“Prepared for Environmental Change,” the second project of the $300 million Grand Challenges Program, will invest $55 million Wednesday to help develop solutions to combat the effects of ongoing climate change. The program, launched in 2015, aims to fund research efforts to deal with a variety of issues affected by shifting weather patterns.
The initiative’s goals include finding ways to grow crops amid altered growing seasons and migratory patterns, dealing with worldwide soil loss and mitigating rapidly spreading diseases such as Zika and West Nile virus — all of which threaten agricultural production and public health.
The initiative falls under the umbrella of Indiana University. The Bloomington, Indiana, institution will create an Environmental Resilience Institute to better predict the impact of environmental threats. Partners include Cummins Inc., Citizens Energy Group, the Nature Conservancy and government officials.
“Environmental change has been a constant through history,” Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie said in a statement. “Areas that were once fertile are now deserts. Areas that were once covered in huge glaciers are now home to major farming activity.
“Our state is not immune to changing environmental conditions, and these may cause major changes for some of the state’s most valuable assets and industries.”
• Eric Althoff can be reached at twt@washingtontimes.com.
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