Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT is uniquely positioned to lead the way on the technological advances and policy options needed to address climate change. At the second MIT Climate Engagement Forum of the semester, students, faculty, alumni, and staff described the many ways they are engaging an array of organizations to bring real solutions to the climate crisis. Several participants in the discussion offered suggestions from their own personal and professional experiences on how the Institute can make tackling the climate crisis part of its core mission. “The problems are too big and too interconnected for any institution, even this one, to solve alone,” said Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research, in opening remarks.
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Published: Friday, December 11, 2020
Bill Weihl, executive director of ClimateVoice. Photo credit: ClimateVoice
Bill Weihl, executive director of ClimateVoice. ClimateVoice
After more than a decade as one of Silicon Valley s top sustainability executives, Bill Weihl had grown frustrated by the powerful technology industry s reluctance to push for strong climate policies.
So he quit his job as Facebook Inc. s sustainability director in 2018 and began laying the groundwork for ClimateVoice.
Launched in February, the nonprofit seeks to work with tech giant employees and recruits who want to see businesses do more to protect the planet. I was completely convinced that the most important thing that companies could do was lend their influence to helping get real public policy on climate to happen, and I couldn t see how to make that happen from the inside, said Weihl, who was Google s first green energy czar. I felt like I could have much more impact on that from the outside.