The Earth Institute was established in 1995 to advance our understanding of Earth science and apply that knowledge to decisions made by governments and businesses around the world. A world leader in ...

Shahid Naeem and his team are unwavering when it comes to the need for preserving biodiversity; their motto is “Ecology with no apology.” The planet is facing its sixth mass extinction, which means ...

As a young undergraduate, Peter deMenocal once wandered the halls of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he met Charlie Hollister, a well-known and charismatic marine geologist. Charlie ...

The Millennium Villages project offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The Millennium Villages themselves are proving that by ...

To view the original story with images on the IRI website, please click here. Millions of people in the tropics depend on coconuts for food, raw materials and livelihood. Coconuts are also a high ...

Under the stewardship of the Earth Institute faculty, the Earth Institute moves beyond the usual academic boundaries to create a multidisciplinary approach to questions of Earth's sustainability.

Landslides kill at least a thousand people each year but because they are often triggered by earthquakes or heavy rains, the danger remains poorly understood. Scientists know less about landslides ...

Vijay Modi is a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and an Earth Institute faculty member. He also lead the UN Millennium Project effort on the role of energy and energy ...

Ruth DeFries examines human transformation of the landscape and its consequences for climate, biogeochemical cycling, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services that make our planet habitable. The ...

Earth Week, which takes place from April 18 to April 24, is a week dedicated to Earth and the environment and serves as a valuable tool in getting people involved in sustainability issues, among other ...

For ten years, scientists at Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), part of the Earth Institute, have worked behind the scenes to provide ...

Mark Cane has never been one to follow the status quo. After studying pure mathematics and what is now known as computer science at Harvard in the 60s, he took a hiatus from academia to work in New ...