water entering the oceans from all the world's rivers, virtually nothing is known about the chemicals and bacteria it contains, or how this system works. Many scientists believe that Earth’s first organisms may have originated at locations like the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The scientific drillship JOIDES Resolution left Astoria, Oregon on June 27, 2004 for a two-month drilling expedition on the east ridge of the Juan de Fuca Ridge (known as IODP Expedition 301) to capture sample fluids that may contain new microbes and sediment that will help scientists better understand this system.
07/15/04
From
Bumblebees in San Francisco’s Urban Parks to Living With Leopards In
The Himalayas - The 2004 Meeting of The Society For Conservation Biology
Focuses on Conservation in an Urbanizing WorldFreeway-hopping bobcats and urban forest restoration will be among the many topics discussed at the 2004 annual meeting of the Society of Conservation Biology held in New York City from July 30 to August 2nd. The meeting, hosted by the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, will bring together more than 1,700 scientists, conservation biology practitioners, and students from around the world to focus on this year’s theme “Conservation in the Urbanizing World.”
07/07/04
New
Map of Antarctica's Lake Vostok Reveals Two Distinct Parts, With Possibly
Differing Ecosystems
Deep in the Antarctic interior, buried under thousands of meters (more than two miles) of ice, lies Lake Vostok, the world's largest subglacial lake. Scientists believe that the waters of Lake Vostok have not been disturbed for hundreds of thousands of years, and there are tantalizing clues that microbes, isolated for at least as long, may exist. more
07/07/04
UN
Secretary-General Calls for 21st Century African Green Revolution
Scientists Say Technology to End Hunger in Africa is Ready for Deployment
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the launch of a "twenty-first century African Green Revolution" to end chronic hunger on the continent. Speaking at a special meeting of African heads of state and leading policymakers organized by the Ethiopian Government and the Hunger Task Force of the UN Millennium Project, Annan noted that, "Africa is the only continent where child malnutrition is getting worse rather than better." more
06/28/04
African
Governments and United Nations Leaders to Announce Action Plans to Cut Hunger
in Africa
Two hundred million of the world's hungry live in Africa. Recognizing that a "business as usual" approach will not significantly reduce hunger, on July 5, 2005, an extraordinary gathering of African Heads of State, government ministers, world leaders and hunger experts will focus on practical, innovative solutions to halve the number of hungry and malnourished people in Africa by 2015.
06/18/04
New
Observations on Shape of Ocean Mountain Ranges Turn an Old Idea Upside Down
What causes the peaks and valleys of the world’s great mountains? For continental ranges like the Appalachians or the Northwest’s Cascades, the geological picture is clearer. Continents crash or volcanoes erupt, then glaciers erode away. Yet scientists are still puzzling out what makes the highs high and the lows low for the planet’s largest mountain chain, the 55,000-mile-long Mid-Ocean Ridge.
06/15/04
Earth
Institute Scientist Awarded for Revolutionary Contributions to Soil Research
The University of Guelph, a renowned research institution in Canada, has awarded Pedro Sanchez, Director of Tropical Agriculture at the Earth Institute, an honorary Doctor of Science for his breakthrough research in tropical soil.
06/11/04
New
Yorkers’ Health Will Be Affected by Climate Change, New Study Shows New York will be hotter in the future, and some New Yorkers could be sicker as a result, according to a study to be released at an event on June 25th hosted by The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. The study, involving three years of research by Columbia’s New York Climate and Health Project (NYCHP), investigated the health impacts of climate change scenarios in the region. On Friday June 25, the authors will launch the study with a summary and workshop on its major findings.
06/11/04
Fifty-Two
Thousand Years of Marine Fertility Sheds New Light on Forces Behind Climate
Change
For years, researchers have examined climate records indicating that millennial-scale climate cycles have linked the high latitudes of the Northern hemisphere and the subtropics of the North Pacific Ocean. What forces this linkage, however, has been a topic of considerable debate.
06/03/04
Tree-Ring
Laboratory Receives $5.5 Million to Study Climate Dynamics
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Tree-Ring Laboratory of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, a $5.5 million grant to study one of the largest climate systems affecting the globe - the Asian monsoon climate system. This five-year study will apply the science of tree-ring analysis (dendrochronology) and its application to the study of past climate to key questions regarding the processes that drive the development of the monsoon and its various characteristics through different regions.
