C4C: Climate, Culture, Conflict & Cooperation Research Consortium

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.

C4C is a global network of research organizations uniting interdisciplinary scholars with diverse forms of expertise (for example, natural and social sciences, philosophy and history, public health and computer engineering) to produce a deep understanding of the complex interactions between bio-physical and social systems. Climate scientists are brilliant at analyzing bio-physical climate systems. Social scientists are superb at grasping complex social systems. We combine these two bodies of research with leading-edge computational modeling and data analytics to generate new insights into the social impacts of climate change.

With these insights, C4C aims to generate innovative scholarship into climate change, cultural conflict, and cooperation; to help policy professionals forge evidence-based climate policy; and to communicate vital information to the general public.