The Center for Climate and Life is a multidisciplinary

climate science Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stud ...

research initiative based at

Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is the scientific research center of the Columbia Climate School, and a unit of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. It focuses on climate and earth sciences and is located on a 189-acre (64 h ...

(LDEO), a research unit of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Center research focuses on how

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

affects access to basic resources such as food, water, shelter and energy. The center's founder and director is Peter B. de Menocal, a

paleoclimatologist Paleoclimatology (American and British English spelling differences, British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the ...

and Columbia University dean of science in the faculty of arts and sciences.

History

Columbia University provided the Center for Climate and Life an initial budget $3.1 million for its first five years of operation. The center is aimed to engage corporate philanthropists to support its research initiatives. Through private funding and partnerships, it aims to build an endowment, which will be used to distribute annual grants to center scientists. In April 2016, the Center for Climate and Life partnered with the

World Surf League The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional ...

(WSL). The philanthropic arm of the organization, WSL PURE, contributed $1.5 million to the center to fund five

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

projects on the topics of ocean health and

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH value of the Earth’s ocean. Between 1751 and 2021, the average pH value of the ocean surface has decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14. The root cause of ocean acidification is carbon dioxid ...

sea-level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryo ...

, and the role the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

s play in climate change.

Areas of emphasis

Center for Climate and Life initiatives focus on five areas: *

Food security Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...

* Water availability * Shelter * Sustainable energy solutions * Ocean health

Research and education initiatives

Research by Center for Climate and Life scientists is focused on understanding how climate change will affect people and the basic resources and ecosystems that sustain them. Center activities address the widening "climate innovation gap" between the increasing need for knowledge and solutions, and declining federal support for climate and solutions research. The center works with public and private sector partners to help stakeholders understand how climate-related impacts on essential resources will affect their bottom line and thereby guide rational business and policy decisions. The center supports Climate and Life Fellows, who lead research projects on topics central to its mission. In 2016, the center administered its first two grants to early career scientists:

hydrologist Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

Michael Puma of Columbia University's

Center for Climate Systems Research {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Goddard Institute for Space Studies The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in Ne ...

received a $190,000 grant to study the

impact of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level ...

on global food systems, and bioclimatologist A. Park Williams of LDEO received a grant of $180,000 for his research on historical drought and fire cycles. Peter de Menocal, the center director, seeks to encourage climate action by talking about climate change in terms of how it will impact human sustainability.

References

External links

Center for Climate and Life website
{{Columbia University Columbia University research institutes Columbia University Research Climate change organizations based in the United States

History

Areas of emphasis

Research and education initiatives

See also

References

External links