Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

04/05/2019

A Bad Breakup for Sustainable Development – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

In the aftermath of Amazon's last-minute decision to back out of a deal for a headquarters in Long Island City, Briefings writer Alena Zhang reflects on what the cancelled plans will mean for New York City's sustainable development.

A Bad Breakup for Sustainable Development Alena Zhang   On Valentine’s day this year, New York City lost the hand of its richest suitor yet. We all know the deal – a sordid love story between Mayor de Blasio, Governor Cuomo, and Jeff Bezos worth three billion dollars, and the ensuing tumult tha...

03/27/2019

Carbon Sequestration: A Necessary Innovation – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Consilience announces the return of its Briefings page, which will regularly publish short-form articles representing discourse on current events and ideas in sustainable development. Articles can be found here: https://consiliencejournal.org/category/briefings/

In our first article, staff writer Elisha Zhao explores the urgency and prospects of carbon sequestration:

Carbon Sequestration: A Necessary Innovation Elisha Zhao The report, published in early October by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a branch spearheaded by the United Nations, says it all: Earth is hard set on a trajectory towards climate disaster, and it is all due to greenhous...

01/31/2019

APPLICATIONS DUE TOMORROW!

APPLY HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/5L8zyqq0CVLbXVYx2

DEADLINE EXTENDED!

APPLY HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/5L8zyqq0CVLbXVYx2

Applications to be a Writer for Consilience Briefings are now due Friday, February 1. Writers will produce articles regularly on diverse topics of sustainable development to be published in the Consilience Briefings page. It’s a great way to get published throughout the school year!

01/28/2019

DEADLINE EXTENDED!

APPLY HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/5L8zyqq0CVLbXVYx2

Applications to be a Writer for Consilience Briefings are now due Friday, February 1. Writers will produce articles regularly on diverse topics of sustainable development to be published in the Consilience Briefings page. It’s a great way to get published throughout the school year!

01/15/2019

APPLICATIONS OPEN to be a writer for Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development!

Writers will produce articles regularly on diverse topics of sustainable development to be published in the Consilience Briefings page. It’s a great way to get published throughout the school year!
APPLY HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/5L8zyqq0CVLbXVYx2
Applications are due January 27th. Feel free to contact Amar Bhardwaj at [email protected] with any questions!

11/15/2018

Breaking the links between conflict and hunger in Africa | IFPRI

As Thanksgiving approaches, it's important to remind ourselves of those who don't have access to the same food security we enjoy at Columbia, at home and abroad. Hunger remains a significant challenge for civilization, as a starving society can quickly disintegrate and descend into war. The studies below illustrate such causation between armed conflict and food insecurity in Africa.
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http://www.ifpri.org/publication/breaking-links-between-conflict-and-hunger-africa
https://africacenter.org/spotlight/africas-unresolved-conflicts-a-key-driver-of-food-insecurity/

"Armed conflicts frequently lead to the destruction of food systems. Often, warring parties manipulate starvation as a deliberate tactic, using their control over access to food to attract and reward friends and humble and punish enemies.

10/31/2018

What To Recycle In NYC 2018

Ever wonder what should and shouldn't be recycled in NYC? Take 60 seconds to watch this video and refresh your recycling knowledge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUyVELb5PzY

Recycling is the law in New York City for all residents, agencies, and institutions that receive DSNY sanitation collection. It is also one of the simplest a...

10/25/2018

Chinese solar projects facing closure amid subsidy backlog:...

The Chinese solar industry, once touted as the fastest growing alternative energy sector in the world, now struggles to stay afloat as subsidies fall behind the new capacity created. Read the article by Reuters to learn how the sector's own growth threatens to become its undoing.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-solar-subsidies/chinese-solar-projects-facing-closure-amid-subsidy-backlog-government-report-idUSKCN1MM0F2

Solar power projects in the northwest Chinese region of Ningxia are struggling t...

10/24/2018

Climate change impacts worse than expected, global report warns

Haven't had a chance to read over the recent IPCC report? Check out this article for a quick recap!

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/ipcc-report-climate-change-impacts-forests-emissions/?user.testname=none

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the world is headed for painful problems sooner than expected, as emissions keep rising.

09/19/2018

Consilience Writer Application

APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 25th!

APPLICATIONS OPEN to be a writer for Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development! Writers will produce articles regularly on diverse topics of sustainable development to be published in the Consilience Briefings. It’s a great way to get published throughout the school year! Apply here: https://goo.gl/forms/5L8zyqq0CVLbXVYx2

Applications are due September 25th. Feel free to contact Sophia Ahmed at [email protected] or Amar Bhardwaj at [email protected] with any questions!

Consilience is an online journal dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary dialogue on sustainable development. Among other material, Consilience publishes a Briefings column, where short articles (~1300 words) relating to sustainable development issues and current events are published regularly. Con...

