Memorial Day is rapidly approaching; and here in the Northeast, that is the traditional start of summer's season of fun in the sun. For many beach communities in Long Island and New Jersey, it will include an effort to demonstrate a measure of normalcy, and a sense of recovery. In...

Each year at this time, graduate students in the two sustainability and environmental masters programs I direct at Columbia present their capstone workshop projects, which they perform pro-bono as a service for public sector clients. This year, our sustainability management masters students conducted analyses for the New Jersey...

Visiting my summer home in Long Beach, New York this weekend, I once again came face to face with the aftermath of what we've come to call Superstorm Sandy. My neighbors continue to struggle to bring their lives back to normal. Many people have not returned home and many spend...

Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to Columbia University to help launch the university's new Center on Global Energy Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs. Mayor Bloomberg struck an important theme that is worth repeating. The Mayor persuasively argued that...

Like most people, I'm no longer surprised by the dysfunction and paralysis of our federal government. Fortunately, while political ideology trumps common sense in our nation's capital, communities and cities continue to make progress on our real problems. New York State and Connecticut have enacted tougher new gun control laws,...

I recognize that I do not see a random sample of young people by teaching graduate students in environmental policy and sustainability management at Columbia University. I also confess that my visit last week to Portland, Oregon to meet with sustainability management students at Willamette University is influencing my mindset....

As we struggle to develop a fossil fuel free economy, many thoughtful analysts look to nuclear power and think that there may be an off-the-shelf technology we can use to prevent climate change. Given the latest pair of nuclear waste leaks, it's time to look somewhere else. Someday there may...

I admit that I do not like the idea of the Keystone pipeline, and I am not crazy about hydraulic fracturing and deep sea oil drilling. But I do like a warm home in winter, recorded music in my living room and a fully charged smart phone. This makes it...

Green-washing, or environmental public relations has been with us for some time, and while a little skepticism is not a bad idea, there is no question that huge corporations from Apple to Walmart are paying more and more attention to their environmental impacts. In Apple's case, much of their sustainability...

Last week, President Obama proposed using $2 billion in gas and oil royalties to fund research into alternative methods of powering cars, trucks and buses. It looks good on the surface, but as David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists observed, it would take ten years to...

Technology has transformed our lives, freed most of us from the need to grow or gather our own food, and helped us build an economy and a way of life that could not have been imagined a century ago. But at the same time, technology threatens the planet and the...

Last week, Columbia's Earth Institute and its International Research Institute on Climate and Society hosted a panel discussion on climate adaptation in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I moderated the discussion which featured Dr. Lisa Goddard, director of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Dr. Adam Sobel,...

The issue of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas has become a major dilemma for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as he tries to decide if the state should lift the ban on fracking first put into place by Governor David Patterson. The issue has resulted in protests, lobbying and a...

For over three decades, from the Presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, to the mindless response to the State of the Union address by Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, America's government has been under relentless attack. I believe that the effectiveness of this attack is finally beginning to...

The ongoing discussions of distance learning are gaining in intensity, and I see a few signs that the sophistication of the discussion is growing. Distance learning is being presented as a low-cost way to disseminate information around the globe. I agree that Massive Open On-Line Courses (MOOCS) have an important...

Like many New Yorkers, I was saddened by the death of Mayor Ed Koch. I didn't always agree with him, but I always looked forward to hearing what he had to say. While it is not true that he "saved New York City," he played a big role in bringing...

According to New York Times reporter Julia Preston:

"A bipartisan group of senators has agreed on a set of principles for a sweeping overhaul of the immigration system, including a pathway to American citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants that would hinge on progress in securing the...

While it was heartening to see President Obama assert an aggressive approach to climate change and maintaining our social safety net during his inaugural address, there remains a strange dissonance to the political dialogue in Washington, an almost shocking sense of irrelevance as the real issues we face go undefined...

As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's third term draws to an end this year, it is imperative that whoever succeeds him as Mayor commits to maintaining the momentum behind New York City's sustainability initiatives. Mayoral leadership is at the heart of the progress that New York has made and...

All over this region middle class homeowners with houses damaged by Hurricane Sandy are struggling to rebuild their property and their lives. Last week's legislation provided $9.7 billion to cover insurance claims by homeowners. While government at all levels did an impressive job in the early stages...