Change Ahead

This past Monday, MIT's Climate Change Conversation Committee released their findings following a ten-month effort to engage the MIT community in dialogue about climate change.  The "conversation" leadership team, headed by Maria Zuber, VP for Research, will review the report and make formal recommendations to President Reif.

While the sobering opening statement of the report contains nothing new, it is heartening to see MIT begin to take a serious and intentional look at how the Institute can be a powerful leader in change and transformation.

It begins: Humanity has a limited window of opportunity to avert the most catastrophic risks of climate change. The global and holistic nature of the climate change threat, which affects all nations and requires combined progress on technology, policy, behavioral shifts and beyond, makes it society’s grandest challenge of the present day, possibly of all time. Finding solutions to society’s biggest problems is in MIT’s DNA and is central to its values. The time has come for MIT to play a prominent, visible part in the action and solutions needed to confront the climate challenge.

The report suggests three themes to address the crisis, encouraging proactive leadership: (A) Standing up for science and truth, (B) Transforming the campus into a Living Laboratory for climate change and (C) Accelerating solutions to the climate threat. Importantly, these actions gain power when executed through strong leadership as part of a coherent, visible framework, committed to a holistic quest for solutions.

Throughout the summer, we will be exploring these themes and invite MIT community members on the front lines of climate change to provide their own insights and action-based thought.

At our recent Youth Summit on Climate Change, our young keynote speaker ended by saying, "We are on the right side of history".  We're encouraged to see MIT move to the "right side" by beginning to take a much more powerful, proactive and public stance on climate change! 

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