The following email was sent today to the MIT community by Maria T. Zuber, vice president for research.
To the members of the MIT community:
Today – with the launch of an Idea Bank – we officially open the MIT Climate Change Conversation to the community, and I strongly encourage you to be part of it.
Since September, when I wrote to announce the Committee on the MIT Climate Change Conversation, its members have developed a set of tools and events for sharing perspectives and for gathering ideas from across the community on the actions MIT can take to help lead the US and the world to effectively address global climate change.
- The Idea Bank is the first of these tools – an entirely open-ended mechanism designed to allow any member of our community to propose active steps for MIT to help confront climate change.
- Before Thanksgiving, you will receive an email invitation to participate in a survey; the results will give us a broad sense of the community’s awareness of, interest in and engagement with the problem of climate change. The results will help us frame a series of public forums in the spring.
Given the gravity, urgency and complexity of climate change, universities have an obligation to be part of the solution; given the scientific, technical, economic and policy dimensions of the problem and its likely solutions, I believe that duty falls with special significance to us at MIT.
I urge you to contribute your ideas, take part in the survey and join us throughout the public debate as we determine our best paths of action.
Sincerely,
Maria T. Zuber