09/06/2018

Google Forms – create and analyse surveys, for free.

APPLICATIONS OPEN to be a writer for Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development! Writers will produce articles regularly on diverse topics of sustainable development to be published in the Consilience Briefings. It’s a great way to get published throughout the school year! Apply here: https://goo.gl/forms/5L8zyqq0CVLbXVYx2

Applications are due September 20th. Feel free to contact Sophia Ahmed at [email protected] or Amar Bhardwaj at [email protected] with any questions!

Create a new survey on your own or with others at the same time. Choose from a variety of survey types and analyse results in Google Forms. Free from Google.

04/15/2018

Renewable Energy Meets 100% Of Portugal's March Electricity Needs

In March, Portugal was able to produce more renewable energy than it could consume in a month. That renewables could fulfill 100% of a modern nation's electrical needs in this time period is a major milestone in the progress toward a cleaner, more sustainable future! Read CleanTechnica's article about this achievement to see progress by the numbers.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/12/renewable-energy-meets-100-of-portugals-march-electricity-needs/

According to new numbers published earlier this month, Portugal's renewable energy production in March exceeded the country's electricity consumption for the month, a record not seen in forty years.

04/04/2018

A Photo Essay on Senegal: Advancing Development and a Pull Backwards by Tradition
by Caitlin Hoeberlein
Issue IX

03/22/2018

World looks to nature-based solutions for urgent water challenges

In recognition of World Water Day, the United Nations Environment Programme released a press release to give a wake up call about the inevitable crisis of water scarcity. Read its UN World Water Development Report to learn what can be done toward water management, from your own home to the wider landscape of New York City and beyond.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/world-looks-nature-based-solutions-urgent-water-challenges

The theme of this year’s World Water Day is “Nature for Water”, focusing on nature-based solutions to the water challenges in the 21st century. More than 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than double that number lack access to safe sanitation 21 March 2018 – As mor...

03/20/2018

's cover photo

03/08/2018

The Good Life – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Whether you are staying home for spring break or travelling abroad, keep an eye out for different view points on what sustainability and the "good life" are! Check out this post on the concept of Buen Vivir or Sumak Kawsay:

https://consiliencejournal.org/2014/11/05/the-good-life-as-a-political-concept-between-economic-transformation-and-de-growth/

The Good Life Phillip Altmann In 2008, the Ecuadorian Constitution defined the concept of Buen Vivir or Sumak Kawsay as a central principle of the state. In 2009, the Bolivian Constitution did the same with the similar idea of Vivir Bien or Suma Qamaña. With this, the notion of Good Life (also tran...

02/26/2018

The deadline for submissions to Consilience's 20th issue has been extended to March 1st!

02/15/2018

[Consilience Journal] Call for Submissions: Issue XX

Call for Submissions!

Every day, people are shaping the world to be greener, more efficient, more sustainable. The next innovation could be happening in your hometown. Let us know! Only 10 days left to submit an article to Consilience for the 20th edition!

http://www.icontact-archive.com/TZuEokG4vNnYn23hkI7xVrKSFnlMD0jF?w=3

My name is Ambria Benesch and I am the Editor-in-Chief of Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development. As you may be aware, we are an online, open-access, solutions-oriented platform dedicated to advancing dialogue on sustainable development. Our global scope allows us to provide an inte...

02/02/2018

[Consilience Journal] Call for Submissions: Issue XX

Call for Submissions!

Got something to say about sustainable development? Have you done cutting-edge research that should be shared with the world? Submit an article to Consilience Issue XX and join a 10-year tradition of interdisciplinary innovation.

http://www.icontact-archive.com/TZuEokG4vNnYn23hkI7xVrKSFnlMD0jF?w=3

My name is Ambria Benesch and I am the Editor-in-Chief of Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development. As you may be aware, we are an online, open-access, solutions-oriented platform dedicated to advancing dialogue on sustainable development. Our global scope allows us to provide an inte...

02/01/2018

Animal Welfare at the Heart of Sustainability

How can livestock production improve as to make it more environmentally sustainable without hurting rural economies and consumers around the world? This article by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations explains the discussion occurring around how animal welfare can contribute to the industry’s environmental and economic sustainability.
http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/home/en/news_archive/2014_Animal_Welfare_at_the_Heart_of_Sustainability.html

AGA, Animal Production and Health Division, Food and Agriculture Organization,FAO

02/01/2018

It’s Not Easy Being Green…and Cruelty-Free Striking A Balance Between Environmentalism and Animal Welfare – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Here's an eye-opening throwback piece about finding a balance between environmentalism and animal welfare! #TBT

https://consiliencejournal.org/2017/04/23/its-not-easy-being-greenand-cruelty-free-striking-a-balance-between-environmentalism-and-animal-welfare/

It’s Not Easy Being Green…and Cruelty-Free Striking A Balance Between Environmentalism and Animal Welfare Dr. Shira Yashphe It was my first year as a Biology undergraduate at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I was twenty years old, excited to begin my life as an adult. Little did I know that ...

