CAS- Climate: Conference: TIPARDIS 2024-25: Sustainability in the Age of Climate Change

Vishwamitra Research Institute, Crystal Lake IL

Investigators

Abstract

The Trans Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Research and Development Interchange on Sustainability (TIPARDIS) is a conference on the dominant challenge facing humanity: sustainability. The conference will be held in India, with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) hosting. Participants will be drawn from the U.S, Europe, India, and perhaps elsewhere. NSF funds will support participation by U.S. researchers. It is expected that the Hungarian Government will provide support for European participants and that sources in India will provide support for researchers in India. At its core, sustainability embodies efforts to find ways that make it possible for humanity to exist in a civilized manner on the Earth for as long as possible. This objective is by itself a formidable challenge given the 7.8 billion human population. But this challenge must be met in the face of emergent threats such as climate change and others. At the local level, these emergent global threats can manifest as major disruption events like floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, and economic distress. The conference will focus on the understanding and the formulation of solutions for these very complex and urgent issues guided by five focus questions: 1. Which planetary elements are likely to be manageable in the face of accelerating climate change? 2. Which of these planetary elements is not likely to be manageable in the face of accelerating climate change? 3. Which planetary elements should be managed as technical problems? 4. Which planetary elements should be approached through law and policy? 5. Can Machine Learning and AI help foster sustainability? The body of participants will be balanced to include adequate representation with respect to discipline (engineering, physics, chemistry, economics, policy, etc.), institutions (academic, government, private sector), and regional and national representation. Minorities and women will be encouraged to participate. From the conference, two reports will be produced: (1) a final report summarizing the results and conclusions and the presentations, and (2) a briefer summary focused on policy and suitable for use within the sponsoring organizations. Additionally, a WIKI site has been established and is currently being populated with relevant information as background in preparation for the conference. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.