Community News

Today, MIT launched its Plan for Action on Climate Change — its vision for the role the Institute and its community can play in tackling climate change.

As a part of this plan, MIT committed to “expand the capacity of MIT’s Climate CoLab … as a vital asset” of the institute, beginning with a new contest centered on the plan.

MIT believes that a key to solving the climate change problem is to engage all sectors of society—governments, businesses, non-profits, philanthropists, and many others.  As a first step in this broad engagement process, it is also launching today a contest that focuses on a group that is very close to MIT:  its global alumni network.  This remarkable community of 130,000 people represents an exceptional untapped resource for addressing climate change.

The contest, Harnessing the power of MIT alumni, seeks proposals from the global public — whether or not they are MIT alumni — for how this community can help implement MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change.  For instance, in addition to their lives as consumers and citizens, many MIT alumni play important roles in businesses, governments, and other organizations throughout our global society.  How can MIT alumni – as individuals, regional groups, sector groups, or as a whole – help solve the problems of climate change?

Authors of winning proposals will be invited to present their ideas at a conference at MIT, and the MIT Alumni Association will help share the ideas widely in the MIT alumni community.

For more information, see:

• MIT news story 
• MIT Plan for Action on Climate Change
• New Contest on “Harnessing the power of MIT alumni”