The Earth Institute at Columbia University is holding a "State of the Planet" conference today, beginning at 9 am ET, in New York city. It is open to the public, online, and interactive. You can follow it on Twitter with the hashtag #SOP2012, or by e-mail. A star-studded list of major speakers includes Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Free registration required. To start, go to the SOP website. [2] An archived video of the event will be posted when ready on the SOP website.