What can be done to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change?
Climate change is a global problem whose challenges will be met at the local and regional level. Scientists have predicted its impacts to include changes in precipitation, heat waves, increased extreme weather events and disaster intensity, increased flooding and desertification, reduced fresh water resources, changes in disease patterns, and more. Even if we were able to aggressively reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, mean sea levels may rise between 26-54 cm by 2100 under the most conservative scenarios (IPCC 2013), and most projections foresee even higher effects. All of this is likely to affect plant, animal and human life. This contest seeks to explore innovative institutional, educational, financial, and other means by which we can increase global and local preparedness for climate change on both domestic and international scales.