05/21/04
$15 Million Gift to Columbia University Ties Economics to the Environment
In a letter to the Columbia University community this week, President Lee C. Bollinger announced a gift of $15 million from University Trustee Gerry Lenfest (Law'58) to the Earth Institute at Columbia. Provided through the Lenfest Foundation, the gift will endow the first Earth Institute professorship, promote sustainable development, and advance solutions to two of the most pressing problems of our time: global climate change and acute global poverty.
05/14/04
Could
Global Warming Mean Less Sunshine and Less Rainfall?
From 1960 to 1990, scientists have observed a 1.3% per decade decline in the amount of sun reaching the Earth’s surface. This phenomenon, coined “solar dimming,” is due to changes in clouds and air pollution that are impeding the sun's ability to penetrate. Scientists believe that the combination of growing quantities of man-made aerosol particles in the atmosphere and more moisture have caused the cloud cover to thicken.
05/06/04
Marine
Scientists Discover New Undersea Volcano in Antarctica
After careful examination of data, an international team of scientists confirmed yesterday the existence of a major undersea volcano on the seafloor of the Antarctic Sound, near the northern-most tip of Antarctica. Scientists announced their discovery yesterday from the Research Vessel L. M. Gould which has been struggling through ice-covered seas in the Antarctic. The team is led by Hamilton College's Eugene Domack and includes Gerd Krahmann from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. (Krahmann is part of the CORC/ARCHES expedition and has written about this trip in his Reports From the Field.)
04/30/04
Earthquakes
and the Ramapo Fault System in Southeastern New York State
This fact sheet is intended to provide a concise summary of the state of knowledge about the Ramapo Fault System and earthquakes in the greater New York City metropolitan area. The Ramapo Fault System is part of the largest seismically active province in this region.
04/26/04
A new report to be released at Columbia University's Earth Institute on April 26, 2004 suggests that heart disease and stroke are far more urgent threats to global health than commonly appreciated. download pdf of report
04/22/04
Reports
From the Field: The Antarctic CORC/ARCHES Expedition
Dr. Gerd Krahmann of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is aboard the Research Vessel Laurence M. Gould heading to Antarctic's Weddell Sea. Krahmann is leading a group of five scientists and technicians from Lamont on an expedition to replace moored instruments deployed in the Weddell Sea.
04/14/04
How
Long Can Earth Continue to Sustain the Human Race?It took all of history until the year 1804 for human population to reach its first billion. Now a billion new people are added every dozen years. NOVA explores these and other trends in the relationship between people and the planet in World in the Balance, with interviews with Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, and Joel Cohen, director of the Laboratory of Populations at the Earth Institute and Rockefeller University. This two-hour Earth Day special, airing Tuesday, April 20, 2004, from 8 to 10pm ET on PBS (check local listings).
04/14/04
By
Looking Back, Scientists See a Bright Future for Climate Change Forecasting
For scientists studying climate change, the past is often a key to understanding the future. Dake Chen at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory recently used more than a century of climate data to successfully test an improved model of ENSO, the El-Niño/Southern Oscillation that scientists believe is behind climate change in many parts of the world. more
04/01/04
State
of the Planet 2004 Conference: Best Practices Into Action
Over 1,000 students, scientists, policymakers and experts attended the State of the Planet 2004 conference, held at Columbia University. More than 50 leading scientists and policymakers, like Mary Robinson (pictured at right), worked to prioritize the best scientific practices and most urgent needs for investment in the areas of energy, food, water, and health.
• read highlights from Day 1 speakers
03/23/04
Columbia-supported
HIV/AIDS Initiative in Rwanda Gains SpeedTen years after the genocide in Rwanda, Columbia University is working closely with the Government of Rwanda and its partners to expand what is rapidly becoming one of the most successful HIV/AIDS initiatives on the continent. The Earth Institute at Columbia and the Mailman School of Public Health are supporting this initiative jointly.
03/17/04
Kenyan
AIDS Orphans Pass National Exam with the Help of School LunchEarlier this month a remarkable thing happened: all the 33 pupils from a primary school in Kenya who sat for the national exams passed. More remarkable still, half of the winners are AIDS orphans. The headmistress attributed this amazing success in part to the school lunch program she initiated through voluntary contributions of farmers in the community.
03/12/04
Are
Earthquakes Related?Finding the epicenter of earthquakes has not changed since the 1930s, and this method can result in errors of several miles. But seismologists David P. Schaff and Paul G. Richards, from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Earth Institute, have developed a method that increases scientists' ability to pinpoint an earthquake's epicenter, resulting in new findings in earthquake patterns in China.
