Did you know that climate change is now producing almost twice as many refugees as war? Did you realize that many conflicts are indirectly made worse by climate change, because it threatens critical resources such as food supplies and clean water, and because it exacerbates public health challenges such as mosquito-borne illnesses and viral infections?
Here’s the good news: we can cooperate in the face of cultural conflicts triggered by climate change and chart a safe path for the future of the human project. More than that: the disruptions of climate change offer an unprecedented opportunity to transform the social world, to democratize and globalize access to technology, and to revolutionize the way human economic and political systems operate. Climate change is not only a crisis, though it certainly is that. It is also a moment for innovative thinking about the human project.
C4C is a global network of research organizations uniting interdisciplinary thought leaders with diverse forms of expertise (for example, natural, social, and medical sciences; philosophy, history and humanities disciplines; public health, computer engineering, and grass-roots advocacy movements) to leverage a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between bio-physical and social systems for the sake of a just and sustainable human future. Climate scientists are brilliant at analyzing bio-physical climate systems. Social scientists are superb at grasping complex social systems. We combine these existing bodies of research with leading-edge computational modeling, data analytics, and powerful communication to generate new insights into the social impacts of climate change and to leverage revolutionary forms of social change.