01/26/2018

2018: Issue Nineteen – issues – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Issue Nineteen of Consilience is out now! Our team has been working hard to put it together and is very excited to share the new issue with all of you! Check it out at https://consiliencejournal.org/issues/2018-issue-nineteen/

Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape (A2R): A Baseline Study of Climate Resilience in Developing Countries Dr. Lisa Dale, Jonathan Held, Stephanie Ratte, and Farrukh Zaman

05/03/2017

Ivory Tower Politics – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Take a minute to read Anne Hulthen's awesome new piece, "Ivory Tower Politics"

https://consiliencejournal.org/2017/05/03/ivory-tower-politics/

People like to take their science straight, without any sense of the social, historical, or cultural. We treat science like a sterile lab or protected artifact, a static object that exists in a vacuum. There is a fundamentally false division within our broader society between the political and the s...

04/03/2017

Join Consilience and Lia Cairone, Senior Policy Advisor at NYC Mayor's Office of Sustainability, for our Wednesday event:

Cities at Center Stage: The Rising Actors of Sustainability

Wednesday (4/5), 7:00pm-8:30pm, 569 Lerner Hall

03/29/2017

Disunity in Global Ratification of the Paris Agreement: A Diagnosis of Development – Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Wow! Check out Jakob Brounstein's fantastic new briefing, "Disunity in Global Ratification of the Paris Agreement: A Diagnosis of Development"

https://consiliencejournal.org/2017/03/29/disunity-in-global-ratification-of-the-paris-agreement-a-diagnosis-of-development/

The Paris Climate Agreement was crafted following the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November 2015. It arguably represents the most rigorous and ambitious international policy commitment to combatting climate change. Among its provisions, the Agreement stipulates an international commit...

02/24/2017

[Consilience] Issue XVIII: Call for Submissions

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Interested in getting published in student journal with international readership? Check out our Call for Submissions to find out what it takes to get your work in our bi-annual Issue or our bi-weekly blog, Briefings! And make sure to check out the most recent Issue XVII and blog entries for inspiration!

http://www.icontact-archive.com/TZuEokG4vNnYn23hkI7xVjal5y7zFs7a?w=3

platform dedicated to promoting dialogue on sustainable development. We are global in scope and provide an interdisciplinary space to identify, develop, and advance solutions to the difficulties facing us today and into the future. I am pleased to announce that

02/24/2017

Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

BREAKING NEWS: Consilience is LIVE with its NEW WEBSITE. Check out the new platform just in time for our latest CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS (March 8!!)

Check us out!

http://consiliencejournal.org

is an online journal dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary dialogue on sustainable development. This journal aims to bring students, researchers, professors, and practitioners from a variety of disciplines and geographical regions in direct conversation with each other through an online, academic...

02/20/2017

The Canary in Our Coal Mines…and Wallets – Consilience

We have an awesome new briefing. See below for Savannah Miller's (SIPA '17) new post, "The Canary in Our Coal Mines...And Wallets"

http://www.consiliencejournal.org/blog/2017/02/20/the-canary-in-our-coal-mines-and-wallets/

Charleston, South Carolina is drowning. In 2015, climate change seeped into my childhood home, into my living room, into my kitchen. The 1,000-year Charleston flood incurred 17 causalities. President Obama declared a State of Emergency, and called in the Coast Guard, FEMA, the National Guard, and hu...

02/17/2017

News Briefing (2/2/17 – 2/12/17) – Consilience

Consilience will now be posting monthly news briefings on relevant current events. Check out our first one below!

http://www.consiliencejournal.org/blog/2017/02/16/news-briefing-2217-21217/

the U.S. Department of Defense has released a document expressing its recommendation to increase military investment in the Arctic region

02/04/2017

Climate Change and Politics of the American Language: The Act of Omission – Consilience

Check out Jakob Brounstein's (GS, '17) outstanding new post in Consilience: "Climate Change and Politics of the American Language: The Act of Omission"

http://www.consiliencejournal.org/blog/2017/02/04/climate-change-and-politics-of-the-american-language-the-act-of-omission/

For many Americans, popular politics seems to have acquired an Orwellian air in the past weeks. Between the series of mutations that rapidly depleted the phrase ‘fake news’ of any substantive meaning and Presidential Advisor Kellyanne Conway’s recent invocation of the term

01/31/2017

2017: Issue Seventeen

We are pleased to announce the publication of Issue 17! We look forward to your feedback and hope you enjoy the issue!

http://www.consiliencejournal.org/index.php/consilience/issue/current

An online, open-access, interdisciplinary journal of sustainable development, run by students of Columbia University.