03/08/04
Earth
Institute Experts and President of Iceland Discuss Changing Polar Environments To foster discussion on changes in the polar regions, and in preperation for the planning of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute held a meeting of polar experts that was presided over by Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, on Arctic and Antarctic issues that have both local and global impacts.
Researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Earth Institute, are participating in an ambitious effort to organize the International Polar Year scheduled in 2007-2008. Dr. Robin Bell, a Doherty Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and a vice chair of the International Council of Scientific Unions, the organization that is spearheading international support and participating in this program, is quoted in an article by the journal Science. read article download pdf of article
02/20/04
Earth
Institute Fights Poverty Worldwide
Scientists target hunger, malaria, economic development
Directed by Columbia economists Nirupam Bajpai and Jeffrey Sachs, the Gujarat project is just one example of how harnessing science to fight global poverty lies at the core of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
02/16/04
NASA
and Columbia University Find Common Research Areas in Sustainable Development
A one-day workshop hosted by Earth Institute and Columbia scientists explored research areas NASA has developed to sustain human life during long space missions - research that could prove life-saving to populations with no access to potable water, proper drainage or sewage systems.
02/05/04
Hudson
River Estuary Enters Middle Age The Hudson River Estuary, a stretch of the Hudson River from Troy, N.Y. to its mouth in New York Harbor, has begun a new stage of its life say geologists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. Researchers at both institutions have found that, aside from a few very specific locations, the estuary may have largely stopped filling in with new sediment.
02/05/04
Earth
Institute Fellows Address Questions of Sustainable Development
While modern society likes to think of itself as scientifically and technologically advanced, there are many questions critical to our survival that still can't be answered. The traditional academic fields helped develop the world we live in, and along with the wonders of the modern age, created the problems of environmental degradation. Unless we learn a lot more in a hurry, the way we live today will not be sustained in the future. That is the philosophy behind a new post-doctoral program at Columbia University called the Earth Institute Fellows that is trying to mobilize the sciences and policy to achieve a sustainable future, especially for the poor.
02/05/04
New York City Sustainable Development Initiative Launched
Last month the Earth Institute convened about a dozen senior scientists to explore projects central to the Institute's mission to achieve sustainable development, especially for the poor. Former Mayor David Dinkins chaired the discussion which focused on the idea of an Earth Institute New York City Sustainable Development Initiative. The session was hosted by Steve Cohen, director of the Earth Institute's educational programs, along with Jeff Sachs.
02/05/04
Earth
Institute Convenes State of the Planet Conference; Will Bring World Science
and Policy Experts on March 29-30 to Discuss Sustainable Development Working to link global decision-making to the best of sustainability science, the Earth Institute at Columbia University will convene the third biennial State of the Planet conference on March 29 - 30, 2004. The conference will bring together an international roster of influential and innovative thinkers on issues critical to the well-being of the Earth and its inhabitants - specifically energy, food, water, and health.
01/27/04
National
Garbage Survey Highlights Opportunities for Americans to Move from being
Waste-Full to Waste-Wise Landfills continue to be the final resting spot for most of America's waste, according to the results of the national "State of Garbage in America" survey conducted by BioCycle magazine and the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University, a unit of the Earth Institute.
01/07/04
Links
Between Erosion, Runoff Variability And Seismicity In The Taiwan Orogen
Results from one of the most comprehensive studies of erosion of the earth's surface have revealed the detailed spatial pattern of erosion in the Taiwan mountain belt. The findings, recently reported in NATURE, provide evidence that mountain erosion can be directly related to large earthquakes and storms. Taiwan is one of the most rapidly eroding mountain belts on earth, with average erosion rates of 3-6 mm per year and extreme rates of 60 mm per year in some areas of weak rock that have recently experienced large earthquakes and storms.
01/05/04
Columbia
and Harvard University Researchers Conduct Study on Toxic Exposures in
Urban Environments
Columbia University researchers have found that steel dust generated in the New York City subway significantly increases the total amount of airborne iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and chromium (Cr) that riders breathe. The airborne levels of these metals associated with fine particulate matter in the subway environment were observed to be more than 100 times greater than levels observed in home indoor or outdoor settings in New York City. Their research findings are scheduled to appear in the January 15th issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.