State of the Planet

One year ago, I summited Mera Peak—21,250 feet above sea level—in the Himalayas to raise funds for Wild Tomorrow, a conservation organization working to restore endangered ecosystems and protect wildlife in South Africa. What began as a physical challenge quickly turned into a deeply personal reflection on identity, belonging and the freedom to be wild—in nature and in ourselves. The author on the summit of Mera Peak in Nepal at 5:30 a.m. local time on Oct. 14, 2025.

Credit: mtreasure / iStock Adapted from an Office of Public Affairs press release. Plastics are supposed to be chemically inert. It’s the reason they’re used so frequently to package food, bottle water and create children’s toys. But something important happens when a large piece of plastic fragments into micro and nanoparticles: its surface area increases dramatically relative to its volume. Vastly more of the material is now exposed to its surroundings.

This piece was originally published by Columbia Engineering. On Tuesday, September 22, the Columbia Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy (LCSE) held a symposium, “Sustainable Energy, Resource and Environmental Solutions.” The event consisted of two expert panels from government, industry, finance and academia who shared their insights into two of the United States’ most important industries: mining and energy.

Last year’s COP30 in Belém, Brazil, was deliberately framed as the “COP of Implementation.” It represented a shift from national declarations toward tangible action, establishing an Action Agenda with specific objectives including tripling renewables and ensuring universal energy access.

Five scientists affiliated with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have received major honors from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) this year, recognizing their contributions to our understanding of the structure of the ocean floor, deep Earth processes and sea-level change, dust and paleoclimate, the ocean carbon cycle, and the physics of Earth’s deep interior.

Credit: peeterv / iStock Researchers tracked air pollution at 15 monitoring sites across New York City during the first year of the country’s first congestion pricing program. Fine particulate pollution inside the congestion zone fell about 13 percent beyond what regional trends, weather and year-to-year variability would predict. The decline closely matched the roughly 11 percent drop in vehicles entering the zone, though pollution had already been falling citywide for other reasons.

Every month, researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other parts of the Columbia Climate School publish work that deepens our understanding of the planet. This month, we wrote about the impact of livestock on Madagascar’s native animals, robot sailboats in the Southern Ocean, New York City’s $300 million methane problem and how extreme heat is spreading beyond summer. Here are additional studies by our researchers that are worth noting. Dense smog blankets Metro Manila skyline.

Join us at Open House on Saturday, Oct. 17 to explore the world-class research facilities at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, NY, just outside of New York City. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lamont will open its doors to the public for this exciting day of science and discovery.

Fires rage in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015-2016 El Niño season. Credit: Rini Sulaiman/Creative Commons. News outlets are running out of ways to explain the intensity of this year’s El Niño, but the basic facts are clear enough: this winter, the temperature of the water in the tropical Pacific Ocean is expected to reach 3.38 degrees Celsius above average.

Students are often taught that rigorous scientific research can only be conducted by Ph.D. scientists after years of specialized training. But the truth is that are all scientists. Even the youngest learners perform their own small experiments every day, testing ideas and drawing conclusions. Encouraging students to apply scientific methods and inquiry to real problems can help demonstrate that contributing to research doesn’t require expert status or credentials.