Letter regarding MIT's upcoming climate change symposia

The following letter was sent to the MIT community on April 23 by President L. Rafael Reif:

To the members of the MIT community,

Starting next fall and ending on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day – a year from today – MIT will hold a series of six campus symposia on the urgent challenges of climate change and climate action.

I write now to encourage you to save the date for as many of these conversations as you can.

Closer to the time, we will find a number of ways, including via the climate symposia website, to share the exact campus locations and the speakers. For now, the topics, dates and times:

Progress in Climate Science
October 2, 2019, 1–4 p.m.

The Climate Policy Problem
October 29, 2019, 4–7 p.m.

Decarbonizing the Electricity Sector
December 4, 2019, 3–6 p.m.

Economy-wide Deep Decarbonization – Beyond Electricity!
February 25, 2020, 5–8 p.m.

MIT Initiatives and the Role of Research Universities
April 2, 2020, 2–5 p.m.

Summing Up: “Why are we waiting?"
April 22, 2020, 1–4 p.m.

For the energy and imagination it took to develop this important series, I am deeply grateful to the faculty members who agreed to serve on the MIT Climate Action Symposia Organizing Committee; their names appear below. With the leadership of chair Paul Joskow, Professor Emeritus in economics, the committee gathered ideas for topics and speakers from across the MIT community and used that thoughtful input to shape a compelling series of conversations.

I hope these symposia will deepen our shared knowledge about current climate science and policy, and help inspire us all to find new and more effective ways to achieve the immediate and sustained action it will take to confront this civilizational threat.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the inaugural symposium on October 2.

Sincerely,

L. Rafael Reif

MIT Climate Action Symposia Organizing Committee

John M. Deutch

Kerry A. Emanuel

Paula T. Hammond

Colette L. Heald

Joi Ito

Paul L. Joskow, chair

Ernest J. Moniz

Richard Schmalensee

Evelyn N. Wang

Maria T. Zuber (ex officio)

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